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If you like Blow-up then you'd love to watch The Terrorizers (1986), a movie thats much more complex and satisfying.
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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock
"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock
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Boogeyman (Stephen Kay, 2005)
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Persona (1967)
Ingmar Bergmans Persona is one of the finest films I've ever seen. Before watching this Hitchfan told me that he liked it better the second time around, if I like it anymore the second time around then Ill have a new favorite film. The film began with a series of multiple ultra violent clips. Ranging from the slaughtering of a lamb to a tarantula. This strange opening got you ready for what's to come in this film. The basic plot is a young nurse who's taking care of an actress, who has chose not to speak for unknown reasons. They go to a summer house in the middle of nowhere together, that's where it all begins.
This film is a piece of art. It is Dante's Inferno of cinema. Its a gallery of Jan van Eyck in motion. This is one of the few movies that defines what film is. Especially when we go into the art house portion of cinema. Ingmar Bergman made it very clear that this is art. That this isn't real. He did this by reminding everyone it's a movie. Similar things have been done in the future, like in Grindhouse for example but no one did it like Bergman did. There was a shot in this movie of Bergman and his crew filming a scene. There was a moment when there was an effect of the shooting reel burning. To add on to the artistic effect, Bergman only used what he absolutely needed. Only five characters, and only props that were used by the characters were shown in the film. This wasn't just a movie, it was art at its finest point.
Potential spoilers ahead. As this film carried on it became clear that the nurse was gonna have the personality of the actress. Now what I loved is this wasn't really what happened. It was a physiological merge. At one moment the nurse is saying the actresses life story, the next she is yelling "No I am not you!". They never became one. This is what made it so Ming boggling. As mind boggling as Donnie Darko, Eraserhead, 2001: A Space Odyssey, it ranks amongst these great films. And I would rank it amongst my five favorites. It truly is a piece of art.
Other movies I've watched
All about my mother-
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel-
8 1/2-
Ingmar Bergmans Persona is one of the finest films I've ever seen. Before watching this Hitchfan told me that he liked it better the second time around, if I like it anymore the second time around then Ill have a new favorite film. The film began with a series of multiple ultra violent clips. Ranging from the slaughtering of a lamb to a tarantula. This strange opening got you ready for what's to come in this film. The basic plot is a young nurse who's taking care of an actress, who has chose not to speak for unknown reasons. They go to a summer house in the middle of nowhere together, that's where it all begins.
This film is a piece of art. It is Dante's Inferno of cinema. Its a gallery of Jan van Eyck in motion. This is one of the few movies that defines what film is. Especially when we go into the art house portion of cinema. Ingmar Bergman made it very clear that this is art. That this isn't real. He did this by reminding everyone it's a movie. Similar things have been done in the future, like in Grindhouse for example but no one did it like Bergman did. There was a shot in this movie of Bergman and his crew filming a scene. There was a moment when there was an effect of the shooting reel burning. To add on to the artistic effect, Bergman only used what he absolutely needed. Only five characters, and only props that were used by the characters were shown in the film. This wasn't just a movie, it was art at its finest point.
Potential spoilers ahead. As this film carried on it became clear that the nurse was gonna have the personality of the actress. Now what I loved is this wasn't really what happened. It was a physiological merge. At one moment the nurse is saying the actresses life story, the next she is yelling "No I am not you!". They never became one. This is what made it so Ming boggling. As mind boggling as Donnie Darko, Eraserhead, 2001: A Space Odyssey, it ranks amongst these great films. And I would rank it amongst my five favorites. It truly is a piece of art.
Other movies I've watched
All about my mother-
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel-
8 1/2-
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Yeah, there's no body mutilation in it
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^Glad you loved Persona so much, I don't adore it nearly as much as you do but it's quite unlike any other film I've seen. I agree with you on your middle-of-the-road rating on 8 1/2 too, never understood why people love that more than La Dolce Vita.
Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)-
It's one of the most visually sumptuous films I've ever seen, but also a bit of a bore. Still, when a film's central idea is that its main character's life has little meaning, is lack of a compelling story a fair criticism? I don't know, but at any rate this is probably my least favorite Kubrick. I feel like granting this film a more absorbing narrative would do very little to detract from its existential irony.
The Terrorizers (Edward Yang, 1986)-
I give credit to Tyler1 for recommending this masterpiece to me, just recently actually. There's so many great things about this film. It's a portrait of an over-industrialized society, but more importantly, a complex and powerful look at the destructive results of human relationships. And oh yeah, it's freaking gorgeous to look at too. I'll definitely be taking a look at some of Yang's other work; this is one of the truest films I've ever seen.
Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)-
It's one of the most visually sumptuous films I've ever seen, but also a bit of a bore. Still, when a film's central idea is that its main character's life has little meaning, is lack of a compelling story a fair criticism? I don't know, but at any rate this is probably my least favorite Kubrick. I feel like granting this film a more absorbing narrative would do very little to detract from its existential irony.
The Terrorizers (Edward Yang, 1986)-
I give credit to Tyler1 for recommending this masterpiece to me, just recently actually. There's so many great things about this film. It's a portrait of an over-industrialized society, but more importantly, a complex and powerful look at the destructive results of human relationships. And oh yeah, it's freaking gorgeous to look at too. I'll definitely be taking a look at some of Yang's other work; this is one of the truest films I've ever seen.
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Here's an interesting look at the movie:
Perhaps the next Edward Yang movie you should watch is his most popular Yi Yi. Anyway, A Brighter Summer Day is my favourite Yang movie.
Perhaps the next Edward Yang movie you should watch is his most popular Yi Yi. Anyway, A Brighter Summer Day is my favourite Yang movie.
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That's a great video essay, now I want to watch the film again! 
I'll definitely be checking out Yi Yi as soon as I can.
I'll definitely be checking out Yi Yi as soon as I can.
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I'm several hundred movies behind, but I suppose I can try to comment quickly on a few of the more-recent ones. I actually was going to write up 30 reviews in here, but everyone would be bored silly, so I decided to go for 10, but when I tried to save Hotel Rwanda, IE tried to shut down. Luckily for me, I'm now taking blood pressure medicine, so I'm able to deal with this stuff better than before. Anyway, I'm posting what I have if it will let me. No photos and 22 uncomments. However, if anybody actually wants to read what I think of these other films listed at the end, I'll do it, but maybe in three installments. I hope this works since it was a lot of work.
Good Morning Vietnam (Barry Levinson, 1987) - Robin Williams is hilarious in what amounts to one of the better Vietnam War movies, based on a real person who pushed the military brass past Lawrence Welk on the radio. Of course, army disc jockey Adrian Cronauer did far more than that. It has romance, drama, suspense and great tunes, but ultimately, Williams is at his absolute best riffing on every sacred cow of the Vietnam Era imaginable.
Last Summer (Frank Perry, 1969) - Little-seen film deserves a bigger audience, telling a powerful story about teenagers left to their own devices on Fire Island in the late '60s. It's something resembling Lord of the Flies and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, but with just two boys and two girls. The movie is quite intense and entertaining, but the turn at the end is still shocking no matter what you think. Barbara Hershey actually temporarily changed her name to Barbara Seagull because of the bird in this.
Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011) Art House Rating: - Von Trier's film begins with something of a coup - a slow-motion, abstract prologue which basiically tells the entire film in less than ten minutes. Then the film proper begins. It started out reminding me of a non-Dogma 95 version of The Celebration, but then it went its own way. It relies greatly on Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" theme which I'm familiar with from several movies, my fave being Excalibur. I suppose it's up to each person to decide if this film is sci-fi or completely metaphorical and locked in the characters' minds.
Bullhead (Rundskop) (Michael R. Roskum, 2011) - Unique and surprisingly-affecting film telling the story of a man who was dealt a crap hand as a kid and is stuck in a hopeless cycle of crime and self-loathing. The thing about the movie is that it doesn't really replicate other movies, although when you eventually come to learn the young man's actual situation, with his constant needle injections and the parallel story involving shooting up cattle to make them more valuable, it really hits the viewer hard. I cried, what can I say? Terrific performance by Matthias Schoenaerts in a difficult role as Jacky.
Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944) - Talk about crying! Sturges has always crafted films which are irreverent, sophisticated and sentimental at the same time. He was probably the closest thing American cinema saw as a comedy auteur in the early 1940s. He was sorta like a combo of Capra and his screenwriter Robert Riskin rolled into one. OK, well, why is it that this is my fave Sturges? Probably because it's got the backbone story of a loser who won't shame the memory of his hero father and his doting mother. But the flippin' U.S. Marines won't let him not come home to see his mother (and his sweetheart) along the way. The film is a wonderful political satire, has hundreds of classic throwaway lines delivered by William Demarest, Raymond Walburn and several others of Sturges' company, and temporarily made the great Eddie Bracken something resembling a star. Too bad his only other major role was in Sturges's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, probably one of the most-sacrilegious American films ever made!
The Count of Monte Cristo (Rowland V. Lee, 1934) - Don't be put off because this movie is almost 80 years old. This is still the BEST version of the classic tale, and it moves right along at a crackling pace. It's one of the classic revenge movies, full of adventure and both court and courtroom intrigue, set during the Napoleonic Era. Robert Donat is excellent as Edmond Dantes/The Count of Monte Cristo, discerning eyes will notice The Abbe is played by O.P. Heggie, the Blind Man from The Bride of Frankenstein. And then, look at the Unholy Trinity of villians: the aforementioned Raymond Walburn, Sidney Blackmer from Rosemary's Baby and People Will Talk and Louis Calhern who played Julius Caesar opposite Brando and was an idiot bad guy in the Marx Bros.' Duck Soup. They don't make 'em like they used to.
Battle Los Angeles (Jonathan Liebsman, 2011) + - This film seems like a one-sentence pitch: Let's make a movie set in L.A. which is a combo of Aliens, Independence Day and District 9! Besides that, let's get a South African to direct this one too! Well, be that as it may, I thought it was pretty entertaining. In fact, I wanted to give it because of Aaron Eckhardt's solid portrayal as the vet who's forced to take charge. I suppose the only reason I didn't do that is because it's a bit overlong and it's not as good as any of the other films so far. You have to remember though, I saw it on cable TV, and it wasn't a premium channel, so it was basically FREE!.
The Gypsy Moths (John Frankenheimer, 1969) - Unusual film about barnstorming guys of different age who go around the country and jump out of airplanes to give the local crowds a thrill. The three are played by Burt Lancaster (the actor with whom Frankenheimer worked the most), Gene Hackman and Scott Wilson (In Cold Blood. The film is set during the 4th of July weekend, and each man gets to have something resembling a romance (with married Deborah Kerr, stripper Sherree North and student Bonnie Bedelia - the first two topless, if only briefly). But the highlights are the exhilarating skydiving scenes (where the cameraman had to attach the camera to his helmet) and rest assured, you'll probably be fooled by some of them.
Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004)
Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
Tomorrow Never Dies (Roger Spottiswoode, 1997)
Sarah's Key (Gilles Paquet-Brenner, 2010)
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011)
Goodbye, My Fancy (Vincent Sherman, 1951) +
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
A Fever in the Blood (Vincent Sherman, 1961) Camp Rating:
Stormy Weather (Andrew L. Stone, 1943)
Wilde (Gregory Ratoff, 1960)
The Appointment (Sidney Lumet, 1971)
Soldier in the Rain (Ralph Nelson, 1963)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie, 2011) +
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (Martin Scorsese, 2011)
This is Elvis (Malcolm Leo & Andrew Solt, 1981)
From Russia With Love (Terence Young, 1963) -
Superman (Richard Donner, 1978)(Richard Donner, 1978)
The Man With the Golden Gun (Guy Hamilton, 1974) +
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)
A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938)
A Free Soul (Clarence Brown, 1931) -
Pepe le Moko (Julian Duvivier, 1936) - Classic/Art House Ratings:
Good Morning Vietnam (Barry Levinson, 1987) - Robin Williams is hilarious in what amounts to one of the better Vietnam War movies, based on a real person who pushed the military brass past Lawrence Welk on the radio. Of course, army disc jockey Adrian Cronauer did far more than that. It has romance, drama, suspense and great tunes, but ultimately, Williams is at his absolute best riffing on every sacred cow of the Vietnam Era imaginable.
Last Summer (Frank Perry, 1969) - Little-seen film deserves a bigger audience, telling a powerful story about teenagers left to their own devices on Fire Island in the late '60s. It's something resembling Lord of the Flies and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, but with just two boys and two girls. The movie is quite intense and entertaining, but the turn at the end is still shocking no matter what you think. Barbara Hershey actually temporarily changed her name to Barbara Seagull because of the bird in this.
Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011) Art House Rating: - Von Trier's film begins with something of a coup - a slow-motion, abstract prologue which basiically tells the entire film in less than ten minutes. Then the film proper begins. It started out reminding me of a non-Dogma 95 version of The Celebration, but then it went its own way. It relies greatly on Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" theme which I'm familiar with from several movies, my fave being Excalibur. I suppose it's up to each person to decide if this film is sci-fi or completely metaphorical and locked in the characters' minds.
Bullhead (Rundskop) (Michael R. Roskum, 2011) - Unique and surprisingly-affecting film telling the story of a man who was dealt a crap hand as a kid and is stuck in a hopeless cycle of crime and self-loathing. The thing about the movie is that it doesn't really replicate other movies, although when you eventually come to learn the young man's actual situation, with his constant needle injections and the parallel story involving shooting up cattle to make them more valuable, it really hits the viewer hard. I cried, what can I say? Terrific performance by Matthias Schoenaerts in a difficult role as Jacky.
Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944) - Talk about crying! Sturges has always crafted films which are irreverent, sophisticated and sentimental at the same time. He was probably the closest thing American cinema saw as a comedy auteur in the early 1940s. He was sorta like a combo of Capra and his screenwriter Robert Riskin rolled into one. OK, well, why is it that this is my fave Sturges? Probably because it's got the backbone story of a loser who won't shame the memory of his hero father and his doting mother. But the flippin' U.S. Marines won't let him not come home to see his mother (and his sweetheart) along the way. The film is a wonderful political satire, has hundreds of classic throwaway lines delivered by William Demarest, Raymond Walburn and several others of Sturges' company, and temporarily made the great Eddie Bracken something resembling a star. Too bad his only other major role was in Sturges's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, probably one of the most-sacrilegious American films ever made!
The Count of Monte Cristo (Rowland V. Lee, 1934) - Don't be put off because this movie is almost 80 years old. This is still the BEST version of the classic tale, and it moves right along at a crackling pace. It's one of the classic revenge movies, full of adventure and both court and courtroom intrigue, set during the Napoleonic Era. Robert Donat is excellent as Edmond Dantes/The Count of Monte Cristo, discerning eyes will notice The Abbe is played by O.P. Heggie, the Blind Man from The Bride of Frankenstein. And then, look at the Unholy Trinity of villians: the aforementioned Raymond Walburn, Sidney Blackmer from Rosemary's Baby and People Will Talk and Louis Calhern who played Julius Caesar opposite Brando and was an idiot bad guy in the Marx Bros.' Duck Soup. They don't make 'em like they used to.
Battle Los Angeles (Jonathan Liebsman, 2011) + - This film seems like a one-sentence pitch: Let's make a movie set in L.A. which is a combo of Aliens, Independence Day and District 9! Besides that, let's get a South African to direct this one too! Well, be that as it may, I thought it was pretty entertaining. In fact, I wanted to give it because of Aaron Eckhardt's solid portrayal as the vet who's forced to take charge. I suppose the only reason I didn't do that is because it's a bit overlong and it's not as good as any of the other films so far. You have to remember though, I saw it on cable TV, and it wasn't a premium channel, so it was basically FREE!.
The Gypsy Moths (John Frankenheimer, 1969) - Unusual film about barnstorming guys of different age who go around the country and jump out of airplanes to give the local crowds a thrill. The three are played by Burt Lancaster (the actor with whom Frankenheimer worked the most), Gene Hackman and Scott Wilson (In Cold Blood. The film is set during the 4th of July weekend, and each man gets to have something resembling a romance (with married Deborah Kerr, stripper Sherree North and student Bonnie Bedelia - the first two topless, if only briefly). But the highlights are the exhilarating skydiving scenes (where the cameraman had to attach the camera to his helmet) and rest assured, you'll probably be fooled by some of them.
Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004)
Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
Tomorrow Never Dies (Roger Spottiswoode, 1997)
Sarah's Key (Gilles Paquet-Brenner, 2010)
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011)
Goodbye, My Fancy (Vincent Sherman, 1951) +
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
A Fever in the Blood (Vincent Sherman, 1961) Camp Rating:
Stormy Weather (Andrew L. Stone, 1943)
Wilde (Gregory Ratoff, 1960)
The Appointment (Sidney Lumet, 1971)
Soldier in the Rain (Ralph Nelson, 1963)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie, 2011) +
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (Martin Scorsese, 2011)
This is Elvis (Malcolm Leo & Andrew Solt, 1981)
From Russia With Love (Terence Young, 1963) -
Superman (Richard Donner, 1978)(Richard Donner, 1978)
The Man With the Golden Gun (Guy Hamilton, 1974) +
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)
A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938)
A Free Soul (Clarence Brown, 1931) -
Pepe le Moko (Julian Duvivier, 1936) - Classic/Art House Ratings:
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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page
Last edited by mark f; 07-19-12 at 11:30 PM.
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The Glimmer Man (1996)
Wild At Heart (1990)
Lionheart (1990)
Back To The Future (1985)
JCVD (2008)
License To Kill (1989) +
Wild At Heart (1990)
Lionheart (1990)
Back To The Future (1985)
JCVD (2008)
License To Kill (1989) +
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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."
"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."
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Meatface where have you been? we have missed you 
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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha
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The dark Knight Rises (2012)
This is my first midnight premier and I'm grateful *it was not I wasn't at the theater where the tragedy of Aurora Happened, *may the victims RIP. Back to the movie
In acting the big question was will Tom Hardy out do Heath Ledger, I think unlike The Dark Knight the villain didn't steal the show acting wise. The police officer Gordon Levitt was the man who shined in this film. Hardy did good but with most of his face covered it was hard to see emotional acting. Over all the cast put up a hell of a show
The reason I don't think this is better than The Dark Knight is TDK was revolutionary, something new. The sequel just bounced off of it. The sequel had some big twists but it didn't have the feeling that this is something new.
Now for some spoilers, big ones
In the scene where Batman "Committed suicide" to save the city was beautiful. It would've been a beautiful end to a beautiful franchise. But due to agreements with DC Nolan couldn't do that, and batman was dead but Wayne was alive. *This frustrated me. I thought I just saw the end to a great franchise, turns out I saw something built for a sequel via another director. Tis a shame, it would've been 4 stars if Wayne died.
Other movies I've watched
Hour of the Wolf-
Eurotrip-
Trainspotting-
Bronson-
This is my first midnight premier and I'm grateful *it was not I wasn't at the theater where the tragedy of Aurora Happened, *may the victims RIP. Back to the movie
In acting the big question was will Tom Hardy out do Heath Ledger, I think unlike The Dark Knight the villain didn't steal the show acting wise. The police officer Gordon Levitt was the man who shined in this film. Hardy did good but with most of his face covered it was hard to see emotional acting. Over all the cast put up a hell of a show
The reason I don't think this is better than The Dark Knight is TDK was revolutionary, something new. The sequel just bounced off of it. The sequel had some big twists but it didn't have the feeling that this is something new.
Now for some spoilers, big ones
In the scene where Batman "Committed suicide" to save the city was beautiful. It would've been a beautiful end to a beautiful franchise. But due to agreements with DC Nolan couldn't do that, and batman was dead but Wayne was alive. *This frustrated me. I thought I just saw the end to a great franchise, turns out I saw something built for a sequel via another director. Tis a shame, it would've been 4 stars if Wayne died.
Other movies I've watched
Hour of the Wolf-
Eurotrip-
Trainspotting-
Bronson-
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Frida
5/10
First off, I loathe when films use english in place of the native language, it feels cheapening towards the authenticity.
The film's main focus was Frida's relationships, particularly with Diego Rivera. While these relations are obviously influential in her work
it felt like showing her paintings took a back-burner so there would be a larger space for her marital dramatics, and after a while the dramatics were beginning to feel like a broken record.
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Let's talk some jive.
Let's talk some jive.
So you loathe Schindler's List, Amadeus, Cabaret, etc.? It's your right but it makes no sense to me. I mean, I don't get pissed when the French make movies about Italians and vice versa. There are so many foreign-language movies where half the characters are dubbed or are speaking the wrong language that it sure would make it difficult to enjoy most movies made anywhere if "authentic language" was the key.
Last edited by mark f; 07-22-12 at 08:43 PM.
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Bronson-
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5-time MoFo Award winner.
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So you loathe Schindler's List, Amadeus, Cabaret, etc.? It's your right but it makes no sense to me. I mean, I don't get pissed when the French make movies about Italians and vice versa. There are so many foreign-language movies where half the characters are dubbed or are speaking the wrong language that it sure would make it difficult to enjoy most movies made anywhere if "authentic language" was the key.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - In the context of the trilogy it rounded out the series well. As a stand alone film the first act was definitely not as strong as the second and third which were excellent, the scenes with Alfred and Bruce for instance were rather cringeworthy at times and some of the character development and motivations weren't as fleshed out as they could have been, especially in Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy's characters, who probably were the best things about the film. But these very slight quibbles really didn't hinder my enjoyment of the film.
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