Movie Tab II

On the Waterfront

After deciding I needed to catch up on some older movies I checked netflix streaming and came up with this one. Overall, I liked the film (as evidenced by my rating). There were some great performances throughout, particulary Brando and Lee J. Cobb (especially near the end for Cobb). I thought Brando did a great job of conveying the tough guy while also showing a more caring side as well. The cinematography was well done and I also liked the score. Sadly, this is my first Kazan film, but look forward to watching more of his work.

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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?"

You got that right.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Your reverse psychology won't work on me, Lime.

Movie Extravaganza: Part 2

Little Fockers

Some good moments and De Niro's presence can't hide the fact that the material is overdone and isn't a scratch on the first two films in this trilogy. Still, this was an occasionally funny sequel, but undoubtedly no one's finest hour.

Akira

The definitive anime classic, with beautiful animation and exciting action. Akira tells the story of a motorcycle gang member and his newly acquired telekinetic powers. Akira is a brutally violent and hyperactive tale which also acts as a character study, with a reluctant antihero, a tough damsel in distress and a powerful villian. Anyway you look at it, Akira is a wonderful film.

Cape Fear (Remake)

One of the best remakes around, with exceptionally good performances and extremely well-directed. I rank this film higher in Scorsese or De Niro's body of work. Nick Nolte plays Sam Bowden, an attorney who is being stalked by a vengeful ex-con (Robert De Niro), who was sent to jail because of Sam. Robert De Niro's performance is magnificent and over the top, and creates a truly frightening villian. The performance was Oscar nominated and if De Niro should have won, it would be highly deserved. The other performances are all good, especially Juliette Lewis, also Oscar nominated, as Sam's troubled young daughter, wanting to explore her sexuality. The opening credit sequence is great.

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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."

Can we stop pretending that De Niro's presence in a film is still a mark of quality or any kind of stamp of approval?

TBH, for a good few years now, seeing his name (along with Pacino and Nicholson) is more likely to put me off seeing something, rather than intice me into doing so.

Movie Extravaganza: Part 3.

2001: A Space Odyssey

A visually dazzling, awe-inspiring film and probably Kubrick's best. Didn't expect to like this, but was more than shocked when I found this one of the most beautiful & finest finest films ever made.

Taxi Driver

Robert De Niro is excellent as a loner cabbie who desires to clean up all the filth in the city where he operates. He decides to initiate this by trying to help a 12 year old prostitute escape her sordid profession. This was the first film I watched in 2011 and I was not disappointed. Scorsese's script and direction are immaculate and De Niro's performance is brilliant.

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

I don't get this "Art House Rating" deal. Care to explain this, Mark?

I have told people before that if you find my ratings too "Hollywood" or American- or Anglo-centric, then you can also drop my ratings one box for some seemingly-mainstream films. I also said that if this flaw of mine seems to underrate foreign films, then you can raise them a rating as a general rule. These "Art House Ratings" are what I would give the films for people who prefer foreign films to American ones. However, I find no reason to upgrade my The Magician rating because I think that's a fair rating across the board for all movie watchers. In other words, these ratings, which some will find just as BS as all my ratings (which is fine although I seriously consider all of them) are just a way for me to try to speak to all film watchers. I also have ratings for "Classics", "Cult Films" and "Camp", but I didn't find the need to add any of those with this batch. For example, I give Citizen Kane a +, but its Classic Rating is . I give Robot Monster , but its Camp Rating is , etc.

The idea of different kinds of ratings for different kinds of films is, on the surface, a bit unseemly, but all in all, I think it's more often than not an accurate correction for a perceived personal bias.

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"Loves them? They need them, like they need the air."

Yeah, I still don't get it.

Well, you tell me then; for those five films, which ratings do you believe are closer to "reality" - "my" rating or the "Art House" rating? The ratings are only a tool, but if they don't "work", then they're a useless tool. After checking my ratings and using them to determine a film's relative "watchabilty", it should become apparent to various film watchers which ones they "trust" more. Remember, different strokes for different folks.

The Hurt Locker -Epic.
Hot Tub Time Machine -Stupidly funny.
Horton Hears A Who -Surprisingly good.
The Master of Disguise - A guilty pleasure.

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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Hmmm... just saw this and had your review in mind. I guess you consider this their best film yet? I could say so too, but it looses a bit of, how should I put it, "credibility" for me, because it actually ends up being, when you get down to it, a totally conventional rom-com, while their other films certainly are not and actually intentionally subversions of. I mean, it follows the traditional formula so by the book, it's hard to not get that typical rom-com deja-vu at some of the moves. There's the "first getting serious" montage and the main character's peripeteiatic humiliation... all the moves are there, even if the Duplass know how to de-plastify them into those little moments of silence that scream of pathos as they have made their careers on being so proficient at. I dunno. In some ways I think they probably just made the best possible version of that same story I've ever seen, but we'll see if they become more or less adventurous with their next film.

Also... I don't know if anyone else noticed, but one technique they used over and over that I thought was interesting was this really precise cutting pattern where they would cut to the reaction of the person opposite the one who was talking and then vice versa and then reveal that the reaction shots were completely unrelated to the voice-over dialogue. I'm still not sure what this form suggests, but the effect is really dreamy and romantic, I feel.

Oh yeah. Jonah Hill is freakin' hilarious.

8.0/10

I just might watch that tonight.

Been watching recent stuff lately, trying to get a top ten for the year together.

Black Swan (2010, Darren Aronofsky)

Winter's Bone (2010, Debra Granik)

Carlos (2010, Olivier Assayas)

White Material (2009, Claire Denis)

Madeo (2009, Joon-Ho Bong)

True Grit (2010, Joel and Ethan Coen)

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Outrage (2010, Takeshi Kitano)

Catfish (2010, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost)

Cyrus (2010, Jay and Mark Duplass)

Uncle Boonmee... how the hell did you...

ARE YOU A WIZARD?

I've already offered you a key to the world of magic...twice.

Could you give some insight on the trash known as Catfish.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Trash? Can't really say much without spoiling it, but the internet is a projection of us, flaws and all, and it did a decent job of presenting this especially amidst the current social networking-mad world we now live in. I didn't love it, and it would get a low 3/5, but it still had my interest throughout and was somewhat original. Whether it's all legit or not, I don't think that really matters.