28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Dukefrukem]

meh... i may go see Legion tonight...

[Rowland]

W/E

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Bride of Frankenstein
The Hurt Locker
Moon

[Grouchy]

They remade Fame? What the fuck.

[Qrazy]

I was home sick yesterday.

I watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop. :sad:

I also watched Tarkovsky's Solaris. Didn't like it much. I really like the book, but the film failed to hold my interest - even a little bit. And I don't understand why. Well, that's not entirely true. That whole first part on Earth is just a bore. But once they actually get into space it gets a little better. It has the same slow, introspective nature of Lem's text, but for some reason it just doesn't work for me as a film. I love reading this kind of SF, but it simply doesn't make for a very remarkable film.

Did you watch Kin Dza Dza yet? That seems more up your alley.

[D_Davis]

Did you watch Kin Dza Dza yet? That seems more up your alley.

Nope - but that's up next week.

[The Mike]

meh... i may go see Legion tonight...

In the name of Vincent Price, WHY???????? Even I know that one's terrible!

[The Mike]

They remade Fame? What the fuck.Yeah. Someone should sue the original for not actually living forever.

[Spun Lepton]

In the name of Vincent Price, WHY???????? Even I know that one's terrible!

Wow. That's a really bad sign. :lol:

[Beau]

Solaris was much better on the big screen with a girl I secretly like sitting next to me. It remains my least favorite Tarkovsky, but I really think that girl and I bonded a bit during those interminable freeway scenes. I should make her watch Stalker whenever we meet again. We could bond with enigmatically moving glasses. It'll be joyous.

[Dead & Messed Up]

In the name of Vincent Price, WHY???????? Even I know that one's terrible!

What is the Hollywood obsession with Mummy Mouth? It is not scary. It has never been scary.

http://www.moviepopquiz.com/2008/Oct/Oct31/monster6.jpg

Not scary. Stop it.

http://www.product-reviews.net/wp-content/userimages/2008/03/i-am-legend-alternate-ending.jpg

Not scary. Seriously, stop it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/deadandmessedup/small_433313.jpg

Stop it!

[Ezee E]

I love the laughs that the old woman screaming gets in the Legion previews.

[Melville]

Solaris was much better on the big screen with a girl I secretly like sitting next to me. It remains my least favorite Tarkovsky, but I really think that girl and I bonded a bit during those interminable freeway scenes. I should make her watch Stalker whenever we meet again. We could bond with enigmatically moving glasses. It'll be joyous.
Is there more than one freeway scene? I only remember one. But that one is glorious. If you can bond with a girl over that scene, you should pursue her to the ends of the earth.

Though Andrei Rublev is my favorite Tarkovsky, Solaris is the more powerful explication of the themes closest to my heart (love, the Other, memory, meditative looks out the window during drives on the freeway, etc.)

[Beau]

Is there more than one freeway scene? I only remember one. But that one is glorious. If you can bond with a girl over that scene, you should pursue her to the ends of the earth.

We didn't really bond over that scene, but she does dig Tarkovsky. She studies art design and her studies apparently include watching Greenaway, Tarkovsky, and Matthew Barney. Mirror blew her mind, or so she says. Anyhow, enough about me.

[Melville]

We didn't really bond over that scene, but she does dig Tarkovsky...Mirror blew her mind, or so she says.
If that doesn't warrant a pursuit to the ends of the earth, then nothing does.

[The Mike]

I love the laughs that the old woman screaming gets in the Legion previews.

This is by far my favorite part of the movie's existence too. So bad, yet awesome.

[Beau]

If that doesn't warrant a pursuit to the ends of the earth, then nothing does.

:lol:

[Fezzik]

http://www.reelfocus.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/stopit.png


I LOLed heartily, but I agree.

Stop it. Just stop it :D

[number8]

Stop stealing, indeed.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Goddamnit.

:D

Okay, hopefully that's fixed.

[Spinal]

It might be scary to senior citizens.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/mueller08-16-07-8.jpg

[Spun Lepton]

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-shocked016.gif

[baby doll]

I liked Precious. A lot. Anybody got a problem with that?

[balmakboor]

My 17-year-old daughter had asked what I wanted for my birthday and I said, "Turn your cellphone off and watch a movie with me of my choice." Well, tonight was the night and we sat and watched one of my favorite movies, Dog Day Afternoon. And wouldn't you know, she really liked it as well.

[balmakboor]

I liked Precious. A lot. Anybody got a problem with that?

I actually expect to like it as well.

[lovejuice]

I liked Precious. A lot. Anybody got a problem with that?


http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-shocked016.gif
this.

[Benny Profane]

I hate that British is the default accent for movies that take place anywhere in the world other than England.

See: The Last Station. A movie set in Russia where everyone speaks English with a British accent.

Why is that?

[Qrazy]

I hate that British is the default accent for movies that take place anywhere in the world other than England.

See: The Last Station. A movie set in Russia where everyone speaks English with a British accent.

Why is that?

The British had a strong naval force.

[Spinal]

I hate that British is the default accent for movies that take place anywhere in the world other than England.

See: The Last Station. A movie set in Russia where everyone speaks English with a British accent.

Why is that?

This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English) is your answer. See the section "In Media".

Typically, what you're hearing is not a British accent really, but an attempt to bridge the gap between an American and British accent.

[megladon8]

So I'm going to NYC in mid March.

And in true "NYC hates Meg and doesn't want him here" fashion, next week they're playing The Evil Dead at the Landmark theatre.

And the night that I leave the city, the IFC theatre is playing Aliens.

Nice, NYC. Really, really nice. Maybe you should also have a double feature of Blade Runner and Batman Begins on the night before I arrive?

[Grouchy]

So I watched this movie Good with Viggo Mortensen. I don't know if I could do a proper write-up, because I was high when I was watching it and I kept finding parts of it hilarious, and I'm sure that wasn't intentional. That Alzheimer mom had me in stitches.

[Spinal]

So I watched this movie Good with Viggo Mortensen. I don't know if I could do a proper write-up, because I was high when I was watching it and I kept finding parts of it hilarious, and I'm sure that wasn't intentional. That Alzheimer mom had me in stitches.

I want to see this only because I played the Viggo role in the stage version in college.

I was far less ruggedly sexy.

[Fezzik]

Star Trek: First Contact was on Tv last night. Id forgotten how much i liked it. The "first contact" scene was surprisingly moving.

And the score is still one of my favorites.

[Grouchy]

I want to see this only because I played the Viggo role in the stage version in college.

I was far less ruggedly sexy.
I can see it working better as a stage play.

[Beau]

I can see it working better as a stage play.

But will you be high when you see it working better, is the question.

[Ezee E]

I hate that British is the default accent for movies that take place anywhere in the world other than England.

See: The Last Station. A movie set in Russia where everyone speaks English with a British accent.

Why is that?
Haha. For some reason I never put that together. I just saw period piece, and went with it. Now it's hilarious.

[Ezee E]

Questionable casting move? Colin Farrell as a mainstream Country star.

I laughed at first when I saw it, and I really like Colin.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I just watched Monsters Inc. for the first time, and I found it a mostly delightful film. The most glaring problem was the omnipresent unfunny of Billy Crystal, whose character was substantially less interesting than Goodman's Sully Sullivan, whose growing affection for Boo is genuine and affecting. Pixar, with this film, Finding Nemo, and the Toy Story pictures, found an ingenious way to make children's movies that are fundamentally about parental figures who learn to let go of their children. But ignoring that interesting subtext, the film is fast, creative, and fun, especially with that wonderful climax. I would've been just fine had they spent another five or ten minutes finding more variations on the chase.

B+

Boo is adorable:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/deadandmessedup/Monsters-Inc-Start.gif

[Adam]

Monsters Inc is my favorite pixar movie

Any match cutters ever seen Luchino Visconti's Senso? I go to school in pretty much the sticks, but I'm a member of this group here who works with the local 4 screen cineplex to try and show a foreign/obscure-ish film once every other week on a Monday night. Just over the past few months, I've gotten to see recent stuff like Revanche and Songs From the Second Floor on the big screen that I normally never would've gotten to see on the big screen, so that's great. Tomorrow, they're screening Senso and I've never heard of it, but someone told me I would dig it, so... has anybody here seen it?

[number8]

They made a movie of this? Oh my.

Watching Snoopy speak in voiceover is really weird.

[Beau]

Tomorrow, they're screening Senso and I've never heard of it, but someone told me I would dig it, so... has anybody here seen it?

Have you seen any other Visconti?

I like him, but he's very melodramatic and visually 'loud.' Not everyone digs his style. He's very grand, fancy, ornate, and mannered. The actors express every expression they can possibly express, usually within a minute. If they can only express one expression, they'll express it all movie long. Lots of soap-y situations. Passion! Death! Tears! Costumes! I don't mind any of this and Visconti does it really well. Senso is a good film. It has that sweeping, epic romance vibe to it. Should be beautiful on the big screen. If you can accept Farley Granger pretending to be hot stuff, and don't mind the things I mentioned above, you should enjoy it.

[Henry Gale]

I don't think I've seen it discussed here before, but Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee is a ton of fun. Paddy Considine is perfect in every second of this, playing a roadie who if compared to anyone, would be an equally rock n' roll and hip-hop saturated Karl Pilkington with an unpredictable mean streak to him that simply wants to get his big break even if he seems to have no sort of musical talent whatsoever.

The faux-documentary style, with Shane Meadows and crew very much involved on-screen, is played amazingly well (and paired with the fact that it was really only shot in five days, is even more awesome), and even though I'm not sure how real Scor-zay-zee is compared to the situations around him, he works as a perfect counterpart to the Considine's performance throughout. The whole idea of them as a pair definitely allows Scorz to infuse more believability and heart into the majority of the film even if he is as much of a character as Le Donk.

So if you like Considine and laughing a lot, I can't think of too many recent choices better than this.

[Mara]

I saw Monster's Inc alone in a theater full of people with children. They probably thought that I was weird, until I started sobbing at the end, at which point I'm surprised they didn't call the cops on me.

[number8]

I rewatched The Dark Knight on a whim yesterday.

I think, beyond all other interpretation (like Order vs Chaos, Fascism vs Anarchy), my new favorite is that of (Batman = Optimism) vs (Joker = Cynicism), with Harvey Dent being that of a skeptic.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I rewatched The Dark Knight on a whim yesterday.

I think, beyond all other interpretation (like Order vs Chaos, Fascism vs Anarchy), my new favorite is that of (Batman = Optimism) vs (Joker = Cynicism), with Harvey Dent being that of a skeptic.

My way of viewing the film is that the three mains are each a "dark knight," crusading for hope (Wayne), justice (Dent), and freedom (Joker).

[number8]

My way of viewing the film is that the three mains are each a "dark knight," crusading for hope (Wayne), justice (Dent), and freedom (Joker).

Does that interpretation allow for Dent to be pulled to either side? Or are they just three separately functioning entities?

[Yum-Yum]

Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening - 2

I liked him as the anti-Antipodean fruit vendor on Flight of the Conchords.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Does that interpretation allow for Dent to be pulled to either side? Or are they just three separately functioning entities?

Is he pulled to a definitive side by the end? My perspective is that the Joker's shock/trauma extracts a new hyper-personality to Gotham, one that contains the Batman's quest for righteousness, but the Joker's method of execution (so to speak). The Joker facilitates this new villain, yes, but this new villain is still directly between the two, as witnessed by his visually bifurcated scarring.

[number8]

Is he pulled to a definitive side by the end? My perspective is that the Joker's shock/trauma extracts a new hyper-personality to Gotham, one that contains the Batman's quest for righteousness, but the Joker's method of execution (so to speak). The Joker facilitates this new villain, yes, but this new villain is still directly between the two, as witnessed by his visually bifurcated scarring.

Well, okay, I was just curious if you see Justice as being the "between" of Hope and Freedom.

In my interpretation, Dent goes from Optimist to Cynic (from wanting to save Gotham to thinking that people can't "be decent in an indecent world"), but never completely either way, hence his reliance on Chance. With the coin, he doesn't need to be an Optimist or a Cynic to make his moral choices—unlike Batman and Joker, who both base their persona entirely on either an optimistic (people can be and deserve to be saved) or cynical (people are inherently selfish and will destroy one another) outlook.

Dent only has to believe that you cannot rely on people to stick to their convictions. Good people do bad things, and bad people do good things. It's about as random as a coin flip.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Well, okay, I was just curious if you see Justice as being the "between" of Hope and Freedom.

I suppose I see it as its own entity (in relation to the other two pursuits), but it becoming Dent's ultimate desire is definitely thanks to the Joker.


In my interpretation, Dent goes from Optimist to Cynic (from wanting to save Gotham to thinking that people can't "be decent in an indecent world"), but never completely either way, hence his reliance on Chance. With the coin, he doesn't need to be an Optimist or a Cynic to make his moral choices—unlike Batman and Joker, who both base their persona entirely on either an optimistic (people can be and deserve to be saved) or cynical (people are inherently selfish and will destroy one another) outlook.

This is a good way to place him in between the two. However, I think that Dent's crusade by film's end has survived. It's simply switched from the external (defeating the criminals who wronged the city) to the internal (defeating those who personally wronged him). In his mind, he sees his quest as justified, the "right" thing to do. His victims are primarily relegated to those who wronged him, and it's interesting how he occasionally tips the scales toward his own interests (shooting the chaffeur, bludgeoning Ramirez). Are these the acts of a man who truly believes in Chance?


Dent only has to believe that you cannot rely on people to stick to their convictions. Good people do bad things, and bad people do good things. It's about as random as a coin flip.

True. I do think Dent makes an interesting point when he says "The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance." It seems to me that he hasn't abandoned justice completely. In a way, he's still holding onto his hope for justice. He's simply pushed it to a darker place.

I like your interpretation though.

[Skitch]

This reminds me of the argument I got into with my mother and sister about The Box, which if they took my advice and called me before deciding what movie to see, would have never seen.

So we argue about the film for an hour. And my mom says, "Well, while we completely disagree about the flick, we just spent an hour discussing it. I guess the movie wins. Even though I hated it, I've been talking about it all weekend."

Point? Conflict is fucking interesting.

Yeah, I'm drunk. Sorry.

[Morris Schæffer]

Universal Soldier: Regeneration is surprisingly non-sucky?!

I just read a few reviews including this one on Blu-ray.com:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Universal-Soldier-Regeneration-Blu-ray-Review/8005/

[Raiders]

I still can't really decide whether or not I like, and am satisfied with, the ending of Goodbye Solo. I know I loved the opening act and became increasingly disappointed by the middle act (particularly when it truly goes nowhere interesting) and the treatment of William who should have remained impenetrable (I hated the reveal of that diary--awwww, he cared after all). Solo also is a bit underwhelming a character, going through the standard motions and the ending completely stunts him as his own figure, instead choosing to let him remain defined only by his "friendship" with William. I did like that the film respected that William is not something to be saved, no matter how hard Solo wants to try (the implication being he is failing everywhere in his own life--maybe he can succeed for William). But, then the ending, which I'm torn between feeling it properly ended the story (particularly given the implication that Solo's failures as a parental figure can still be fixed whereas William's were unfortunately beyond mending) and that Bahrani never had much in mind for either of these characters; just a look at the disappointments of life, one old, weathered and finished and the other younger, spirited but by the end, somewhat disillusioned. I got the sense that Bahrani wanted to stress the cultural separation of these two characters and perhaps even the changing landscape of certain regions, but his style is so plain that he fails to really evoke any sense of place.

I don't know. I came away with a lot of respect for the filmmakers as well as the two main actors, but at the same time a little disappointed and not nearly as moved as I expected.

[Fezzik]

I saw Monster's Inc alone in a theater full of people with children. They probably thought that I was weird, until I started sobbing at the end, at which point I'm surprised they didn't call the cops on me.

Monsters, Inc. always makes me tear up when i watch it. It's such a lovely and emotionally warm film. It's the cinematic equivalent of huddling under a blanket while it rains outside.

It takes something special for a singular word to make me tear up.

Kitty!

[Dukefrukem]

Universal Soldier: Regeneration is surprisingly non-sucky?!

I just read a few reviews including this one on Blu-ray.com:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Universal-Soldier-Regeneration-Blu-ray-Review/8005/

Aint it Cool News said the same thing. Made me curious...

[NickGlass]

I hate that British is the default accent for movies that take place anywhere in the world other than England.

See: The Last Station. A movie set in Russia where everyone speaks English with a British accent.

Why is that?

Well, the film has a bit of an anachronistic quality, and the only authentically Russian aspects of the film are the beards and "v"-heavy names.

[Adam]

Watched Exotica for the first time this morning. There's a lot to love there, but I found the movie vaguely unsatisfying. Most of the ostensibly devastating reveals fell pretty flat for me and the acting was uniformly uneven outside of maybe Don McKellar. I'll probably check it out again


I hate that British is the default accent for movies that take place anywhere in the world other than England.

I think it's gotten to the point now where that's just a conceit you have to go with. Really hate to give Bryan Singer's Valkyrie credit for anything, but I did dig how they handle the whole "hey, nobody's speaking German" situation. The first couple of lines in the film are delivered via voiceover by Tom Cruise in German and then mid-sentence he switches to English and we're meant to understand that the actors won't be speaking German, even though the characters obviously are

[Russ]

Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening - 2
I liked him as the anti-Antipodean fruit vendor on Flight of the Conchords.
Good name drop. Yeah, he was pretty funny on FotC. (plus, it's always cool when an actor's birthplace is mine, Karim's and dissent's adopted hometown (Columbia, South Cackalacky).

[Dukefrukem]

Guys,

Which site is more accurate. I'm looking at the list All Time Top Stars at the Box Office... which means the actors, whos films grossed the most amount of money, WW (i think).

The-Numbers (http://www.the-numbers.com/people/records/) has #1 Frank Welker @ $4.9 billion and #2 Samuel L. Jackson at $4.4 billion

BoxOfficeMojo (http://boxofficemojo.com/people/?view=Actor&sort=sumgross&p=.htm) has #1 Tom Hanks@ $3.5 billion and #2 Eddie Murphy at $3.4 billion..

Which site is more accurate?

Edit: Okay, Boxoffice MOJO has a note at the bottom, "cameo/voice work and movies without grosses omitted" which would drop Frank Welker, but Samuel L Jackson is still at $2.3 Billion.

[Beau]

I think it's gotten to the point now where that's just a conceit you have to go with. Really hate to give Bryan Singer's Valkyrie credit for anything, but I did dig how they handle the whole "hey, nobody's speaking German" situation. The first couple of lines in the film are delivered via voiceover by Tom Cruise in German and then mid-sentence he switches to English and we're meant to understand that the actors won't be speaking German, even though the characters obviously are

That's what they did in Judgment at Nuremberg. Brilliantly, too.

[Mara]

Thought we had a thread for short films? Couldn't find it.

Get Out (http://www.getout-lefilm.com/extrait.html), an animated French short. Interesting and somewhat charming.

[Ezee E]

The good scenes that Gamer did have became crappy because they insisted on having Marilyn Manson songs blare on top of the action. Did they not have a budget for a good sound mix?

Plenty of other potential there, but still ruined. Fell asleep twice in the two attempts of watching it.

[Sven]

So I (re)watched(I think) Tsui Hark's Double Team. So awesome. What a crazy movie! I could watch it again. Some dumb things, but so what? So much fun.

[balmakboor]

In case nobody noticed, my rewatch of Inglourious Basterds over the weekend has converted me from a moderate detractor to one of its most ardent fans.

[MadMan]

In case nobody noticed, my rewatch of Inglourious Basterds over the weekend has converted me from a moderate detractor to one of its most ardent fans.Hey, welcome to the club. One of my favorites from last year, and QT's second best film.

[Thirdmango]

I just saw Four Lions at Sundance. It was mind blowing. I'd be surprised if it was able to get any sort of release in the US though it will get some sort of release in the UK. It was pretty brilliant.

[Rowland]

So I (re)watched(I think) Tsui Hark's Double Team. So awesome. What a crazy movie! I could watch it again. Some dumb things, but so what? So much fun.Yep, it holds up better than many of the '90s more po-faced action movies (i.e. snorefest Air Force One). Now you need only revisit his doubly insane Knock Off.

[dreamdead]

Shane Acker's 9 doesn't feel at all interesting as a full-length narrative. I have no idea if the short captures the energy of the project, but this one just feels so limp and conventional, containing pretty much every cliche of post-apocalyptic narratives without reworking them or playing with them in interesting ways. There's one moment of sublimity, though, when "Over the Rainbow" is playing and the robot looms amidst the rubble. That was magical. Nothing else was. Sad.

Days of Heaven and Ed Wood rewatches (first viewings for thefourthwall) were good, but neither really strikes me as magical anymore. I prefer Malick's last two features and am seemingly over Burton's aesthetic. Ah well. They were enjoyable nonetheless. We're getting to Davies' The House of Mirth in the next day or so.

[Raiders]

Days of Heaven and Ed Wood rewatches (first viewings for thefourthwall) were good, but neither really strikes me as magical anymore. I prefer Malick's last two features and am seemingly over Burton's aesthetic. Ah well. They were enjoyable nonetheless. We're getting to Davies' The House of Mirth in the next day or so.

Comparing Malick films just feels... wrong. But nonetheless, I am of the opinion that Days of Heaven is not only obviously his best film, but every time I watch it (hell, every time I think of it), it only moves further up my list. Defines "magical film-making."

[Watashi]

I really wouldn't describe Ed Wood as "magical".

[dreamdead]

I really wouldn't describe Ed Wood as "magical".

Perhaps not so much magical as simply enjoyable. The whole film is just humorous, and most of Landau's lines are ones that I giggle at even now, on this fourth or fifth viewing. I equate that with the film delivering quality laughs. What's interesting is that the narrative itself has finally gotten a touch old. Even though it can be appreciated as a wink-fest, I think there's a few too many on-the-nose moments.

[megladon8]

What if Disney animated literary drama instead of fairy tales? (http://www.cinematical.com/2010/01/25/if-disney-animated-literary-drama-instead-of-fairy-tales/)

I LOL'ed at the "Oedipus Rex" one. :lol:

[Fezzik]

Someone mentioned a NetFlix RSS feed before. Where do I subscribe? I cant find any info on the Netflix site.

[Fezzik]

So, I'm about halfway through Rashomon, Am I supposed to be impressed yet?

Mifune's performance borders on absurd overacting, the editing is choppy...I don't get it. Did I get the wrong movie or something? All I've ever heard is how this is one of the greats.

[number8]

It is, and Mifune's acting is one of the best performances ever.

[number8]

I just saw Four Lions at Sundance. It was mind blowing. I'd be surprised if it was able to get any sort of release in the US though it will get some sort of release in the UK. It was pretty brilliant.

I'm so excited for this.

Speaking of Sundance, three of the movies debuting there this year are available to rent from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/movies.

[Rowland]

Rashomon is indeed one of the great, but I can imagine it being a poor entry point into the man's ouevre for most viewers.

I'm particularly fond of Stray Dog, which I don't think gets enough credit as one of his best efforts, and its sensibilities are probably more accessible than most of his work.

[Rowland]

Anyone bother to see Next Day Air? It turned out to be a pleasant surpise, so kudos to Nathan Lee for landing it on my radar.

[balmakboor]

Someone mentioned a NetFlix RSS feed before. Where do I subscribe? I cant find any info on the Netflix site.

http://www.netflix.com/RSSFeeds?lnkctr=mfRSS&lnkceData=14&lnkce=ftrlnk&trkid=921401

[Qrazy]

I'm particularly fond of Stray Dog, which I don't think gets enough credit as one of his best efforts, and its sensibilities are probably more accessible than most of his work.

Hrm I find it to be fairly lower tier myself. Throne of Blood which is his best film is probably a fairly good entry point. High and Low also seems like a good entry point.

[soitgoes...]

I'm pretty sure Seven Samurai is the best place to start with Kurosawa. Throne of Blood would be good too.

[Derek]

I'm particularly fond of Stray Dog, which I don't think gets enough credit as one of his best efforts, and its sensibilities are probably more accessible than most of his work.

It's a friend of mine's favorite of his - something I'll never understand. Of his more Americanized films, I'd take High & Low.


Anyone bother to see Next Day Air? It turned out to be a pleasant surpise, so kudos to Nathan Lee for landing it on my radar.

Nathan Lee's great. With your and his recommendation, I may have to give this a go.

[ledfloyd]

I still can't really decide whether or not I like, and am satisfied with, the ending of Goodbye Solo. I know I loved the opening act and became increasingly disappointed by the middle act (particularly when it truly goes nowhere interesting) and the treatment of William who should have remained impenetrable (I hated the reveal of that diary--awwww, he cared after all). Solo also is a bit underwhelming a character, going through the standard motions and the ending completely stunts him as his own figure, instead choosing to let him remain defined only by his "friendship" with William. I did like that the film respected that William is not something to be saved, no matter how hard Solo wants to try (the implication being he is failing everywhere in his own life--maybe he can succeed for William). But, then the ending, which I'm torn between feeling it properly ended the story (particularly given the implication that Solo's failures as a parental figure can still be fixed whereas William's were unfortunately beyond mending) and that Bahrani never had much in mind for either of these characters; just a look at the disappointments of life, one old, weathered and finished and the other younger, spirited but by the end, somewhat disillusioned. I got the sense that Bahrani wanted to stress the cultural separation of these two characters and perhaps even the changing landscape of certain regions, but his style is so plain that he fails to really evoke any sense of place.

I don't know. I came away with a lot of respect for the filmmakers as well as the two main actors, but at the same time a little disappointed and not nearly as moved as I expected.
i seem to recall bahrani saying something in regards to the ending being one of the hardest things solo has ever had to do and also an act displaying his love for william. my love for it has depreciated over time, but i still think it's one of the better films of the year.

[Sven]

Bosco: that '31 Dr J & Mr H is pretty boss, eh?

[Dead & Messed Up]

Huh. I just realized that my only break from Harryhausen the past couple weeks was watching Monsters Inc, which features a restaurant named Harryhausen.

Dammit, I can't escape!

[Ezee E]

High & Low is my favorite Kurosawa, but I'll say Rashomon or Seven Samurai are the ideal start.

[MadMan]

Huh. I just realized that my only break from Harryhausen the past couple weeks was watching Monsters Inc, which features a restaurant named Harryhausen.

Dammit, I can't escape!Oh wow, I didn't catch that part of the movie when I saw it in theaters. Wonderful film, Monsters Inc-I should try and revisit it sometime, as I bet my rating would improve a bit.

[Bosco B Thug]

Bosco: that '31 Dr J & Mr H is pretty boss, eh? Yessiree, it sure is. Was blown away. I blurbed a bit about it a bit in the Sangre & Tetas thread, particularly how the 41 one is so lame in comparison.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Yessiree, it sure is. Was blown away. I blurbed a bit about it a bit in the Sangre & Tetas thread, particularly how the 41 one is so lame in comparison.

I don't know that the '41 version is lame...it just feels so utterly unnecessary after the '31 one.

[Adam]

Perhaps not so much magical as simply enjoyable. The whole film is just humorous, and most of Landau's lines are ones that I giggle at even now, on this fourth or fifth viewing. I equate that with the film delivering quality laughs. What's interesting is that the narrative itself has finally gotten a touch old. Even though it can be appreciated as a wink-fest, I think there's a few too many on-the-nose moments.

I dunno, I might call it "magical." Especially towards the end. It's pretty hard not to get swept up in it all once he meets Welles and then the stuff with him at his movie premiere in the rain and Patricia Arquette and whatnot


Anyone bother to see Next Day Air? It turned out to be a pleasant surpise, so kudos to Nathan Lee for landing it on my radar.

Next Day Air was fun, but by the end it came off so slight that I kinda felt like I just wasted 90 minutes. Could've used more Mos Def


I'm pretty sure Seven Samurai is the best place to start with Kurosawa. Throne of Blood would be good too.

The first Kurosawa movie I saw was Red Beard and that's a great place to start


I like him, but he's very melodramatic and visually 'loud.' Not everyone digs his style. He's very grand, fancy, ornate, and mannered. The actors express every expression they can possibly express, usually within a minute. If they can only express one expression, they'll express it all movie long. Lots of soap-y situations. Passion! Death! Tears! Costumes! I don't mind any of this and Visconti does it really well. Senso is a good film. It has that sweeping, epic romance vibe to it. Should be beautiful on the big screen. If you can accept Farley Granger pretending to be hot stuff, and don't mind the things I mentioned above, you should enjoy it.

Went and saw Senso last night and it was a pretty great time. Most everyone I went with dug it, too, which is surprising because I'd imagine it to be just as love-it-or-hate-it as you describe it. I just added whatever I could from Visconti on Netflix

[soitgoes...]

The first Kurosawa movie I saw was Red Beard and that's a great place to startDepending on my mood it is my favorite of his, but I think his samurai films would be more attractive to most first time viewers.

[Grouchy]

I can't remember 100% what was the first Kurosawa movie I saw, but it might have been Rashomon. At least that's probably the first one I heard about.

I saw this '80s helicopter flick called Blue Thunder, mainly because of Roy Scheider and Malcolm McDowell. Its only redeeming value is the truly fucking staggering amount of explosions on the last third. Other than that, it has aged badly, and I'm not talking about the technology. Characters often make illogical, random decisions and I'm not the kind of person to complain about lack of political correctness in an action hero, but this guy endangers his wife pretty badly to perform a task he could have done himself. I didn't get that part at all. Good thing her wife had those mad James Bond driving skills.

[Rowland]

It's a friend of mine's favorite of his - something I'll never understand. Of his more Americanized films, I'd take High & Low.I'd take High & Low as well, but in terms of appealing to modern audience sensibilities, I think Stray Dog is more accessible.

Nathan Lee's great. With your and his recommendation, I may have to give this a go.Yeah, his placement of Halloween II on his top ten list is what prompted me to give that film a shot, which proved far more interesting than its reception led me to anticipate.

[Fezzik]

Depending on my mood it is my favorite of his, but I think his samurai films would be more attractive to most first time viewers.

The thing is, I feel like a real idiot because of how I feel about Rashomon. I mean, there's something I'm obviously missing. I didn't finish watching it last night (not because I didn't want to, but because real life bit me in the ass), so I am hoping watching the rest of it changes it for me.

Do any of you ever watch a movie thats ever widely regarded as a "classic," not like it, and then wonder if there's something wrong with you?

I do that all the time.

[Qrazy]

The thing is, I feel like a real idiot because of how I feel about Rashomon. I mean, there's something I'm obviously missing. I didn't finish watching it last night (not because I didn't want to, but because real life bit me in the ass), so I am hoping watching the rest of it changes it for me.

Do any of you ever watch a movie thats ever widely regarded as a "classic," not like it, and then wonder if there's something wrong with you?

I do that all the time.

No. Usually I see the greatness and in the cases where I don't it's because the critical consensus is wrong and I am right.

[Qrazy]

Went and saw Senso last night and it was a pretty great time. Most everyone I went with dug it, too, which is surprising because I'd imagine it to be just as love-it-or-hate-it as you describe it. I just added whatever I could from Visconti on Netflix

Rocco and His Brothers is great.
Death in Venice is crap.
White Nights is decent.

[Mysterious Dude]

Ossessione is my favorite Visconti.

I've had Le Notti Bianche on my queue for quite a few years now. Not a huge fan of Marcello Mastroianni.

[Wryan]

I liked Rocco and His Brothers, too. Probably overlong, but develops into something pretty powerful.

[Sven]

Do any of you ever watch a movie thats ever widely regarded as a "classic," not like it, and then wonder if there's something wrong with you?

I do that all the time.

I try to not let the consensus reflect negatively on me, but, like Q, try instead to volley that negativity back to the critics to bolster my own ego by convincing myself that my position is more legitimate than theirs.

[balmakboor]

Death in Venice is crap.

I've always had the opposite opinion. I find it mesmerizing and quite beautiful. What about it tops your list for crap-iosity?

[Rowland]

My most recent instance of a reaction differing severely from the critical consensus was Trouble in Paradise. I only watched the first half before turning it off because I was falling asleep. Maybe I was just sleep-deprived, never did get around to finishing it.

[Qrazy]

I've always had the opposite opinion. I find it mesmerizing and quite beautiful. What about it tops your list for crap-iosity?

I like the opening shot with Mahler. It's all down hill from there. Horrible color palette. Lots of those slow zooms which I can't stand. Bad structure (guy wanders around for the most part and then they cram the thematic content into theme spouting flashbacks). Many scenes lacking energy and life and a general lack of purposiveness. Also a weak central performance coupled with an unsuccessful central 'relationship' (the guy and the kid). I also didn't find it to be a very good adaptation. Visconti didn't successfully express the content of the novel or the manner in which the protagonist approaches the kid (as an ideal).

[Beau]

Went and saw Senso last night and it was a pretty great time. Most everyone I went with dug it, too, which is surprising because I'd imagine it to be just as love-it-or-hate-it as you describe it. I just added whatever I could from Visconti on Netflix

Glad you liked it. I also dig the other films I've seen from him: Ossessione, Rocco and his Brothers, La Terra Trema, and White Nights. I really want to see The Leopard.

Rocco is probably his 'fullest,' in that it perfectly captures what it's trying to capture. It feels complete and whole. White Nights is more interesting and I'd rather dive into it than Rocco, but Visconti's trademark overacting is a little overbearing in Nights, which is a problem because the film is entirely focused on the central performances by Schell and Mastroianni. They produce a claustrophobic duo that appears to exist in a vacuum. It's like a melodramatic Sokurov movie. In Italian. And starring the most gorgeous girl you've ever seen. Obviously worth seeing. When I first saw it, I likened it to a ghost story without the ghosts. If you want to get creative, you can interpret the ghosts into the film, but I would rather keep it as a distant suggestion -- the idea of the supernatural or the dreamlike, the aura of it.

[Qrazy]

Glad you liked it. I also dig the other films I've seen from him: Ossessione, Rocco and his Brothers, La Terra Trema, and White Nights. I really want to see The Leopard.

Rocco is probably his 'fullest,' in that it perfectly captures what it's trying to capture. It feels complete and whole. White Nights is more interesting and I'd rather dive into it than Rocco, but Visconti's trademark overacting is a little overbearing in Nights, which is a problem because the film is entirely focused on the central performances by Schell and Mastroianni. They produce a claustrophobic duo that appears to exist in a vacuum. It's like a melodramatic Sokurov movie. In Italian. And starring the most gorgeous girl you've ever seen. Obviously worth seeing. When I first saw it, I likened it to a ghost story without the ghosts. If you want to get creative, you can interpret the ghosts into the film, but I would rather keep it as a distant suggestion -- the idea of the supernatural or the dreamlike, the aura of it.

I've heard The Damned is excellent also. I need to get on that.

[balmakboor]

I like the opening shot with Mahler. It's all down hill from there. Horrible color palette. Lots of those slow zooms which I can't stand. Bad structure (guy wanders around for the most part and then they cram the thematic content into theme spouting flashbacks). Many scenes lacking energy and life and a general lack of purposiveness. Also a weak central performance coupled with an unsuccessful central 'relationship' (the guy and the kid). I also didn't find it to be a very good adaptation. Visconti didn't successfully express the content of the novel or the manner in which the protagonist approaches the kid (as an ideal).

Sheesh. I only asked for what's at the top of your crap-o-meter, not the whole thing. :)

I definitely love the use of music, not just during the opening shot, but throughout. I tend to love movies that are slow moving, have little dialog, and have haunting music. This certainly had all of those. I love the slow zooms. I'm sometimes annoyed by quick zooms in movies but never by slow ones. I think we agree that the flashback structure doesn't work. I love watching the guy wander about though. I thought the color palette (how can a color palette be horrible in itself?), the lethargic and unpurposive qualities, not to mention the rather sickly makeup all worked together to create a strange, aching, morbid vibe that worked for me.

I haven't read the book. I'm never bothered though if a movie doesn't express the same things as its source material.

[balmakboor]

I've heard The Damned is excellent also. I need to get on that.

I'll revisit The Damned some time. I honestly didn't know what the fuck was going on and almost turned it off. I still feel the need to figure it out though since it was Fassbinder's favorite movie.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The thing is, I feel like a real idiot because of how I feel about Rashomon. I mean, there's something I'm obviously missing. I didn't finish watching it last night (not because I didn't want to, but because real life bit me in the ass), so I am hoping watching the rest of it changes it for me.

Do any of you ever watch a movie thats ever widely regarded as a "classic," not like it, and then wonder if there's something wrong with you?

I do that all the time.

I did about Dr. Strangelove. Didn't laugh once, knew that it's one of the best comedies ever, and briefly considered turning in my film-watching card.

[Qrazy]

Sheesh. I only asked for what's at the top of your crap-o-meter, not the whole thing. :)

I definitely love the use of music, not just during the opening shot, but throughout. I tend to love movies that are slow moving, have little dialog, and have haunting music. This certainly had all of those.

Mahler is definitely great, certainly one of the highlights of the film.


I love the slow zooms. I'm sometimes annoyed by quick zooms in movies but never by slow ones. I think we agree that the flashback structure doesn't work. I love watching the guy wander about though. I thought the color palette (how can a color palette be horrible in itself?), the lethargic and unpurposive qualities, not to mention the rather sickly makeup all worked together to create a strange, aching, morbid vibe that worked for me.

By a horrible color palette I suppose I mean one that I find to be purposelessly aesthetically unappealing. Sometimes in certain cases imagery and/or color scheme ought to be unappealing but I didn't find that to be the case here.


I haven't read the book. I'm never bothered though if a movie doesn't express the same things as its source material.

It's not so much that it's not expressing the same thing as that it's not effectively translating the most important/relevant ideas of the novel. I agree with you in general. When Kubrick diverges from a story though it's to make the narrative/themes more resonant. Here I feel they are much, much less resonant and significant.

[Skitch]

Rewatching Collateral. This flick doesn't get enough love.

[number8]

The new edition of David Bordwell's Film Art has Collateral on the cover.

[Skitch]

The new edition of David Bordwell's Film Art has Collateral on the cover.

I will have to investigate.

I'm fascinated by how shooting on digital either works for a film or against it. I think Collateral is an example of how it works for the narrative. I really need to see Public Enemies.

[Beau]

Tarkovsky at the LACMA. :)

Mirror and Nostalghia double-bill this Friday, though I'd have to pay for each one, so it's not really a double bill. Rublev on Saturday, but I don't think I'll be able to go. We'll see.

[Beau]

Tarkovsky at the LACMA. :)

Mirror and Nostalghia double-bill this Friday, though I'd have to pay for each one, so it's not really a double bill. Rublev on Saturday, but I don't think I'll be able to go. We'll see.

Never mind. It's actually a double-bill. Sweet.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Rewatching Collateral. This flick doesn't get enough love.

It's my favorite film by Mann, and one of my favorites of the decade.

[Bosco B Thug]

I don't know that the '41 version is lame...it just feels so utterly unnecessary after the '31 one. I don't know, it didt start off okay. Bergman brings some bite to it, definitely. But I think back on it and all I remember is how "dorky" much of it was. Doesn't help it was kind of a bore. I'm pretty sure I dozed off during one of those endless close-ups on Spencer Tracy's face when he's transforming. Ridiculous. Just was a reminder me how gimmicky genre films were, way back then, too.

[Grouchy]

I saw Lakeview Terrace. Other than a fun performance by Sam L. Jackson, this film has nothing working for it. Literally nothing. I could predict everything that was going to happen, every racial thematic bullshit the characters were going to rant about, and what's even worse, the movie went from subtle, creepy thriller to action extravaganza in a split second so it could end somewhere satisfying for the audience. Very much a piece of shit. I've been interested in seeing something by LaBute, and maybe this wasn't a good place to start.

[MadMan]

Lakeview Terrence in some ways cannot be properly taken seriously (see: Jackson bitchslapping his own daughter, which is beyond hilarious in a horrible way). But its other elements are certainly interesting, and its take on abuse of power is far more interesting and timely than any of the racial aspects. Decent movie, but not really noteworthy in the end.

The first Kurosawa I saw was Seven Samuari, and yes its a truly great movie, one of the best of all time.

Collateral is of course an awesome movie, and would probably crack my Top 20 or 30 for the decade (I only only compilled a Top 10, as that was easiest). I'm glad I blind bought it on DVD about two years ago, as it was a worthy addition to my collection. Public Enemies as I stated before is great as well, but is only two points scored lower than Collateral.

[B-side]

Never mind. It's actually a double-bill. Sweet.

Lucky prick.:P

[Derek]

Mother and Son (Sokurov, 1997)

Thoughts?

[B-side]

The thing is, I feel like a real idiot because of how I feel about Rashomon. I mean, there's something I'm obviously missing. I didn't finish watching it last night (not because I didn't want to, but because real life bit me in the ass), so I am hoping watching the rest of it changes it for me.

Do any of you ever watch a movie thats ever widely regarded as a "classic," not like it, and then wonder if there's something wrong with you?

I do that all the time.

You're not alone, trust me. This feeling pervades me constantly when it comes to Bresson. Everyone else sees profundity, I see minimalism and bad acting. I understand the actors as models concept, I just don't think it translates.

I actually wasn't all that impressed with Rashomon either. And, of course, I had the exact same feelings of mental inadequacy.

I guess I try and look at it like a learning process. Perhaps you'll find yourself wanting to revisit it a year or two down the road and end up adoring it. Perhaps not. Either way, you're not wrong.:)

[B-side]

Thoughts?

Slow like a barely moving painting, but surprisingly engrossing. It's beautiful to look at. I kinda wish the mother/son dynamic was a tad more interesting, but we're given enough to work with in terms of an emotional connection. Not so much intellectually, which is really my central complaint, but it's good stuff.

[Winston*]

Not sure if this belongs in the TV or film thread, but the Red Riding trilogy is excellent, if perhaps a little too light on exposition.

[Yxklyx]

I've heard The Damned is excellent also. I need to get on that.

Rocco is my favorite of his - just epic in nearly every sense. Ossessione is excellent as well. La Terra Trema and Le Notti bianche are decent. I thought The Leopard was bordering on awful but The Damned was back to excellence.

[B-side]

Discuss: Alain Robbe-Grillet.

He can't seem to miss with me.

[Raiders]

Discuss: Alain Robbe-Grillet.

He can't seem to miss with me.

My only exposure is that I have copies of his books Jealousy and In the Labyrinth at home. Haven't ever read them, though.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Discuss: Alain Robbe-Grillet.

He can't seem to miss with me.

My ex was a total ARG fangirl. As for me, I've only seen L'anneé dernière a Marienbad, and liked it a good deal.

In other news, has anyone seen Police, adjective? I was very disappointed given all the hoopla, and my own enthusiasm for 12:08. The first 3/4s are typical slow moving foreign cinema/festival bait fare where people do nothing but stand around or eat food among typically shitty looking apartment buildings, the last 1/4 has to be the most blatant 'SPELLING OUT OF THEMES' scenes I've seen in any film. Seriously, it's Dark Knight levels of obvious.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms has two things in its favor: it beat Godzilla to the irradiated-monster-trashes-city plot by one year, and its stop-motion effects (Harryhausen!) work better than Godzilla's unconvincing man-in-suit escapades. But this film lacks the subtextual imperatives of its Japanese cousin, instead functioning on a too-basic creature feature level. The creature (a "Rhedosaurus") looks good, especially when stomping through New York, but the story quickly loses steam after a Thing-lite sequence in the Arctic. The finale, in which hazmat-wearing scientists ride a roller coaster and shoot at the beast, should be terrific fun. Instead, it's laboriously constructed and tedious, as the animal just stands around.

C

http://www.unfilteredsmoke.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/beast20000.jpg

PS: Okay, one part is pretty fun. A scientist goes into a submersible and breathlessly describes the monster over a microphone as it approaches him. He's too enamored to realize that it's going to eat him.

[Yxklyx]

I like the opening shot with Mahler. It's all down hill from there. Horrible color palette. Lots of those slow zooms which I can't stand. Bad structure (guy wanders around for the most part and then they cram the thematic content into theme spouting flashbacks). Many scenes lacking energy and life and a general lack of purposiveness. Also a weak central performance coupled with an unsuccessful central 'relationship' (the guy and the kid). I also didn't find it to be a very good adaptation. Visconti didn't successfully express the content of the novel or the manner in which the protagonist approaches the kid (as an ideal).

Regarding Visconti's color palette... Have not seen Death in Venice but I loved the color palette in The Damned. I believe it was similar to a typical Fassbinder. Perhaps Visconti was in the habit of experimenting with colors and sometimes his experiments weren't successful.

[balmakboor]

Regarding Visconti's color palette... Have not seen Death in Venice but I loved the color palette in The Damned. I believe it was similar to a typical Fassbinder.

I think it more accurate to say that Fassbinder's films owed their color palette to The Damned.

[Raiders]

I think it more accurate to say that Fassbinder's films owed their color palette to The Damned.

Especially considering Fassbinder called it his favorite film.

[Spun Lepton]

Had Starship Troopers been released in 1987 instead of 1997, I think the reception would've been much more favorable. I remember being disappointed in it when I saw it in theaters because I didn't sense that typical Verhoeven-ish tongue-in-cheekiness -- which, I plainly saw this time around. Apparently, I wasn't paying much attention the first time around.

The lead cast is good, but never great. Dina Meyer was the strongest actor of the lead cast. (And the hottest.) NPH could've used more screentime. Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside are as awesome as you would expect them to be. In the end, I couldn't rank it up with the likes of Robocop or even Total Recall, but it is pretty entertaining. 7/10

[baby doll]

My ex was a total ARG fangirl.You should've held on to her. She sounds like a keeper.


In other news, has anyone seen Police, adjective? I was very disappointed given all the hoopla, and my own enthusiasm for 12:08. The first 3/4s are typical slow moving foreign cinema/festival bait fare where people do nothing but stand around or eat food among typically shitty looking apartment buildings, the last 1/4 has to be the most blatant 'SPELLING OUT OF THEMES' scenes I've seen in any film. Seriously, it's Dark Knight levels of obvious.Wasn't the first 1/2 of 12:08 East of Bucharest also typical of slow moving festival bait where people do nothing but stand around or eat food in crappy looking apartment buildings? And wasn't the entire second half (the part that I like) just the characters talking about the revolution?

[Adam]

tim burton announced as jury president for the 2010 cannes film festival (http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/article/56993.html)



Upon accepting the invitation from Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux, Tim Burton declared: "After spending my early life watching triple features and 48-hour horror movie marathons, I’m finally ready for this. It’s a great honour and I look forward, with my fellow jurors, to watching some great films from around the world. When you think of Cannes you think of world cinema. And as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true."

American director Timothy Walter Burton was born August 25th 1958 in California. From childhood he developed a passion for drawing and Gothic films, and studied at the California Institute of the Arts before joining the Disney studios animation team. His own work, highly original even then, was very different from the style of cartoons made by Disney, but the studio recognized his talent and helped with the production of his first short films: Vincent (1982), Hansel and Gretel (1983) and Frankenweenie (1984).

His first feature film, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), was a success but it was Beetlejuice (1988) that threw the doors of Hollywood wide open. Warner hired him for the first Batman (1989), which enabled him to move on to more personal projects, imposing his style with Edward Scissorhands (1990) which he directed, and Nightmare before Christmas (1993), which he produced. Their worldwide critical acclaim established his reputation as a visionary craftsman.

The fourteen feature films which make up his works reinvent every genre, from biography (Ed Wood, which got him selected for the Competition at Cannes in 1995), to science fiction (Mars Attacks, in 1997, or Planet of the Apes, in 2001), via gothic (Sleepy Hollow, 1999), fantasy (Big Fish, 2003), animation (The Corpse Bride, 2005), tales for children (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005) as well as a musical, Sweeney Todd, in 2007.

Famous for being a filmmaker, Tim Burton is also an illustrator, a painter and a photographer. In 1998, he published a collection of illustrated poems, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories". New York’s MoMA celebrates him as an artist with a major exhibition of his work that will show until April 28th 2010.

His next feature, a 3D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, staring his emblematic actor Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, is released in theatres in the U.S. on March 5th and in France on April 7th.

"It’s the first time an artist whose origins are in animation will preside over the jury of the Festival de Cannes. A filmmaker with a heart of gold and silver hands, Tim Burton is first and foremost a poet. He’s a magician of visual delights who turns the screen into a faery wonder. We hope his sweet madness and gothic humour will pervade the Croisette, bringing Christmas to all. Christmas and Halloween…" promises Gilles Jacob, Festival President.

The Festival de Cannes will take place from 12th to 23rd May 2010. The Official Selection will be announced in mid-April.

[Fezzik]

Ok, I restarted Rashomon with expectations in check, and for the first 50 minutes, I was not hating it, but still wasn't feeling it all that much.

Then the medium showed up and suddenly..

:pritch:

It feels like a completely different movie now.

[Fezzik]

It feels like a completely different movie now.

And it stayed that way until the end. Talk about a difference. Mifune's performance over the last 45 minutes was like he decided to change characters completely.

I really don't understand it. It's like a switch turned on.

I can understand now, at least, why its considered a classic. Considering when it was made, the questions it asks are quite surprising.

I do have to pose this, however. It seems, from Rashomon, that Kurosawa didn't have a lot of faith in mankind overall. Is this a theme throughout his oeuvre (a la the Coens) or is this just something covered here?

So, now that I've sat and watched it from beginning to end, I liked it. It's definitely not amongst my favorites (at least on first watch), but I get why its revered. For its time, its risky as hell.

[number8]

Mifune's performance over the last 45 minutes was like he decided to change characters completely.

Well, yeah... He did, 3 times.

[Fezzik]

Well, yeah... He did, 3 times.

:lol:

Touche.

[Sven]

It seems, from Rashomon, that Kurosawa didn't have a lot of faith in mankind overall.

Wha? The guy selflessly takes the baby. Faith is restored!

[Fezzik]

Wha? The guy selflessly takes the baby. Faith is restored!

I know, I know, but it just seems like he was making a point that, yep, there are a couple of diamonds in the rough, but, damn, we just can't trust each other can we?

To be honest, based on the whole "who is telling the truth" angle, can we be sure that guy actually HAS 6 kids of his own and is taking the baby for selfless reasons?

I'm probably going over the top with that question, but I actually DID think it as the guy walked away with the kid.

[Skitch]

I really like Throne Of Blood and The Hidden Fortress.

[Spaceman Spiff]

You should've held on to her. She sounds like a keeper.

Wasn't the first 1/2 of 12:08 East of Bucharest also typical of slow moving festival bait where people do nothing but stand around or eat food in crappy looking apartment buildings? And wasn't the entire second half (the part that I like) just the characters talking about the revolution?

She was actually really cool about things like that and I do miss her at times, but for reasons unrelated to film, it didn't work out.

I guess you're right about 12:08, and I'd probably need to revisit it, but that film's ideology seemed clear to me by being presented in a simple and coherent way. I don't think simple equates to obvious, and Porumboiu crossed the line in Police, adjective. That, and I don't remember any absurdly long scenes of people literally doing nothing but eating food in 12:08. Is this supposed to be artistic or formally interesting? It's not. It's just some guy sipping soup, eating bread and drinking a beer. Do I really need to watch him chew and sip for 6 bloody minutes?

[Fezzik]

After Rashomon, I watched Chungking Express. Wong Kar-Wai had better be careful or he might become my favorite director.

I adored this movie. I loved the way the film noir feel of the first mini-story transitioned into the quirky, Amelie by way of Lost in Translation second story.

The first half was shot like it was a drug induced haze, with the orange filter, the motion blur and odd angles. it doesn't surprise me that Doyle is behind the camera here.

Kaneshiro and Lin were very good in their roles, with Kaneshiro's Qwui being both pathetic and relatable at the same time. Lin was more mysterious, but I liked the way her arc concluded, shot in the same 1st person dreaminess as her run through the Subway.

But the second story, starring Tony Leung and Faye Wong (who I've never seen before but is incredibly adorable) is my favorite of the two.

It's got a folksy warmth to go with its oddball characters and contains some breathtaking shots (my favorite being when Leung is trying to read Faye's rain soaked letter in the convenience store and the scene is partially obscured by the rain beating on the window).

Just wonderful, wonderful stuff. It seems that WKW has a love for Western culture that he displays prominently here (the neon signs all over the ward in the first half, the music choices in the 2nd).

It's obvious why Tarantino loves this film so much.

The only complaint i had isn't even with the film itself. The Blu-Ray translation didn't come across too well. It looked grainy and less than stellar.

[Sven]

I'm probably going over the top with that question, but I actually DID think it as the guy walked away with the kid.

And I think rightfully so, because Kurosawa is not the blunt moralist that the scene would have you believe he is. It's a pretty complicated film, obviously, and one that takes pretty full use of the form to turn the whole thing inside out.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Chunking Express is one of those films that I find myself thinking about constantly, I don't want to say daily.... but damn near close to it.

[MadMan]

My attempt to watch 2046 ended when the DVD from the public library refused to work. Time to try Netflix for more WKW, anyways.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is great fun, DaMu, but I agree that its not as good as the original Godzilla. I remember watching it late at night on AMC, back when I was younger and AMC didn't suck as a movie channel. Perhaps I should revisit it sometime.

Control was fairly great, although the ending dragged a bit and some of the movie was a bit unpolished. Still, whether or not much of what was covered is wholly accurate aside, I liked that it differed from some other standard Hollywood biopics. This was really a good thing, especially since the film was unafraid to showcase Ian Curtis, warts and all-and that is a quality I can truly admire. Plus the music was simply beyond awesome-I've already listened to Unknown Pleasures, and despite the low budget feel of the whole thing production value wise it is absolutely beyond great. Oh and of course "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is one helleva a lovesong, naturally.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is great fun, DaMu, but I agree that its not as good as the original Godzilla. I remember watching it late at night on AMC, back when I was younger and AMC didn't suck as a movie channel. Perhaps I should revisit it sometime.

I was enjoying the film for the first twenty minutes, but it became increasingly dull as it went along, despite the highlight of the creature rampaging around New York. My favorite bit was when it bit a cop and lifted it in the air - reminded me of the T-Rex chomping Gennaro off the toilet in Jurassic Park.

But as far as sci-fi horror from that era goes, I can't say it's great fun, or even good fun. The Thing, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and even War of the Worlds trump it handily.

I actually haven't seen the original Japanese version of Godzilla. When I was young, I saw the Raymond Burr version and didn't think much of anything about it. So, as of now, the original Gojira is on my queue.

[ledfloyd]

chungking express would probably make my top ten films of all time.

[Rowland]

Chungking Express didn't impress me that much; I actually liked his much-maligned My Blueberry Nights more.

[Qrazy]

Kurosawa is so god damn good. I need to see the rest of his films.

[Boner M]

Weekend:

French Can-Can
The Road
Two Mules For Sister Sara
Pather Panchali (finally... I hope)

[Qrazy]

Pather Panchali[/b] (finally... I hope)

Kurosawa on Ray:

"To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun."

[Boner M]

Kurosawa on Ray:

"To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun."

Truffaut on Ray:

"I don't want to watch a bunch of peasants eating with their hands."

[Mysterious Dude]

Rainer Fassbinder on Truffaut:

"I can't believe this shit!"

[soitgoes...]

Well it doesn't look like The White Ribbon is going to be at the PIFF, here's hoping it makes it to my local art house eventually. I so want to see this on a big screen.

[Skitch]

Boll on Ray:

"Who?"

[Boner M]

Godard on Boll:

"Uwe Boll is cinema"

[Morris Schæffer]

Universal Soldier: Regeneration is surprisingly non-sucky?!

I just read a few reviews including this one on Blu-ray.com:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Universal-Soldier-Regeneration-Blu-ray-Review/8005/

It really delivered, especially when taking into account the DTV status of this movie. The story isn't particularly good, but would you believe this movie is the most violent action flick of 2009? My God, it's brutal, vicious, dirty. It has a cool tracking shot with Van Damme's Devereaux dispatching 9-10 baddies in extremely bloody fashion. The fist fights are brutal, Terminator-style tussles with walls crumbling one after another as the characters are shoved in, and through, said walls. Then Dolph Lundgren's Andrew Scott appears and the final showdown doesn't dissapoint.

[Grouchy]

Fezzik, actually, the question of the worthiness of mankind and morality is all over Kurosawa's work and is not always answered in the same way as in Rashomon. See: High and Low, Stray Dog and even Ran.

[number8]

Whoa.

Miramax closed down.

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/rip-miramax-13606

[Grouchy]

What I don't understand is that the article doesn't name any reason for the closure, except that Disney wanted to reduce the studio's size.

[Raiders]

The six movies waiting distribution -- "Last Night," "The Debt," "The Tempest” among them -- will be shelved, to gather dust, or win a tepid release.

Damn. Taymor's new Bard adaptation and not one but two Sam Worthington films.

I can't believe they will go unreleased. Maybe I'm confused about the business structure, but Disney wholly-owned Miramax, right? They wholly-own other distribution companies (Buena Vista, for one). Can they not pawn it off to one of them? Seems a better business decision than letting the investments die considering all three films are either completed or in post.

[balmakboor]

Damn. I guess I didn't even realize he was still alive, but J.D. Salinger, aka the author of my favorite book "The Catcher in the Rye" is dead at 91.

[Raiders]

Damn. I guess I didn't even realize he was still alive, but J.D. Salinger, aka the author of my favorite book "The Catcher in the Rye" is dead at 91.

http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?p=237336#post23 7336

[balmakboor]

http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?p=237336#post23 7336

Oh. I have a confession. I almost never visit anything here except the general film discussion.

[NickGlass]

This is relevant to both Salinger and film:

Salinger's letter to a fellow who wanted to adapt Catcher in the Rye (http://www.awardsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/4173612315_3d1dbdbc39_o.png)

[thefourthwall]

Though I've been away from the thread for a few days, in catching up I find that you've been discussing some of what I've been thinking about oddly.

I'm trying to choose a film to show to my composition class so that we can talk a little about film analysis, which they'll be doing. They're going to choose an Ebert Great Movie they haven't seen and watch it and then do a couple of writing/research projects. Later in the semester, they'll be doing a multi-genre research paper, so I was hoping to show them a film that was a multi-narrative or something that didn't rely solely on a single chronological narrative to show how to juxtapose based on theme.

I was thinking about either Rashomon or Fallen Angels. Thoughts on which you think would either work better for the project, would be more interesting to a group of advanced college freshmen (mostly), or any other suggestions?

Something like Love Actually would work but I find it offensive and trite, and at least half the class has already seen Pulp Fiction.

[baby doll]

Well it doesn't look like The White Ribbon is going to be at the PIFF, here's hoping it makes it to my local art house eventually. I so want to see this on a big screen.Wasn't PIFF in October? Or is there another festival called PIFF besides the one in Busan?

[baby doll]

Whoa.

Miramax closed down.

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/rip-miramax-13606Some questionable and/or hilarious quotes:

"[Miramax] brought the public enduring stories that [...] pushed the boundaries of cultural barriers (Reservoir Dogs)."

"When we think of the movies that defined the latter part of the 20th century--the movies that mattered, that stories that hit pop culture like a hammer and left a dent--more often than not they came from Miramax. The Piano. Pulp Fiction. sex, lies & videotape. Clerks. The English Patient."

"But there was also lots of plain audacious filmmaking, movies that nobody else would dare make, much less ride to awards glory: Kill Bill I and II. The Ciderhouse Rules. Good Will Hunting. Swingers."

[number8]

Huh. The original Fame is pretty great. Whose brilliant idea was it to take a gritty Alan Parker movie and remake it into a High School Musical retread directed by the guy who does Britney Spears videos?

[soitgoes...]

Wasn't PIFF in October? Or is there another festival called PIFF besides the one in Busan?
Portland.

[Skitch]

Wow, Funny People was quite enjoyable.

[balmakboor]

Wow, Funny People was quite enjoyable.

Yes it was. I was pleasantly surprised.

[Sven]

Hey, does anyone remember if I've seen the film The Ice Harvest? I honestly cannot remember.

[Beau]

Hey, does anyone remember if I've seen the film The Ice Harvest? I honestly cannot remember.

:lol:

[Grouchy]

Though I've been away from the thread for a few days, in catching up I find that you've been discussing some of what I've been thinking about oddly.
What about Magnolia? That is a little less seen than Pulp Fiction.

[Dukefrukem]

Edge of Darkness this weekend. yeh I'm supportin Mel. whateva.

[Boner M]

Hey, does anyone remember if I've seen the film The Ice Harvest? I honestly cannot remember.
Oliver Platt rocked that movie. Connie Nielsen is a babe. Other than that, your memory of it (or lack thereof) is warranted.

[Raiders]

Nah, I really enjoyed The Ice Harvest. Typical Russo/Benton drama I guess, but with a nice bit of black humor. Cusack's only role since 2000 that wasn't lame.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, I liked it a lot as well. A good modern, pulpy noir with Oliver Platt being quite awesome.

[thefourthwall]

What about Magnolia? That is a little less seen than Pulp Fiction.

That's a good thought...long though, I'll have to see if I have an extra day in my syllabus to give to watching it.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Sucks to be Sinbad. In Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, the third and final Harryhausen film featuring the hero of the Arabian nights, he mostly stands around while more exciting stuff happens to him. Of course, most of that stuff consists of Harryhausen's awesome stop-motion work, so it's allowed. But it's still something of a shame that Patrick Wayne, like John Phillip Law and Kerwin Matthews before him, never quite captures the roguish spirit that should capture our sympathies. He's too busy playing second fiddle to creatures. One of these beasts is a superbly-crafted baboon that sticks around for much of the movie, a "hero" monster that's one of Harryhausen's finest moments. The rest, however, lack imagination. A fat, graceless walrus is especially disappointing. Thankfully, Jane Seymour is here, and she gets naked, which alleviates some of that disappointment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/deadandmessedup/sinbad3.jpg

C+

[eternity]

This is relevant to both Salinger and film:

Salinger's letter to a fellow who wanted to adapt Catcher in the Rye (http://www.awardsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/4173612315_3d1dbdbc39_o.png)
Salinger's wrong.

[number8]

Salinger is an Alan Moore wannabe.

[megladon8]

Did I miss something? Since when is Peter Berg a "legendary" director?

A synopsis for his TV movie Virtuality...


Nothing is what it seems in this daring, futuristic movie event from legendary Director Peter Berg (Hancock) and Executive Producers Michael Taylor and Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica). Twelve extremely talented men and women have been chosen to be part of the Phaeton mission, a 10-year trek to explore a distant planetary system. In order to endure the stress of being confined to their high-tech vessel, the crew passes the time using advanced virtual reality modules that allow them to take on various identities. But as the ship approaches a critical phase of their journey, a deadly flaw is discovered in the virtual system, forcing them to question if someone onboard might be a killer. Starring Clea DuVall (Carnivále), Joy Bryant (Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins), Sienna Guillory (Eragon), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Firewall), it’s a dazzling trip to unexplored reaches of outer space and the inner imagination that Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune calls a “complex and intriguing film.”

[Beau]

Zack Snyder taught us that adjectives don't have to be sustained by the reality of the artist they're trying to describe.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Zack Snyder taught us that adjectives don't have to be sustained by the reality of the artist they're trying to describe.

Visionary

[[ETM]]

You can spin anything like that, which is the saddest part - praise itself means nothing, just where it comes from.

[megladon8]

;237996']You can spin anything like that, which is the saddest part - praise itself means nothing, just where it comes from.


My mom tells me I'm cool and good looking. Are you saying that means nothing??

[balmakboor]

I just finished going through the bonus materials on the Gimme Shelter disc and I must say they are some of the best that Criterion has ever put together. The commentary is illuminating, the complete day after radio broadcast is included (the highlight is the full Sonny Barger rant), and the outtakes are as good if not better than the included takes. One of them is a terrific, unplugged performance of Prodigal Son from Madison Square Garden with just Mick seated on a stool singing and Keith on a stool playing an acoustic guitar. It is the Stones at their sloppy and mesmerizing best with Keith even re-tuning his guitar midsong. Even better is an outtake of Mick hanging out backstage with Ike and Tina Turner. At one point, Mick borrows Ike's guitar and plays an impromptu version of Brown Sugar that's incredible.

Of course, the movie itself has been one of my favorites since I first saw it in college in 1980.

[Dead & Messed Up]

A chronological account of me watching Wings of Desire:

Wow.
Ooh, very cool.
Huh. So they can hear--
Oh, nice.
Everyone loves a library.
Peter Falk?
This is beautiful.
Wait, it was color then back!
Not exactly plotted, is it...
More Peter Falk?
Interesting historical ties.
Hey, is he gonna jump?
Wut.
Nick Cave's in this movie?...okay.
Too much color!
Damiel, that jacket looks ridiculous on you.
I miss the black and white!
Oh, that's why more Peter Falk.
Clever.
More Nick Cave?
If these two don't meet each other, I'm gonna punch a baby.
This speech is a little much...
Well, that was pretty damn good.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/solveig460.jpg

A-

[Winston*]

In Rachel Getting Married, there's one scene where Anne Hathway tells her sister she's so skinny she looks like an Asian girl. I feel this breaks the film's reality of a utopian future where no one notices race.

Other than that slip up, I thought the movie was very good.

[Raiders]

A chronological account of me watching Wings of Desire:

Wow.
Ooh, very cool.
Huh. So they can hear--
Oh, nice.
Everyone loves a library.
Peter Falk?
This is beautiful.
Wait, it was color then back!
Not exactly plotted, is it...
More Peter Falk?
Interesting historical ties.
Hey, is he gonna jump?
Wut.
Nick Cave's in this movie?...okay.
Too much color!
Damiel, that jacket looks ridiculous on you.
I miss the black and white!
Oh, that's why more Peter Falk.
Clever.
More Nick Cave?
If these two don't meet each other, I'm gonna punch a baby.
This speech is a little much...
Well, that was pretty damn good.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/solveig460.jpg

A-

I agree with much of this. I'm not much of a fan after he "falls." The dialogue in the bar scene is rather ridiculous.

[megladon8]

My mom wanted me to order a book for her off Amazon, and I added a cheap movie onto the order so we could get free shipping.

I got Charley Varrick.

Looking forward to seeing it.

[Rowland]

So, Moon. Lots to admire both in execution and sensibility, but it falls short of greatness largely in part to writing deficiencies. For what amounts to an existential rumination on the nature of modern man as drone-like, self-supplanting corporate capital contrasted by the human body's inevitable deterioration (reminding of Synecdoche NY in this respect) with only moderately developed hard sci-fi trappings, the extent of narrative shortcuts and all-out gaps present here is surprisingly obtrusive, and the ending is really just kinda-stupid. Rockwell is mesmerizing as a one-man show, even as his *ahem* role isn't always as convincingly fleshed out in its emotional responses as I would have liked, which again appears to stem more from the material than Rockwell's performance. Still affecting for the most part, I prefer Danny Boyle's comparatively underrated (and arguably more flawed) Sunshine.

[number8]

This is a magnificent joke. (http://comics.com/zoom/309217/)

[baby doll]

In Rachel Getting Married, there's one scene where Anne Hathway tells her sister she's so skinny she looks like an Asian girl. I feel this breaks the film's reality of a utopian future where no one notices race.

Other than that slip up, I thought the movie was very good.I'm not the biggest Rachel Getting Married fan, in part because the whole post-racial thing strikes me as ridiculously naïve. But come on dude, have you ever been to Asia?

[Winston*]

I'm not the biggest Rachel Getting Married fan, in part because the whole post-racial thing strikes me as ridiculously naïve. But come on dude, have you ever been to Asia?

Yes?

[Raiders]

I'm not the biggest Rachel Getting Married fan, in part because the whole post-racial thing strikes me as ridiculously naïve. But come on dude, have you ever been to Asia?

What's so naive about it? The stress is on the cultural melting pot and less on the skin color. Demme's first choice for Sidney was Paul Thomas Anderson, after all.

[baby doll]

What's so naive about it? The stress is on the cultural melting pot and less on the skin color. Demme's first choice for Sidney was Paul Thomas Anderson, after all.It's naïve to act like racism doesn't exist anywhere in the world, and particularly in America, and especially in a film so politically correct that none of the black characters are allowed to be remotely interesting. Also, none of the characters are Hindu (except maybe the two brown kids they've rented for the occasion), but all the women are wearing saris. What's up with that?

[Ezee E]

It's naïve to act like racism doesn't exist anywhere in the world, and particularly in America, and especially in a film so politically correct that none of the black characters are allowed to be remotely interesting. Also, none of the characters are Hindu (except maybe the two brown kids they've rented for the occasion), but all the women are wearing saris. What's up with that?
Then it's a completely different movie.

It's about Rachel and her family only. Any awkwardness that either family had with each other was gone years ago, and I had no problem with that.

[Raiders]

It's naïve to act like racism doesn't exist anywhere in the world, and particularly in America, and especially in a film so politically correct that none of the black characters are allowed to be remotely interesting. Also, none of the characters are Hindu (except maybe the two brown kids they've rented for the occasion), but all the women are wearing saris. What's up with that?

It's a wedding; it's a celebration and melding of cultural backgrounds and diversity, as many weddings are and what is easily their most interesting social aspect. That's the film. I don't know why it would need to bring in racial undertones or comments just because the two families are different colors. The only thing post-racial about the film is it doesn't bring it up, which I guess is the most purely post-racial comment you can make, but that hardly seems naive. It seems equally naive to me to assume these families have just met and because one is white and the other black that they cannot get along just fine and must of course have racial tensions.

[megladon8]

I haven't seen the movie, but I also find it strange to assume that just because two families are of different colour, they would automatically feel tension.

I think that, in itself, is kind of a racist presumption.

[baby doll]

Then it's a completely different movie.

It's about Rachel and her family only. Any awkwardness that either family had with each other was gone years ago, and I had no problem with that.Maybe if it weren't for the saris, and the utter genericness of the black family, I might've been able to go along with this argument, but the whole film seemed to scream, "This is what America looks like in 2008," and it obviously doesn't. Obviously there are people in the US who aren't racist, but to focus completely on nice, pleasant people having a good time at an interracial wedding is not only painfully self-congratulatory, but really boring as well. Basically whenever the black family was on screen, I was thinking to myself, "Where's that white bitch? Shouldn't she be having a meltdown or something right about now?"

[number8]

I think inserting racial tension would be far more boring.

Also, they wore saris because they had an Indian-themed wedding. Is it really that weird?

[Rowland]

I found the second half of Rachel Getting Married more than a bit silly myself, so while I haven't seen the film since considering this, I like Ed Gonzalez' take on the issue: "...a wedding whose pretense to multiculturalism reveals itself as a narcissistic clan's way of disguising from the world that they're hurting just as badly as the next family."

[MadMan]

Zack Snyder taught us that adjectives don't have to be sustained by the reality of the artist they're trying to describe.I've read this three times, and I have no idea what the hell you're even saying here. Congrats.

[number8]

I've read this three times, and I have no idea what the hell you're even saying here. Congrats.

Words lie.

[MadMan]

Words lie.Alrighty then. Sometimes I get something that's rather subtitle, and in other instances I need it to smack me in the face five times.

[Beau]

I've read this three times, and I have no idea what the hell you're even saying here. Congrats.

I thought it was pretty obvious. I mean, I wasn't even trying to be subtle.

[Melville]

I thought it was pretty obvious. I mean, I wasn't even trying to be subtle.
But you were evidently being rather subtitle.

[Beau]

But you were evidently being rather subtitle.

Everything I watch nowadays has subtitles.

[MadMan]

I thought it was pretty obvious. I mean, I wasn't even trying to be subtle.*Shurg* Maybe. I donno.

Oh and maybe I'll finally watch Dead Again and I'm Not There tonight. Course there's other movies on Instant Viewing that perhaps interest me more.

[Melville]

Everything I watch nowadays has subtitles.
Ah, well, then the whole conversation made sense. Even the part that didn't.

[Skitch]

I'm gonna watch The Fifth Element for the billionth time. Biiiiiiig batta boom.

[The Mike]

I'm gonna watch The Fifth Element for the billionth time. Biiiiiiig batta boom.
MULTIPASS! :pritch:

[Dead & Messed Up]

I watched Mick Garris's Sleepwalkers. Chastisement to take place in the Sangre thread.

[Skitch]

MULTIPASS! :pritch:
Haziz, LIGHT!!

[Qrazy]

Ah, well, then the whole conversation made sense. Even the part that didn't.

Subtitles sold separately.

[Sven]

Haziz, LIGHT!!

You want some more? You want some more?

[Melville]

Subtitles sold separately.
This is getting a bit abstract, but I suppose it's only reasonable to pay more for an improved product.

[Rowland]

The Brothers Bloom, while not flat-out brilliant like Brick, cements Johnson's status as one of my favorite young filmmakers. This guy is something.

[MadMan]

Dead Again is a neo-noir that presents a twist on the genre in some regards. I liked the black and white flashbacks, and I think the movie is in a few ways an interesting study on obsession, although I feel the movie doesn't go far enough. The last act is full of great tension, mixed in with a bit of silliness, but it works.

On the other hand, Special is one wacked out movie. Some elements paid homage to Taxi Driver, other parts were quite funny, but overall the movie's best aspect was how it handled a man going into the relm of insanity. Lost in all this is some pointless message about drug companies screwing around with human trials, but that didn't matter. Instead, how it exaimed the drug's effect on one singular man, and his quest to "Be somebody" was more affecting. I loved the last shot, although the main character, Les, gets hit by a car twice and lives. So was the ending just his dying wishes, perhaps? I have no idea. Props to Netflix for having this on Instant Viewing, and I first found out about this strange odyssey because of a preview for it when I rented Waltz With Bashair.

[Derek]

The Brothers Bloom, while not flat-out brilliant like Brick, cements Johnson's status as one of my favorite young filmmakers. This guy is something.

I don't get the love for this one, but Brick is great so I can cut him some slack.

[Rowland]

I don't get the love for this one, but Brick is great so I can cut him some slack.I completely understand how one wouldn't respond to Brothers Bloom, it has a certain tone to it that I imagine can be easily construed as excessively twee despondency (only to be elevated by obviously manipulated circumstances natch), sort of how I rejected the (IMO) overrated Son of Rambow. This one however has many levels of interpretation to consider, and it's far more sophisticated in terms of cinematic language, thematic depth, convincingly wrought performances, and what have you, to render it a genuinely involving, and more importantly, moving, work of imperfect but ingenious art.

I hope that didn't sound too stupid, I'm a little drunk right now. :pritch:

[Sxottlan]

So...Crazy Heart. Another solid film getting a bit blown out of proportion. But good work by Bridges and the cast. Nice music.

[Grouchy]

A bit old, but I think those complains about the "post-racial" attitude of Rachel Getting Married are prejudiced on themselves. The wrong implication being that a film with black and white characters has to talk about race somehow. The family drama portrayed in the movie has nothing to do with race relations.

[number8]

Kind of like complaining we never see the characters in Happy Together deal with their homosexuality or meet any homophobes.

[Ezee E]

Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing for baby_doll I think. Had they made his racist comments, he'd be damning it for "throwing it in there."

[Fezzik]

A bit old, but I think those complains about the "post-racial" attitude of Rachel Getting Married are prejudiced on themselves. The wrong implication being that a film with black and white characters has to talk about race somehow. The family drama portrayed in the movie has nothing to do with race relations.

I agree. Just because racism exists doesn't mean everything has to be about race.

Sexism is rampant, too, but there isn't a male-female relationship in every movie that is commenting on gender politics. Sometimes, its just not necessary to the story.

[Sven]

Even if the film "is not about" race, this does not, in any way really, make it inappropriate for someone to address what a film is doing racially (you can't spell "post-racial" without "racial") and bring one's own racial experience to that reading. I am bothered when people get so set on de-legitimizing perspectives...

[Raiders]

Even if the film "is not about" race, this does not, in any way really, make it inappropriate for someone to address what a film is doing racially (you can't spell "post-racial" without "racial") and bring one's own racial experience to that reading. I am bothered when people get so set on de-legitimizing perspectives...

Nobody has done this. Are we not allowed to express why we find babydoll's complaints off base and offer the idea, or perspective if you will, that the film is complete without the drama/tension babydoll was looking for?

[Sven]

Nobody has done this. Are we not allowed to express why we find babydoll's complaints off base and offer the idea, or perspective if you will, that the film is complete without the drama/tension babydoll was looking for?

I mostly am referring to the suggestion that reading the film with race in mind is racist. You did not do that. I should have said this.

[baby doll]

I agree. Just because racism exists doesn't mean everything has to be about race.

Sexism is rampant, too, but there isn't a male-female relationship in every movie that is commenting on gender politics. Sometimes, its just not necessary to the story.I'm just trying to think of the last movie I saw about a perfectly equal, "post-gender" relationship.

Obviously not every film has to be about race, and if the families didn't get along for some other reason, that might be interesting. But Lumet and Demme deny them even the slightest measure of humanity by portraying them as a boringly happy family with no problems whatsoever.

[Wryan]

But Lumet and Demme deny them even the slightest measure of humanity by portraying them as a boringly happy family with no problems whatsoever.

Well of course they are. They're marrying into whiteness.

[Raiders]

But Lumet and Demme deny them even the slightest measure of humanity by portraying them as a boringly happy family with no problems whatsoever.

So ultimately, your issue is with the lack of dynamicism for the groom's family? I can understand this, and certainly Lumet does not give them a whole lot of characterization, but I can appreciate that the focus of the film is on Hathaway's family and giving equal screen time to Sidney's family is not really plausible. I think Demme manages to create quite a bit of personality through their culture, the small moments during the speeches and Sidney's background interactions with the family and thus I think the film is even more successful than the screenplay's limitations. It is certainly not some great all-encompassing drama, but for what it intends to be, it goes beyond even my own expectations.

[Sycophant]

I liked Metropolitan, but not as much as I liked Last Days of Disco. I think a lot of this has to do with the performances. Eigeman was excellent in both, though. I like this Whit Stillman guy.

[Sycophant]

I recently watched both My Neighbor Totoro and A Chinese Odyssey (both parts), and I'm pretty sure they're two of the best films ever made.

[soitgoes...]

The Ray Charles sequence in Metropolis is amazing. Those few minutes have been running through my head since I saw it yesterday.

[Raiders]

The Ray Charles sequence in Metropolis is amazing. Those few minutes have been running through my head since I saw it yesterday.

May you never forget. (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71bif_metropolis-i-cant-stop-loving-you_music)

[Qrazy]

The Ray Charles sequence in Metropolis is amazing. Those few minutes have been running through my head since I saw it yesterday.

Amen brother. The same thing happened to me six years ago and again with my rewatch a few months back. Are you on the anime band wagon now? :)

I wish I could get more excited about Yona Yona Penguin but I'm not feeling it.

I suppose I'll put my hopes into Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 ... still can't find a decent copy floating around the internets.

[soitgoes...]

Are you on the anime band wagon now? :)They are Japanese, aren't they? ;)

I wouldn't say now, as I've been on the band wagon for some time. It just isn't my favorite area of Japanese film, so I don't vocalize as much as others. I've never have gotten into any series, only films. I've seen most of what are considered the best anime has to offer, except the Ghost in the Shell films and the Evangelion films. Mind Game is probably my third (or so) favorite film of the decade. Metropolis is good, but nowhere near as great as Mind Game or another recent viewing, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

[Qrazy]

They are Japanese, aren't they? ;)

I wouldn't say now, as I've been on the band wagon for some time. It just isn't my favorite area of Japanese film, so I don't vocalize as much as others. I've never have gotten into any series, only films. I've seen most of what are considered the best anime has to offer, except the Ghost in the Shell films and the Evangelion films. Mind Game is probably my third (or so) favorite film of the decade. Metropolis is good, but nowhere near as great as Mind Game or another recent viewing, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

I prefer Metropolis to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time quite substantially. I suppose I"d agree and put Mindgame over Metropolis. I really love the style of Metropolis though, I think it's top ten animes for me. You should check out some of the series, there's some great stuff there. Seirei no Moribito, Paranoia Agent and Cowboy Bebop are good places to start.

The Ghost in the Shell films are good but somewhat flawed imo. If you're going to watch Evangelion I suggest you watch Rebuild of Evangelion. Otherwise you'd have to watch the series and End of Evangelion but I don't think it's that great personally.

[soitgoes...]

I prefer Metropolis to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time quite substantially. I suppose I"d agree and put Mindgame over it. I really love the style of Metropolis though.I loved the world of Metropolis, but there was something missing. Maybe it was the character animation style. I know that it was supposed to look like a throwback to the thirties, but all I could think of was Archie comics. I did enjoy the soundtrack throwback though.
Seirei no Moribito, Paranoia Agent and Cowboy Bebop are good places to start.
The last two are ones that I have come closest to checking out.


The Ghost in the Shell films are good but somewhat flawed imo. If you're going to watch Evangelion I suggest you watch Rebuild of Evangelion. Otherwise you'd have to watch the series and End of Evangelion but I don't think it's that great personally.Yeah, Ghost in the Shell will probably be my next stop.

[balmakboor]

They are Japanese, aren't they? ;)

I wouldn't say now, as I've been on the band wagon for some time. It just isn't my favorite area of Japanese film, so I don't vocalize as much as others. I've never have gotten into any series, only films. I've seen most of what are considered the best anime has to offer, except the Ghost in the Shell films and the Evangelion films. Mind Game is probably my third (or so) favorite film of the decade. Metropolis is good, but nowhere near as great as Mind Game or another recent viewing, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

I thought The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was crazy good. I really should try to see the other movies listed here.

[Rowland]

Gamer (Neveldine/Taylor, 2009) **½

A minor slump from these fellows is still more inspired in its deliriously brazen lunacy than most gonzo-leaning filmmakers can hope to aspire, this effort is let down by more of a dependence on creaky genre trappings than the Crank twosome, increasingly tedious action sequences, and less infectiously goofy humor, as this is clearly intended to be taken more at face value than the Cranks (which isn't to say this isn't frequently very funny), and yet its dramatic impetus isn't as vividly realized as those films. This does fully retain their warped satirical bent however, its dystopic vision of a technologically dependent, corporate-fueled avatar-happy culture and the selling out of an overwrought prison system for the degraded entertainment of the desensitized masses (reminding of Paul Anderson's Death Race) is sharp and boldly fleshed out (loved the live-action Sims). Even as the credits roll at 85 minutes however, this feels a bit overlong, suggesting that less exposition and more baroque touches like Michael C. Hall's dance number or even small, borderline sketch comedy bits like Keith David's cameo would have worked to the picture's benefit.

[Skitch]

I thought The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was crazy good. I really should try to see the other movies listed here.

Crap, that's getting bumped up right now...

[balmakboor]

Crap, that's getting bumped up right now...

I should add, I suppose, that I watched it with my 13-year-old daughter. She loved it and watched it three times before she'd let me send the disc back. I watched it twice and liked it a lot. It's a perfect movie for the mindset of a girl my daughter's age.

[Skitch]

I should add, I suppose, that I watched it with my 13-year-old daughter. She loved it and watched it three times before she'd let me send the disc back. I watched it twice and liked it a lot. It's a perfect movie for the mindset of a girl my daughter's age.

Its been lingering in my top twenty for months now, its time to see the thing.

[Sycophant]

Otherwise you'd have to watch the series and End of Evangelion but I don't think it's that great personally.

I will put my voice in for saying that Evangelion the series is great, and End of Evangelion is one of the best animated films I've ever seen.

[megladon8]

The Long Goodbye is pretty great.

Elliot Gould is definitely my favorite on-screen Philip Marlowe. Surrounded by several strange and very intriguing characters, each willing to kill friends (and even family) to fix their own petty problems. That in itself presents the film's greatest satire of the Hollywood system, I think.

And what an ending.

[Russ]

Don't know which thread this might belong in, so I'll post it here:


Our three least favorite initials: OOP. Since we launched the Criterion Collection more than twenty-five years ago, we’ve endeavored to keep everything we’ve published in print. But despite our efforts to renew rights, we are losing a large group of titles from StudioCanal at the end of March, and we wanted to give you advance notice that our editions will be going out of print. Until we’re out of stock, we will be offering these titles at an additional $5 off on our website. The titles are going to Lionsgate, and we don’t know when they may be rereleased. As ever, we will continue to try to relicense the films so that they can rejoin the collection sometime in the future.

Here are the titles that will soon be out of print:

Alphaville
Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy (Eclipse Series 6)
Le corbeau
Coup de torchon
Diary of a Country Priest
The Fallen Idol
Forbidden Games (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Gervaise (Essential Art House edition)
Grand Illusion (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Le jour se lève (Essential Art House edition)
Last Holiday (Essential Art House edition)
Mayerling (Essential Art House edition)
The Orphic Trilogy
Peeping Tom
Pierrot le fou (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
Port of Shadows
Quai des Orfèvres
The Small Back Room
The Tales of Hoffmann (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Trafic
Le trou
Variety Lights (Essential Art House edition)
The White Sheik

Take note: this may be your last chance to pick up spine number 1 from the collection.