28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Grouchy]

I don't know, exactly... I just have a memory of it as a vague jumble of ideas: Bourne is being hunted... there's corruption... Joan Allen wears too much makeup... Russian oil guy has issues... Brian Cox double crosses everyone... blah. It had none of the crunchiness, none of the sharpness, none of the effortless momentum of Ultimatum. Agree to disagree, I guess.
What I find it weird is that you criticize Supremacy as visually incoherent and then praise Ultimatum. I think I'd understand it better if you claimed Identity was the best of the three, because visually and in story terms, I think part two and three are very very similar. I give the winning edge to Supremacy because it has the most potent drama and puts Bourne in the most unconfortable situations.

I think Ultimatum is a fitting edge to the trilogy, but at times it felt like Jason Bourne masturbation. "This guy can do ANYTHING" stuff. It's pretty much how I feel about the later seasons of 24, even if I like them.

[megladon8]

My dad likes the first movie the best.

When we re-watched it, I really, really liked it, but I find it to be (by far) the weakest entry in the series.

It had bad special effects (whereas the two sequels had pretty much no special effects) and it felt the most like a "typical action blockbuster" of the three films.

That's not a knock against it, per se, but the other two actually felt quite edgy.

And I really liked Greengrass' work on the series - it was just one of those director/project match-ups that fit perfectly.

He derived a lot of the styel (visual, audio and narrative) from '70s action-thrillers, and it really shows. I suppose this could be unattractive to some, but seeing as how I think the '60s/'70s were pretty much the pinnacle of American cinema, this is great to me.

[transmogrifier]

Licence to Kill > any of the Bourne films, but not by much.

Supremacy is the best of the series - Ultimatum is too repetitive, and the final showdown with Finney a dull anti-climax. Karl Urban is by far the best bad guy operative, though Clive Owen was cool in his small role.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Oh. In that case, I suspect it's the same scene remade for the third movie. Anyway, Supremacy is also my favorite by far.


This doesn't answer your question, but did you notice how many different filmmakers decided to make very similar shorts about blind movie-goers? I bet they hated each other's guts when they saw the whole movie. There's not much you can do in three minutes, and the ones that at least were entertaining for me were Wong Kar Wai, Polanski, Kitano, Von Trier, Salles and Yimou. Cronenberg was the only awesome one.
I did actually, I wrote short reviews for all of them, and by the third time, I wrote about it. Seemed excessive. At the same time, I loved Innaritu's. I remember most of those, not a huge fan of TRier's but that's personal bias at work. He just annoys the hell out of me.

[soitgoes...]

Kiarostami is 2 for 2 so far with his Koker trilogy. With Where Is the Friend's Home Kiarostami presents us with an extension of his short film work of the 70's and 80's. The story is that a schoolboy takes home his classmate's workbook by accident, and if the classmate doesn't have the lessons completed the following day he will be expelled. The schoolboy must decide whether to defy his mother to return the workbook to his classmate or obey his mother and see him expelled. A simple film where innocence shines through, giving children not only a lesson in morality, but letting adults see through the eyes of a child.

The second film in the loose Koker trilogy is Life, and Nothing More... (And Life Goes on.) This film set 5 days after a major earthquake ravaged northern Iran has a man and his son traveling to Koker, the location of the Where Is the Friend's Home. The man is the "director" of the first film trying to make sure that his actors are okay after the earthquake. A different film than the first in that Kiarostami uses a faux documentary style in which he blurs the real and the imaginary, which he also utilized to great effect in Close-Up (Makhmalbaf also uses this in A Moment of Innocence.) Life, and Nothing More...'s great strength is Kiarostami showing us the continuation of life amongst the rubble. A woman washes clothes surrounded by her toppled neighborhood, the excitement over a restored antenna so that the World Cup can be watched, a couple who was married the day after the earthquake. At a time where thousands upon thousands have died, Kiarostami doesn't show us any carnage, any tears, or any death, but only life and its struggle to march on.

I can't wait to see Through the Olive Trees now.

[balmakboor]

I'm surprised I liked the Brown Bunny, very little happened and yet I was completely taken in by the atmosphere and the melancholy mood. There are a few things I'm still working over in my mind, but it could rank among my favourites of the decade.

I agree. I found BB a beautiful and even haunting film. I did find the final scenes where the big secret is revealed to be unnecessarily ugly though which knocked it down almost a full letter grade for me.

[Boner M]

Moonlighting is great, a film that builds extraordinary tension from a next-to-nothing scenario. Jerzy Skolimowski = most criminally overlooked director ever? Between this, Deep End and The Shout, I'd say he's at least up there.

[balmakboor]

Moonlighting is great, a film that builds extraordinary tension from a next-to-nothing scenario. Jerzy Skolimowski = most criminally overlooked director ever? Between this, Deep End and The Shout, I'd say he's at least up there.

Yeh, Polanski has pretty stolen all the credit for Polish cinema.

[Grouchy]

I did actually, I wrote short reviews for all of them, and by the third time, I wrote about it. Seemed excessive. At the same time, I loved Innaritu's. I remember most of those, not a huge fan of TRier's but that's personal bias at work. He just annoys the hell out of me.
I kind of liked Iñarritu's but I wonder why he chose to use the movie Contempt for a blind girl to cry with. I haven't seen it myself, though, so maybe I'm just biased about Godard.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I agree. I found BB a beautiful and even haunting film. I did find the final scenes where the big secret is revealed to be unnecessarily ugly though which knocked it down almost a full letter grade for me.
This is actually what I'm still debating over in my mind. The reveal just doesn't quite work for me, yes because it's so... ugly, but also in the presentation of it just doesn't fit with the mood, style and pace established by the rest of the film... though I imagine that was intentional. Still, it seemed rushed, if not lazy. I'm not sure if I wish they kept it open-ended, but I don't think it was quite right as is.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Silver Bullet was pretty awful, although I give it points for liberal use of Gary Busey and Terry O'Quinn. The "werewolf" looked like the Masturbating Bear from Conan, sans diaper.

Only two more Stephen Kings left: Graveyard Shift and Sometimes They Come Back. This is gonna hurt...

[balmakboor]

This is actually what I'm still debating over in my mind. The reveal just doesn't quite work for me, yes because it's so... ugly, but also in the presentation of it just doesn't fit with the mood, style and pace established by the rest of the film... though I imagine that was intentional. Still, it seemed rushed, if not lazy. I'm not sure if I wish they kept it open-ended, but I don't think it was quite right as is.

I should clarify that it wasn't the fellatio aspect that bothered me, although I'm not quite sure if it worked for me either. It was other elements of the ending. And yes, it just seemed too much of a departure from the mood and style that Gallo had worked so hard to establish.

I actually compare BB to Paris, Texas. Both develop as slow, highly visual works only to become something very different in the final act. I think the long monologues that conclude PT are brilliant though and feel like an honest release after the film that came before them. The conclusion of BB did seem a bit of a cheat to me.

[Stay Puft]

Couple of films...

Son of Rambow. Amusing, if pandering (it certainly tries to be a crowd pleaser, with pat conclusions and piano keys tugging heart strings, etc.). Brings some good laughs, and the animated sequences, as well as the final cut of the student film, are all hilarious. Points for the exchange student subplot. Not sure what to make of the cartoon logic that often dictates the violence. Removes any palpable sense of danger. Are the characters themselves supposed to be in a film? Doesn't excuse the fact that it's middling.

Harvey. James Stewart enjoyable as always, with the highlight being the scene outside the bar wherein he recounts his first meeting with Harvey. Some sharp dialogue here, some good laughs there. But I never know what to make of the rampant misogyny. Do I accept it as a product of the time? At one point a woman throws herself in the kitchen to make a sandwich for the first guy she meets (and this guy seems pretty damn hateful). Gender roles LOL.

[Stay Puft]

Also, I found the greatest video store I've ever seen. I moved away from home a couple weeks ago for grad school and have been settling in to my new place. A friend and I were hanging out last night and we were going to rent My Blueberry Nights, and he says we should check out this one video store he heard about. We go in there and end up spending what could have been close to an hour browsing titles and geeking out (we never find My Blueberry Nights, by the way, or we just forget because we're so overwhelmed). Different sections for different nations, like an entire wall is Europe and it's subdivided by country, etc. Tons of Eclipse and Criterion releases. You can rent the entire box set of Berlin Alexanderplatz! Individual Zatoichi serials! Random Shaw Bros. titles I've never heard of. An incredible documentary section. Even the new release wall is incredible, loaded with recent festival films. Somebody even put a stick-it note on a copy of Three Times to express the awesomeness of Hou Hsiao-hsien.

Now I know what I've been missing all of my life. A good video store is paradise. So, uh, pardon me for geeking out here. It's a new experience. I've become so accustomed to the internet that it's almost a shock to the system to experience the physicality and the atmosphere of a brick and mortar experience catering to cinephiles, and to be surrounded by such people in an environment not predicated on a series of tubes.

[D_Davis]

Awesome find my man.

What's it called?

Sounds a lot like Scarecrow video here in Seattle.

[origami_mustache]

name this film...

http://media.tumblr.com/90j9hvzOKdcf9kevQ2nXROwL_500.j pg

the clue is: depressing as shit

I don't know the answer

[Spinal]

I really liked the futuristic world that Winterbottom creates for Code 46 and how he allows the viewer to discover the differences rather than explaining them. However, even after I pieced together what was going on, I still was left without a clue as to why it all mattered. I suppose it might be enough to be a thwarted love story if Robbins and Morton had more chemistry or if their characters had more personality. As it is, it's an intelligently speculative piece about the future of genetics without much in the way of plot or thematic intention to keep the mind buzzing after the film ends.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I should clarify that it wasn't the fellatio aspect that bothered me, although I'm not quite sure if it worked for me either. It was other elements of the ending. And yes, it just seemed too much of a departure from the mood and style that Gallo had worked so hard to establish.

I realised that, and was discussing the scenes that proceeded it. I was surprised that the fellatio actually worked well in context of the film, I have very minimal problems with it.

[Spinal]

I was surprised that the fellatio actually worked well in context of the film, I have very minimal problems with it.

Yeah, for all the crap he got for that, it's really quite an amazing scene full of emotion.

[DSNT]

Son of Rambow. Amusing, if pandering (it certainly tries to be a crowd pleaser, with pat conclusions and piano keys tugging heart strings, etc.). Brings some good laughs, and the animated sequences, as well as the final cut of the student film, are all hilarious. Points for the exchange student subplot. Not sure what to make of the cartoon logic that often dictates the violence. Removes any palpable sense of danger. Are the characters themselves supposed to be in a film? Doesn't excuse the fact that it's middling.
Yeah, it was like Millions meets Dear Frankie meets Napoleon Dynamite. The creative fantasy sequences made it somewhat worth watching, but the rest was far too saccharine and safe, which seems to be the formula for British coming-of-age movies these days.

[dreamdead]

Finally got to one of LLopin's favorites, Lee Chang-dong's Peppermint Candy. Appropriating Memento's use of backwards chronology, the film documents Yong-Ho, a former furniture store owner and policeman who has seen his life wasted by bad investments and poor relationships in the backdrop of Seoul's economic crisis. As in Oasis, Lee structures the economic backgrounds of characters through subtle framing and details of mise-en-scene, allowing the richness of the personal to constantly frame the political, which is one of Lee's specialties. A triumph in acting, Kyung-gu Sol offers subtlety as the lead, and the urbanism at work in the film constantly reveals the class struggle that concerns Yong-Ho. Wonderfully textured and a quietly resolute analysis of the individual at a loss from the innocence of time...

[megladon8]

I don't have a problem with seeing fellatio if it has, as you say, some emotional impact or "point" beyond "look how taboo this is to show in a movie!!"

But with The Brown Bunny, I just really didn't want to see Vincent Gallo's penis. That dirty, creepy guy is, well, dirty and creepy.

[Stay Puft]

Awesome find my man.

What's it called?

Sounds a lot like Scarecrow video here in Seattle.

It's called Have You Seen...

The logo is a giant eye.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Yeah, for all the crap he got for that, it's really quite an amazing scene full of emotion.
It really is, which is why I dont' really object to it's inclusion. I'm just iffy with the context, because the scenes that come immediately after are not as great.

But yea, Gallo is kinda dirty and creepy... I prefer the term "slimy". He wasn't as bad in this film as usual, but he's definetely the type of guy you'd expect to be some subway flasher or something.

[megladon8]

Saying Vincent Gallo is a subway flasher is an insult to my profession.

[Spinal]

It really is, which is why I dont' really object to it's inclusion. I'm just iffy with the context, because the scenes that come immediately after are not as great.


What happens after it? I'm trying to remember.

[Bosco B Thug]

I agree with Derek that that's a bizarre comparison.... but I'll go with it:

Intellectual stimulation: IE by a country mile How so? I'd choose 'Syndromes,' just because it (and Weerasethakul in general, actually) tackles subject-matter much more in tune with contemporary conditions and an evenhanded social world, while Lynch has always had his fondness for melodrama and the archetype, and IE is, well, another rather hoary look at the "woman condition." Thankfully done with indelible cinematic-ness, smart execution, and stirring emotionality, but still, kinda hoary.


Another viewing confirms Syndromes and a Century as, at the very least, a borderline-masterpiece. It reminds me of Lynch, only more formally rigorous, intellectually stimulating, ineffably intoxicating, warmly humorous, and all-around coherent than Lynch's frustrating Inland Empire. But then again, "frustrating" I'd apply toward Weerasethakul, whose films are just so vague. Weerasethakul's film's have got the intellectual precision, yes, but Lynch and IE are just so much more persuasive and, well, accessible, for better or worse.

[Philosophe_rouge]

What happens after it? I'm trying to remember.

He calls Daisy a bunch of names, and says he regrets ever inviting her, etc. etc. Then they're lying on the bed, and she reveals that she died. There is a flashback, and they're at this party, she's in the bathroom doing drugs with these guys. Later Gallo comes into a bedroom, and sees that three of them are having sex with her. He doesn't realise she's unconscious, and is being raped, so he walks away and seemingly holds a grudge. It turns out, she chokes on presumedly vomit and dies. Then he "wakes up" from the past, and is back in his room alone. There is just one more shot of him driving down the road (I think).

[Philosophe_rouge]

Saying Vincent Gallo is a subway flasher is an insult to my profession.
Sorry, how about grocery store flasher? Or is that a step up?

[Spinal]

He calls Daisy a bunch of names, and says he regrets ever inviting her, etc. etc. Then they're lying on the bed, and she reveals that she died. There is a flashback, and they're at this party, she's in the bathroom doing drugs with these guys. Later Gallo comes into a bedroom, and sees that three of them are having sex with her. He doesn't realise she's unconscious, and is being raped, so he walks away and seemingly holds a grudge. It turns out, she chokes on presumedly vomit and dies. Then he "wakes up" from the past, and is back in his room alone. There is just one more shot of him driving down the road (I think).

Oh yeah. I thought that was effective personally.

[transmogrifier]

name this film...

http://media.tumblr.com/90j9hvzOKdcf9kevQ2nXROwL_500.j pg

the clue is: depressing as shit

I don't know the answer

Out of the Blue- a NZ film that is actually in my signature.

[Rowland]

How so? I'd choose 'Syndromes,' just because it (and Weerasethakul in general, actually) tackles subject-matter much more in tune with contemporary conditions and an evenhanded social world, while Lynch has always had his fondness for melodrama and the archetypeAgreed.


Weerasethakul's film's have got the intellectual precision, yes, but Lynch and IE are just so much more persuasive and, well, accessible, for better or worse.I dunno, I find Syndromes and a Century far more accessible than Lynch's three-hour, Hollywood-centric marathon of grimy textures, abrasive abstractions, formal carelessness, and all-around muddled shapelessness.

[megladon8]

Sorry, how about grocery store flasher? Or is that a step up?


Personally, if you're going to call him a subway flasher, at least say that I flash people on Parliament Hill.

At least that gives me more dignity than the Gallo.

[Rowland]

Yeah, it was like Millions meets Dear Frankie meets Napoleon Dynamite.:eek::eek:

[Russ]

Funky Forest - Final Contact Ok, so imagine a high school production that combines the basics of Cronenberg's Naked Lunch and Videodrome, turned into a hybid musical-"comedy"-romance with game show aspirations, performed by the entire 12-grade student body and faculty, and captured on film by three music video directors led by Michael Gondry. But without the narrative cohesion of Inland Empire.

Yeah.

[Russ]

I think my favorite character was the large-headed interpreter for Pero, the dog that directs anime films.

[D_Davis]

I think my favorite character was the large-headed interpreter for Pero, the dog that directs anime films.

There are so many awesome moments in this flick. My favorite is still the last main segment, with the Volumes playing Shinto-tencho in the forest. So awesome.

[Russ]

Another thing I liked: the shortness of the Mole Brothers blackouts certainly worked to their advantage. I really believe about 95% of Matchcutters would hate FF.

[number8]

Thank you Starz HD for allowing me to see Grindhouse as a double feature with the trailers again.

*Still thinks Death Proof is miles better than Planet Terror, and way more "grindhouse"*

[Yxklyx]

Pennies from Heaven (1981, Herbert Ross) was surprisingly good. A black-comedy-drama musical starring Steve Martin, luscious Bernadette Peters and Jessica Harper (who I always look forward to seeing in a movie) with Christopher Walken in a great minor role. For a change, most, if not all, of the music are original recordings from the 30s and 40s and that part works for the most part - though takes a little getting used to. The depression era story is unexpectedly dark though that's not apparent early on - it's not something Hollywood would release today. I'm not a fan of Martin but he was very good in this - a very slimy character indeed. The choreography in some of the musical numbers is outstanding, teacher Peters supported by her classroom singing an upbeat song about love was very impressive. Very good camera work, great sets - just an all around solid film. 8/10

[D_Davis]

Last night I watched Fellowship of the Ring (Extended cut) with my wife. It's been a while since we've watched this, and we both love it to death. We both know all the music cues and are constantly humming along to all of our favorite tunes. I just love the film. We watched it on our new TV, and with the upscaling DVD player it looked amazing.

[number8]

Oh, man. Redbelt is fucking awesome.

[Qrazy]

Why am I not surprised that Match-cut likes The Brown Bunny.

[Watashi]

Oh, man. Redbelt is fucking awesome.
Yes. Yes it is.

[Raiders]

Why am I not surprised that Match-cut likes The Brown Bunny.

I turned it off. Couldn't stand it.

[megladon8]

Last night I watched Fellowship of the Ring (Extended cut) with my wife. It's been a while since we've watched this, and we both love it to death. We both know all the music cues and are constantly humming along to all of our favorite tunes. I just love the film. We watched it on our new TV, and with the upscaling DVD player it looked amazing.


Very nice!

It's by far the best of the trilogy.

Gandalf's death and the ensuing scene on the rocks outside still makes me weep.

[chrisnu]

Yeah, it was like Millions meets Dear Frankie meets Napoleon Dynamite.
While I liked Dear Frankie, I hated Millions and Napoleon Dynamite, so I may hold off on this.

I also think that Fellowship of the Ring is, by far, the best of the trilogy.

I liked Tape, a lot. I think I'll watch it again, and write a little about it. For a short movie, I thought that the character work was very dense; actions could be explained in many different ways. Perhaps that was to be expected for a movie that's so sparse, but characters you can think about are appreciated nonetheless.

There is one point I wish would have been explored more, however...

Jon comments that Vince isn't dressed, and says "not that I mind"... and nothing is made of it. I thus went into their initial conversation thinking that Jon is gay!

Uma Thurman needs to be in more movies like this. She is awesome.

[megladon8]

Uma Thurman needs to be in more movies like this. She is awesome.


She also lets people take pictures of her walking around naked on beaches.

Double plus.

[Qrazy]

I turned it off. Couldn't stand it.

Thank you.

[Duncan]

Anyone here seen Charles Burnett's Katrina short Quiet As Kept? Because it's seriously terrible. Like, I have no idea how that was made by the same guy who made Killer of Sheep. Or, I guess I kinda do, but man...

I also watched Burnett's My Brother's Wedding, which was very good. Lacked the poetic touches of Killer of Sheep, though, and repeated the same weaknesses.

[Stay Puft]

Anyone here seen Charles Burnett's Katrina short Quiet As Kept? Because it's seriously terrible. Like, I have no idea how that was made by the same guy who made Killer of Sheep. Or, I guess I kinda do, but man...

Absolutely. I enjoyed most of the shorts I've seen from him, but that felt like the work of an entirely different human being. With no talent.

I thought My Brother's Wedding had plenty of poetry in its own right. A different beast than Killer of Sheep, but I enjoyed them both about the same. I assume you watched the original, longer cut?

[Boner M]

Cassandra's Dream - In which the flaws of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead suddenly disappear from memory, and Match Point suddenly looks like a Ken Loach film.

[Grouchy]

Cassandra's Dream - In which the flaws of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead suddenly disappear from memory, and Match Point suddenly looks like a Ken Loach film.
Hahah! Well played.

Though I'm in the very small minority that thinks Cassandra is by far the best of those three very similar movies.

[Boner M]

Hahah! Well played.
Though I'm in the very small minority that thinks Cassandra is by far the best of those three very similar movies.
I just couldn't believe how utterly lazy it felt on every possible level. No tension, no actor on the same wavelength, no emotional engagement or resonance, no subtext left un-shouted... I kept waiting for signs that its flatness was supposed to be wryly comic, or that Allen was trying to make some sort of anti-thriller, but then Philip Glass' generic suspense score would kick in, laying all the many inadequacies bare.

Might as well have the screenplay scroll down the screen for 2 hours; it'd have roughly the same effect. Unless it's in that lovely font he always uses for his credit sequences. Then it would be marginally better.

[Duncan]

Absolutely. I enjoyed most of the shorts I've seen from him, but that felt like the work of an entirely different human being. With no talent.

I thought My Brother's Wedding had plenty of poetry in its own right. A different beast than Killer of Sheep, but I enjoyed them both about the same. I assume you watched the original, longer cut?

Yeah, I've liked the other shorts too.

I actually watched the 2007 director's cut of My Brother's Wedding. I had heard it was the better of the two.

[Boner M]

I liked My Brother's Wedding slightly more than Killer of Sheep. Not at poetic, true, but somehow it felt more heartfelt, and the final freeze-frame shot was magnificent.

[Duncan]

I liked My Brother's Wedding slightly more than Killer of Sheep. Not at poetic, true, but somehow it felt more heartfelt, and the final freeze-frame shot was magnificent.
Which version did you watch?

[Russ]

Hey, D, Syc, fas, or anyone who's seen it: what can you tell me about Survive Style +5? I think I'm ready to dive in.

[Grouchy]

I just couldn't believe how utterly lazy it felt on every possible level. No tension, no actor on the same wavelength, no emotional engagement or resonance, no subtext left un-shouted... I kept waiting for signs that its flatness was supposed to be wryly comic, or that Allen was trying to make some sort of anti-thriller, but then Philip Glass' generic suspense score would kick in, laying all the many inadequacies bare.

Might as well have the screenplay scroll down the screen for 2 hours; it'd have roughly the same effect. Unless it's in that lovely font he always uses for his credit sequences. Then it would be marginally better.
This is one movie where I'm completely separated from the consensus. I feel like that about Match Point. I think that movie spells out its themes so blatantly it becomes dull and obvious. The bit with the ring, for example, was just too much for me to handle. On the other hand, I think the boat in Cassandra is a better, more inspired metaphor. I also feel the situation with the uncle is a lot more convincing that the motive for the murder in Match Point, which is essentially a bad Crimes and Misdemeanors remake.

And I just plain dislike Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. It has been getting worse and worse in my recollection. The drug and booze addictions of the brothers in that movie are goofy and overplayed. On the other hand, I find the compulsions in Cassandra's Dream a lot more believable. I like how Farrel's gambling urges were handled with elipsis by Allen - we never see the results of his games on screen, only what the character tells us.

[D_Davis]

Hey, D, Syc, fas, or anyone who's seen it: what can you tell me about Survive Style +5? I think I'm ready to dive in.

It's good - not great, but good. I don't like it as much as I do FF:FC, or Taste of Tea, but it is similar in many regards. There are many things to like about it, Asano being one, and his story arc is awesome, but it never really connected with me on a deep level. It is a gorgeous film to look at, that's for sure.

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Game Plan is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Watched it with my son yesterday. It takes all of the worst cliches in sports and kids movies and puts them all in one film, and if that weren't enough, it makes them all as sappy and nauseating as possible. Unbelievably bad. I was literally stunned.

[Yxklyx]

I somewhat saw a Helen Hunt vehicle called Then She Found Me on the airplane with no sound. From what I saw I'd stay far away from this one. Also, Mrs Hunt looks like she's going to die any day now - as skinny as she was.

I also somewhat saw Kung Fu Panda on another flight. Looked OK - nothing I'm going to run out to see.

Mrs. Brown (1997) with Judy Dench was very very meh.

[origami_mustache]

The Brown Bunny was atrocious, anyways...

For Labor Day I went to The Silent Theater for what was easily the greatest movie going experience of all time. For $6 we got free beer, grilled hamburgers and sausage and essentially watched 4 hours worth of hilariously bad cinema. We played the 5 minute game which consisted of us watching the first 5 minutes of 15 obscure b-movies not availabe on DVD that were accumulating dust on the shelves at cinephile video, then the audience would vote on which one we wanted to watch in entirety. The films ranged from blaxploitation, psychedelic sci-fi films involving the planet Spermula, a disco dancing female vampire, a movie where the crew consisted entirely of members of the Koz family and looked like it had been shot on a consumer grade video camera, a schizophrenic Hollywood camera operator played by Mickey Rooney, and other ridiculous/glorious crap, but the winner took the cake.

http://www.inch.com/~sritter/imgs/DeathPromise.jpg

Death Promise has it all, a nonsensical plot, hilarious music and sound fx, crazy brilliant kung fu fighting and death scenes, ridiculous twists, and a whole lot of oddly homoerotic hugging. Unlike other awful movies and exploitation films, Death Promise never ceases to bore and the laughs just keep coming. Seriously this is a must see. I am downloading it off cinemageddon. Watch the video for just a small taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABBuKVnCbKE

[Russ]

Death Promise has it all
OMG, I looooove the Death Promise Theme Song.

[Raiders]

Speaking of Katrina docs, I hope Demme gets his "Right to Return" footage (of which there is reportedly over 100 hours) edited and put into a proper format soon. I saw the snippets on PBS last year (though I missed the footage shown at Silverdocs) and they were, predictably, very touching.

[Kurosawa Fan]

It seems Death Promise is available on Netflix in a two-pack from Wu Tang. I'm renting it for the next B-movie night.

[origami_mustache]

It seems Death Promise is available on Netflix in a two-pack from Wu Tang. I'm renting it for the next B-movie night.

HAHA AWESOME

[number8]

So I rented my first Blu-ray movie last night. I was gonna go for Dark City DC but the Blockbuster I went to didn't have it. So I got Sunshine instead.

Wow.

[Sycophant]

Over the weekend, I saw the last twenty minutes of Matilda for the first time in several years. I was pleased to find I still have a lot of love for the film. It occurred to me, though, that I've only ever seen it in its cropped, 1.33 ratio, even though it was apparently shot 2.35. Columbia needs to release it right.

[Scar]

So I rented my first Blu-ray movie last night. I was gonna go for Dark City DC but the Blockbuster I went to didn't have it. So I got Sunshine instead.

Wow.

Yep.

They look great on my 42" 720p/1080i. Can't imagine what they'll look like on a 58" 1080p.... Give me a couple months. :twisted:

[Grouchy]

Also, Mrs Hunt looks like she's going to die any day now - as skinny as she was.
That's because she has transfered all of her Qi into Leelee Sobieski.

[MadMan]

The Brown Bunny was atrocious, anyways...

For Labor Day I went to The Silent Theater for what was easily the greatest movie going experience of all time. For $6 we got free beer, grilled hamburgers and sausage and essentially watched 4 hours worth of hilariously bad cinema. We played the 5 minute game which consisted of us watching the first 5 minutes of 15 obscure b-movies not availabe on DVD that were accumulating dust on the shelves at cinephile video, then the audience would vote on which one we wanted to watch in entirety. The films ranged from blaxploitation, psychedelic sci-fi films involving the planet Spermula, a disco dancing female vampire, a movie where the crew consisted entirely of members of the Koz family and looked like it had been shot on a consumer grade video camera, a schizophrenic Hollywood camera operator played by Mickey Rooney, and other ridiculous/glorious crap, but the winner took the cake.

Death Promise has it all, a nonsensical plot, hilarious music and sound fx, crazy brilliant kung fu fighting and death scenes, ridiculous twists, and a whole lot of oddly homoerotic hugging. Unlike other awful movies and exploitation films, Death Promise never ceases to bore and the laughs just keep coming. Seriously this is a must see. I am downloading it off cinemageddon. Watch the video for just a small taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABBuKVnCbKEMan that movie sounds amazing. I'll have to watch the YouTube video when I get home.

[Stay Puft]

Sunshine is one reason I wanted a Blu-ray player. Gorgeous sci-fi.

[Rowland]

Keanu Reeves plays a naive, tightly wound, wearily conflicted cop in Street Kings more convincingly than I recall him being in his previous stabs at similar roles. Maybe his age is finally beginning to catch up with him. Otherwise, the movie itself is a moody, solidly entertaining action thriller with a few sharp notes and a surplus of silliness. I don't know if it has anything new or enlightening to say in its deeply cynical portrait of dirty cops and the vast network of corruption that thrives in the justice system, and it's very easy to see where the narrative's arc is heading and how the third-act twists will plays themselves out, but the movie works reasonably well all the same. A cheap rental or an afternoon on cable is recommended.

[origami_mustache]

"According to the Playlist and confirmed by Asthmatic Kitty, "fey indie-rocker Sufjan Stevens" has composed a score for Eve, a 22-minute short film starring Lauren Bacall and Ben Gazzara and directed by actress Natalie Portman."

[Duncan]

Interview (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/movies/31head.html?8dpc)with the Coens:


Analyzing their work, Joel says, “is just not something that interests us.” Profiles of the pair frequently mention that Ethan wrote his senior thesis at Princeton on Wittgenstein — the sort of biographical detail film-studies types love — but, when asked, Ethan said he “can’t honestly remember” what he wrote. Crazy.

[Raiders]

Anyone else heard of the film Vinyan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029241) starring Emmanuelle Beart and Rufus Sewell? It is premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and it sounds very interesting. I see sites like Twitch and bloody-disgusting have been all over it, but beyond that I hadn't heard a peep.

[Boner M]

On the other hand, I find the compulsions in Cassandra's Dream a lot more believable. I like how Farrel's gambling urges were handled with elipsis by Allen - we never see the results of his games on screen, only what the character tells us.
Maybe in a different film this narrative strategy could be effective, but we never see anything here - every plot point or emotion is artlessly relayed or reiterated through dialogue. And his gambling urges were so sketchily drawn; He just says "it's like I was in a trance", or something to that effect, and that's it. At least that ring scene in Match Point was a clever bit of visual storytelling, despite being executed through a lame CG shot.

[Boner M]

Which version did you watch?
2007 one. Apparently the 1983 version was just a rough edit that was submitted to festivals.

[balmakboor]

At least that ring scene in Match Point was a clever bit of visual storytelling, despite being executed through a lame CG shot.

Hah! I'm such a sucker. I bought that shot hook, line, and sinker. Probably though because it is precisely how CG should be used. Spend 127 takes to get a ring to fly and bounce just right or just animate the damn thing. Plus it was one of the most clever bits of storytelling -- visual or otherwise -- in recent memory.

[balmakboor]

Btw, I'm not some kind of hater of serious Woody Allen movies like someone recently accused me of being. I hated VCB. But I loved Match Point.

My Allen preference definitely runs toward his films that he stars in though.

[Watashi]

I still think Scoop might be favorite post-2000 Woody film.

[NickGlass]

Although Cassandra's Dream is rather lazy, I still prefer it to the hollow and heavy-handed dullness of Match Point. I'm willing to give credit to the performances more than Woody, though. Also, I'm with Grouchy in finding Cassandra's Dream superior to Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which is so miscalculated and dusty.

[NickGlass]

I still think Scoop might be favorite post-2000 Woody film.

Yowza. I can't remember a second of this film.

The good:
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Small Time Crooks

The bad:
Cassandra's Dream
Hollywood Ending
Melinda and Melinda
Scoop

The ugly:
Match Point
Anything Else
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

[D_Davis]

The Fall comes out on DVD next week. I'm totally stoked.

[Raiders]

I have only seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point and didn't particularly like either of them.

[Winston*]

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was horrible. Do not understand what anyone saw in that one.

[Rowland]

So I liked Man on Wire, but I don't particularly get what the big deal is about. Hmm, oh well, it's a nice little documentary, engagingly constructed and enthusiastically narrated.

[Watashi]

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was horrible. Do not understand what anyone saw in that one.
I can see why a lot of people would like it.

I would post evidence, but I do wish to post here tomorrow and the next day.

[Stay Puft]

2007 one. Apparently the 1983 version was just a rough edit that was submitted to festivals.

Huh.

So is everybody watching the 2007 version? I watched the 1983 version and enjoyed every second.

[Melville]

How so? I'd choose 'Syndromes,' just because it (and Weerasethakul in general, actually) tackles subject-matter much more in tune with contemporary conditions and an evenhanded social world, while Lynch has always had his fondness for melodrama and the archetype, and IE is, well, another rather hoary look at the "woman condition." Thankfully done with indelible cinematic-ness, smart execution, and stirring emotionality, but still, kinda hoary.
I typically find melodrama and archetypes at least as interesting as evenhanded looks at contemporary social conditions. Also, I think that Inland Empire looks at a lot more than the "woman condition". I tend to view Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire as re-tellings of the same story from different angles and with different philosophical implications. All three set up a dichotomy between the real world and the ideal world, the latter identified with or exemplified by movies in general and Hollywood (the Dream Factory) in particular. In the first two films, the ideal world is characterized as the world of love, in which the loved one embodies the lover's ideals (and/or defines them) and the lover is the center of the loved one's world; and in both cases the real world is one in which the loved one cheats on the lover and the jealous lover then kills the loved one. In the adulterous act the lover dissolves the ideal by removing herself from her assigned role as its embodiment; and by focusing her attentions on another, she casts the lover from his/her desired place at the center of the ideal world. Thus, the adultery acts as a perpetual rupture of the real into the ideal.

The two films have slightly different approaches to these themes. In Lost Highway, the ideal world is that of cheesy "guy movie" and the spurned/murderous lover idealizes himself as a virile young dude. From his masculine perspective, his loved one's adultery has the connotations of emasculation and is intimately connected to his fear of impotence. In Mulholland Drive, the ideal world is more explicitly acknowledged as the dream world of Hollywood, and the spurned/murderous lover idealizes herself as a caring, talented woman who is the center of attention. (I don't think it really makes much use of her "female" perspective, unlike Lost Highway's depiction of the "male" perspective.)

The two films also arrive at opposite conclusions. In Lost Highway, the real and ideal merge in the end, and the story is presented as an eternal return of this process, an endless repetition of the real being forced into a set of archetypes and then erupting those archetypes. This presents a Hegelian picture of consciousness in which thesis and antithesis repeatedly form before being overcome and contained within a synthesis. In Mulholland Drive, the real and ideal are irreconcilable; their difference cannot be overcome, and the story has a definite end with the lover's despairing self-destruction. (This could be tied into Kierkegaard's critique of Hegel's dialectic.)

What interests me most about Inland Empire is how it retells this same story from a very different and much larger perspective, and how its conclusions act as a commentary on the earlier films. The protagonist of Inland Empire is no longer the scorned lover, but the cheating loved one; this is an immediate upheaval of the earlier stories that forces us to completely change our perspectives and sympathies. In this story, a conflation of the real and the ideal is actually what drives the cheater to cheat; she is so absorbed in the ideal world that she is cast into that she adopts her role in it as something real. Simultaneously, we see the story of male emasculation and female cheating retold again and again in many forms, setting it up as an archetypal tale, rather than "the real" that ruptures the ideal; we see how the ideal world acts as a perversion that makes the loved one a whore; and in Dern's monologue, we see a story told by an embodiment of the problems that "real" women face as they are forced into the roles that men wish for them. All of these aspects continually comment upon one another, and put the earlier films in a broader context.

By far my favorite part of Inland Empire is the celebratory ending. When the camera pulls back from the scene of Dern's height of misery, the film asserts a philosophical rejection of the earlier two films: it insists that their is no distinction between the real and ideal. The miserable "real" world that always threatens to rupture the ideal world is itself a construct of archetypes and ideals. I don't know much about Lynch's transcendental meditational beliefs, but I think the film's ending is a profound and revelatory celebration of Mayahana Buddhism's central tenet that "There is not the slightest difference between cyclic existence and nirvana" (in which case the earlier films can be seen in the light of Theravada Buddhism's more pessimistic quest for self-annihilation). As the Buddha said, "O what an awakening, all hail!"

[Raiders]

So I liked Man on Wire, but I don't particularly get what the big deal is about. Hmm, oh well, it's a nice little documentary, engagingly constructed and enthusiastically narrated.

Feel free to read my review or others' comments.

[Duncan]

"There is not the slightest difference between cyclic existence and nirvana" Where does this quote come from? I had no idea that was a central tenet of Mahayana Buddhism. Is it not still about the destruction of self and release from samsara?

[Melville]

Where does this quote come from? I had no idea that was a central tenet of Mahayana Buddhism. Is it not still about the destruction of self and release from samsara?
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, by Nagarjuna. I read that and The Diamond and Heart Sutras (the latter of which I had already read, but had misunderstood) earlier this year, along with extensive commentary on them, earlier this year, and I too was shocked by how Mayahana Buddhism changes the whole thing around (though in a very subtle and somewhat confusing way). The texts themselves are pretty murky, so they can be interpreted in various ways (sometimes Nagarjuna is interpreted as just being an extreme skeptic or even nihilist), but I'm just going with the most traditional interpretation (at least I think it's the most traditional).

[megladon8]

I can see why a lot of people would like it.

I would post evidence, but I do wish to post here tomorrow and the next day.


No, number8 doesn't think Marisa Tomei is hot.

[Grouchy]

Yowza. I can't remember a second of this film.

The good:
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Small Time Crooks

The bad:
Cassandra's Dream
Hollywood Ending
Melinda and Melinda
Scoop

The ugly:
Match Point
Anything Else
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Of all those movies, the one I liked the very best is Anything Else. It's genuinely funny and it has Woody playing a very atypical neroutic. I think its lack of pretentions works a lot on its favor.

But yeah, the last GREAT Woody Allen movie was Sweet and Lowdown. After that, it's all pretty much below his standards.

[megladon8]

The Fountain takes the cake for bad DVDs.

Honestly it seemed like WB went out of their way to make the DVD look and sound like shit.

For a movie with such strong imagery and beautiful colours, it was a disgrace.

There are actually parts near the beginning of the film where the colour is so washed out, it looked like it was black and white. I even looked it up on the 'net to see if I had forgotten that there was a black and white segment in the movie, but no, the DVD is just that bad.

Does anyone know if the Blu-Ray release of this is better?

It's one that, if it really was cleaned up and made to look and sound the way it did in the theatre, with the clarity of Blu-Ray technology it would be an incredible viewing experience.

But if it's just a clone of the DVD, I won't bother double-dipping.

[Rowland]

Feel free to read my review or others' comments.Yours is a fine piece of writing, you seem to have been genuinely inspired and moved by the film, which is wonderful. Your observations are interesting, but I unfortunately found the heist segments increasingly redundant as the movie progressed and thus disappointingly lacking in suspense, given the movie's reputation as a nail-biter, and it otherwise struck me as overly literal-minded in its storytelling (barring the Morris/Maddin-esque visual flourishes) and concluding platitudes.

[transmogrifier]

Forty Guns

Lean, mean, to the point and morally ambiguous, with the odd flash of visual profundity thrown in. Good old Fuller.

[Henry Gale]

Does anyone know if the Blu-Ray release of this is better?

It's one that, if it really was cleaned up and made to look and sound the way it did in the theatre, with the clarity of Blu-Ray technology it would be an incredible viewing experience.

But if it's just a clone of the DVD, I won't bother double-dipping.

I have the double sided HD-DVD (which I double dipped for after the DVD), and I must say that even before I compared them side by side, the HD transfer was extremely more satisfying. Aside from some things like an excess of grain and dark grays substituting for solid blacks in spots, it's a very rich transfer.

The Blu-Ray should basically be no different.

[Boner M]

Deep End (Skolimowski, 1971) ***
:cool: Any thoughts?

[Duncan]

I'll be seeing the following at TIFF:

35 Rhums (Denis)
Two-Legged Horse (Makmalbaf)
Tokyo Sonata (Kurosawa)
Achilles and the Tortoise (Kitano)

Pretty psyched. Only disappointments were 24 City (Jia) and The Silence of Lorna (Dardenne Bros.). Those ones were sold out.

[Sven]

Achilles and the Tortoise (Kitano)

I was very pissed that the NYFF did not get this one. Oh well. *ahem* Let us know.

[Derek]

Benny's Video (1993) 42

Incorrect sir! (http://www.cinematicreflections.com/bennysvideo.html)

[monolith94]

I think this weekend I'm going to try to finally knock of Fitzcaralldo.

[Raiders]

Incorrect sir! (http://www.cinematicreflections.com/bennysvideo.html)

The use of the pyramid scheme was nice at paralleling cinema as a buffer from culpability and responsibility. But, again, I came away with a sour taste. Haneke's moral didacticism is overwhelming and he completely neglects to make his characters human or emotional beings. Everything feels so remote and isolated and Benny such a monotone character, and Haneke completely misunderstands that is the manipulative ability of cinema (the way warmth can turn into coldness) that makes it such a powerful medium. Ironically, Haneke's film seems obsessed with the violence (the rewinding of the tape is, of course, Haneke's way of pointing his finger at the way cinema makes death feel unreal and inconsequential--but paradoxically it also is the lingering image that Haneke uses to give his film its weight-- how does the cake taste, Michael?)

In the end, I simply felt numb. Haneke fails to make his character extend beyond the screen with any humanity, thus the event feels isolated and useless as any substantive argument. It simply feels like smug condescension.

[Derek]

The use of the pyramid scheme was nice at paralleling cinema as a buffer from culpability and responsibility. But, again, I came away with a sour taste. Haneke's moral didacticism is overwhelming and he completely neglects to make his characters human or emotional beings.

It's almost as if he's uses his actors as models...


Everything feels so remote and isolated and Benny such a monotone character, and Haneke completely misunderstands that is the manipulative ability of cinema (the way warmth can turn into coldness) that makes it such a powerful medium. Ironically, Haneke's film seems obsessed with the violence (the rewinding of the tape is, of course, Haneke's way of pointing his finger at the way cinema makes death feel unreal and inconsequential--but paradoxically it also is the lingering image that Haneke uses to give his film its weight-- how does the cake taste, Michael?)

In the end, I simply felt numb. Haneke fails to make his character extend beyond the screen with any humanity, thus the event feels isolated and useless as any substantive argument. It simply feels like smug condescension.

I don't think Haneke's critique is solely of cinema, but of the violent images that surround us in all media. The sense of remoteness and isolation, as you say, is perfectly fitting for Benny's characters who views the world from a distance, preferring even to see it indirectly as his camera films it. I don't think Haneke is merely focusing on the way filmed violence can lead to actual violence and I'd reject the interpretation that Benny did what he did simply by watching/rewatching the original execution. Haneke examines how the oversaturation of images in general dilutes our conception of reality, not simply making death inconsequential, but making the filmed image more meaningful than life itself. As for complaints that the film lacks humanity, I don't find them particularly valid considering Haneke is more interested in a specific line of philosophical inquiry rather than a realistic representation of the story/characters. I can understand finding it too cold or clinical, but I see no reason why the film must have humanity that extends beyond the screen...especially when he appears to find that very notion absurd, at least in this film.


Ironically, Haneke's film seems obsessed with the violence (the rewinding of the tape is, of course, Haneke's way of pointing his finger at the way cinema makes death feel unreal and inconsequential--but paradoxically it also is the lingering image that Haneke uses to give his film its weight-- how does the cake taste, Michael?)

Addressing this point a little further, I think you're identifying a crucial aspect of the film, though misunderstanding the contradiction. The "weight" and power of that particular image is of particular importance. Haneke does indeed use the rewinding as a way of suggesting the allure of the image and the power to re-experience it infinitesimally is what ultimately makes it more seductive to Benny than the world itself. It is not so much death being made inconsequential as the filmed image being made consequential. Benny doesn't killonly because of his decreased value of humanity, but because of the inflated importance of video. For him, it has become more real, more valuable, more palpable than reality. As someone who likes Cronenberg, I'm surprised you weren't at least somewhat interested in the way Haneke approached these ideas.

[Derek]

:cool: Any thoughts?

Cool film and after seeing Moonlighting, I'm particularly impressed with Skolimowski's use of confined settings to function both literally and metaphorically. With this film, the baths are a perfect setting for a sexual coming of age, making for a number of hilarious, uncomfortable sequences. The use of handheld, along with the numerous corridors, hideouts, backrooms reflect Mike's constant sense of frustration, confusion and occasional excitement. And of course, the Cat Stevens/Can (or The Can as they were oddly credited) was beautiful.

[Raiders]

It's almost as if he's uses his actors as models...

Not really. This film is an emotional vacuum where the characters themselves have little to no humanity. Bresson's films are full of emotion and humanity, simply they do not use acting to display this.




I can understand finding it too cold or clinical, but I see no reason why the film must have humanity that extends beyond the screen...especially when he appears to find that very notion absurd, at least in this film.

Because otherwise, it's useless. It's a man preaching to hear himself talk, not engage the outside world. For all his use of media and oversaturation, he himself cannot free his character from the celluloid nor make them anything but isolated figures. Wouldn't the best way to combat the parts of cinema and media he dislikes be to counteract, not wallow in them?

I'm trying to avoid the idea of being "engaged" by the characters, but I think it is inevitable. I recognized the themes immediately, they were what I expected to find, but all I got was a character who drifted through what felt like a predetermined path through the destructiveness of the seductive quality of diminishing responsibility cinema and the camera lens offered. You state below about the similarities to Cronenberg, but the difference to me (and this may be a distinction difficult to quantify) is Cronenberg's films feel like a discovery and a journey where Haneke's, at least in this film, feel like a polemic where the film is secondary to the moral rather than them working in equal measure.



Addressing this point a little further, I think you're identifying a crucial aspect of the film, though misunderstanding the contradiction. The "weight" and power of that particular image is of particular importance. Haneke does indeed use the rewinding as a way of suggesting the allure of the image and the power to re-experience it infinitesimally is what ultimately makes it more seductive to Benny than the world itself. It is not so much death being made inconsequential as the filmed image being made consequential. Benny doesn't killonly because of his decreased value of humanity, but because of the inflated importance of video. For him, it has become more real, more valuable, more palpable than reality.

It's an interesting distinction between my reaction, but I can't really see what you're getting at. If we detest the image, that is the way the camera allows us to manipulate that image of reality, then it seems strange to me that the film upholds the image as the basis for its argument. What I mean is, Haneke is taking this image and manipulating it to fit what he wants, and I fail to see the difference between his methods and those of many filmmakers and such who use violence to make a point. Then again, it seems likely Haneke is more angered by the sheer saturation of violence in film and media, but this goes back to my point on isolation. He doesn't present us a living, breathing character who feels real to me, and thus, the situation is easily cast off as an isolated incident instead of a condition of society at large. Therefore, to me the point becomes lost in his own filmmaking.

[Ezee E]

-How can one hate Goldeneye when you have Famke Jansen at her hottest, killing people with her legs?

-Quiz Show is indeed great. It's starting to get play on some of those TV networks I've seen.

-I should try out all the Bourne movies again. They're nothing better than good from what I remember.

-The Grindhouse on Starz is teh awesome.

-I saw The Brown Bunny with a Vincent Gallo Q&A. The Q&A was more memorable.

-Match Point is one of Woody Allen's best movies period.

-Can't wait to see The Fall again.

With that, anyone interested or know about the Austin Film Festival? I was thinking of going.

[transmogrifier]

Watch Forty Guns, people. Just do it.

[Stay Puft]

I'll be seeing the following at TIFF:

35 Rhums (Denis)
Two-Legged Horse (Makmalbaf)
Tokyo Sonata (Kurosawa)
Achilles and the Tortoise (Kitano)

Pretty psyched. Only disappointments were 24 City (Jia) and The Silence of Lorna (Dardenne Bros.). Those ones were sold out.

Ah. I forgot tickets were already on sale. And I don't have a Visa.

Guess I'm just going to show up Sunday and wing it. Why not. Last year I had advanced tickets and a set itinerary. This year I'll go with the flow.

I do want to see 24 City quite a bit, though. Maybe I should just get in a bunch of rush lines and see what happens.

[Watashi]

Anyone heard of a movie called Plastic City?

Apparently it's premiering at the TIFF and it sounds interesting.

[soitgoes...]

Watch Forty Guns, people. Just do it.Seen it. 'Twas good, but not top tier Fuller. Great ending though. A complete surprise for a 50's era western. The ambush scene was also top-notch.

[Stay Puft]

Anyone heard of a movie called Plastic City?

Apparently it's premiering at the TIFF and it sounds interesting.

Yup, that's one I'd like to see. It's Nelson Yu's new film - the guy who regularly serves as cinematographer for Zhangke Jia.

But of course Anthony Wong is the main appeal.

[Duncan]

Ah. I forgot tickets were already on sale. And I don't have a Visa.

Guess I'm just going to show up Sunday and wing it. Why not. Last year I had advanced tickets and a set itinerary. This year I'll go with the flow.

I do want to see 24 City quite a bit, though. Maybe I should just get in a bunch of rush lines and see what happens.

I might try a few rush lines too, but I currently live about an hour's drive outside of Toronto so it's a pretty big risk. I'll probably only do that if there's something playing immediately before or after a film I'm already seeing.

[Duncan]

Ah. I forgot tickets were already on sale. And I don't have a Visa.

Guess I'm just going to show up Sunday and wing it. Why not. Last year I had advanced tickets and a set itinerary. This year I'll go with the flow.

I do want to see 24 City quite a bit, though. Maybe I should just get in a bunch of rush lines and see what happens.

Oh, also, 24 City and The Silence of Lorna were only sold out for showings that I could attend. There might be others with tickets still available.

[Stay Puft]

Well, Sunday is the only time I can get in Toronto when 24 City is showing, so I'll probably try to do the rush line thing. If not, oh well. Though they often save tickets for same day showings, too. Encounters at the End of the World was sold out last year, but my friend managed to score another ticket when the box office opened on the day of the showing.

[origami_mustache]

anyone know what film this is?

http://media.tumblr.com/90j9hvzOKdg437rzBzsMoPIc_500.j pg

clue: Did you move him?

http://namethatfilm.tumblr.com/

not Fargo

A Simple Plan?

[Melville]

Where does this quote come from? I had no idea that was a central tenet of Mahayana Buddhism. Is it not still about the destruction of self and release from samsara?
I just realized that I didn't answer your second question. (I also repeated the exact same phrase twice. I'm slipping.) Yes, in some sense Mahayana Buddhism is still about the destruction of the self and release from Samsara. But the basic idea in Mahayana Buddhism is that existence is a fundamental unity, and our way of thinking in terms of discrete objects with definite qualities is a fictitious misrepresentation of the world. Our perpetual suffering is caused because we think of "ourselves" as a distinct things, so we create an illusory distance between ourselves and the world. Once "we" realize that "our" notions are incorrect, and that neither "we" nor any "thing" else exists as a distinct entity, "we" see that the true world, the one "we" have lived in all the time, is actually Nirvana (or rather, there is no distinction between it and Nirvana, though Nirvana is a false notion, as is Samsara). Basically, Mahayana Buddhism ditches all of our usual laws of logic, especially the law of excluded middle (i.e. the idea that every proposition is either true or false).

Mahayana Buddhists say that the Buddha didn't originally preach these ideas because people at the time didn't have the spiritual maturity to accept them. They use the analogy of a father waking up in a burning house and then saving his children by enticing them out of the house with trinkets. The idea of escaping from Samsara via self-annihilation is the trinket.

[origami_mustache]

oh man...look what Trapped in the Closet has started:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb8RLHboC-8

[MadMan]

My friend finally got a Blue-Ray player. He's all uber psyched about it. While yes Blade Runner DC and Theatrical cuts looked good on it, I'm in no rush to buy one. Maybe down the road.

[origami_mustache]

did a trailer recut for Punch Drunk Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLupX2k8OhE

[Boner M]

w/e

La Region Centralé (Snow) - will I be able to stomach all three hours? Hmm...
Ulzana's Raid (Aldrich)
Images (Altman)
Pitfall (Teshigahara)
Another Day in Paradise (Clark)

[soitgoes...]

Weekend's probable choices:

Hana yori mo naho (Koreeda's film. Don't know what the English title is.)
My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? - Aoyama
Glory to the Filmmaker! - Kitano
Gemini - Tsukamoto
Our Mother - Yamada

[Duncan]

Mahayana Buddhists say that the Buddha didn't originally preach these ideas because people at the time didn't have the spiritual maturity to accept them. They use the analogy of a father waking up in a burning house and then saving his children by enticing them out of the house with trinkets. The idea of escaping from Samsara via self-annihilation is the trinket.

Oh, ha. I've actually read whatever Sutra this comes from. A few years back now though. I also remember some stuff about the Dragon King's daughter and a lot of boddhisatvas. And one really surreal story that described a god sounding more like Krishna than anything else I've encountered in Buddhism.

[Qrazy]

anyone know what film this is?

http://media.tumblr.com/90j9hvzOKdg437rzBzsMoPIc_500.j pg

clue: Did you move him?

http://namethatfilm.tumblr.com/

not Fargo

A Simple Plan?

I think this is wrong but perhaps Tampopo?

[Yxklyx]

Weekend:

Satantango - disc 2
Prince of the City - (if disc 1 arrives)

[Teh Sausage]

Saw The Banishment, Zvyagintsev’s follow-up to his debut The Return. I'm not sure if it offered anything new because it uses techniques and symbols I recognised from so many other films, which affected my enjoyment a bit. Very Tarkovsky, of course, but it also reminded me a lot of Bergman. It uses the Scenes from a Marriage device of symmetrically placing the husband and wife in the same frame to communicate their emotional distance toward one another, and it references the same Bible passage as Through a Glass Darkly does. (spoiler, I guess) But whereas Bergman concludes with characters realising the power and importance of love, Zvyagintsev closes with singing harvesters and the impactful choral music of Arvo Pärt channeling their stirring lament for those too late to realise it. Overall, rather dreary, but it might make my lower top 10-15 of the year.

Also watched Tron last night. Um...not as good as I remember. At times, the directing is a bit rote and it feels too mechanical for an adventure movie, especially in the real life scenes. But, it's still an admiringly inventive family film, and the visuals are gorgeous.

[Yxklyx]

The Small Back Room (1949, Powell/Pressburger) was disappointing. In many ways it felt like a pilot for a TV series - not that that's a bad thing. Mainly interesting for its slice of life view of life during wartime. Interesting gay references, especially for a film from the 40s. Good performances and all just not very compelling. 6/10

[dreamdead]

My copy of Kurosawa's Pulse is out of state, and I'd like to reference a few images for an essay I'm writing, so could anyone post screengrabs of the moments where Junco evaporates and becomes a smudge on Michi's wall, as well as the moment when the smudge scatters?

[origami_mustache]

Weekend's probable choices:

Hana yori mo naho (Koreeda's film. Don't know what the English title is.)
My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? - Aoyama
Gemini - Tsukamoto


excellent lineup

Aoyama's film is especially amazing.

[Grouchy]

Kaurismaki's Hamlet Goes Business is a very clever movie. It's actually a straight adaptation of Hamlet that changes the content, and not the plot, to suit a satire of greed and modern corporations. The excellent black and white cinematography also gives it a nice film noir ambience. I swear, Kaurismaki is one of a kind - his movies are always cheap, simple, filled with static shots and ridiculous zooms, and he seems to take nothing or anything seriously. Hamlet's one-sided confessions with his Horatio, for example. "You know what I do every morning when I wake up?" / "I couldn't possibly care less" / "I vomit!". By the end, it's amazing that we've beared so much with a protagonist this unlikely - instead of a youngster with existential doubts that refuses to engage in violence, we get a self-absorbed and pampered rich boy that calms his anxiety with compulsive eating. Truly a must see for fans of ridiculous comedy.

[Morris Schæffer]

Looks like I might watch Matteo Garrone's 2008 Cannes Grand Prize winner Gomorrah somewhere next week.

Although I doubt it, has anyone seen it yet?

[balmakboor]

The Small Back Room (1949, Powell/Pressburger) was disappointing. In many ways it felt like a pilot for a TV series - not that that's a bad thing. Mainly interesting for its slice of life view of life during wartime. Interesting gay references, especially for a film from the 40s. Good performances and all just not very compelling. 6/10

I thought it was pretty embarrassing that EW reviewed this calling it The Small Black Room.

I'm greatly looking forward to it. I am fasozuPOW after all.

[Sycophant]

My copy of Kurosawa's Pulse is out of state, and I'd like to reference a few images for an essay I'm writing, so could anyone post screengrabs of the moments where Junco evaporates and becomes a smudge on Michi's wall, as well as the moment when the smudge scatters?
If no one else does it for you by the time I get home tonight (not for another eight or nine hours), I'll get 'em for you.

[Sycophant]

I am fasozuPOW after all.Wait, you're running for president?

[dreamdead]

If no one else does it for you by the time I get home tonight (not for another eight or nine hours), I'll get 'em for you.

Rep for you once you do, kind sir.:)

[Philosophe_rouge]

The Small Back Room (1949, Powell/Pressburger) was disappointing. In many ways it felt like a pilot for a TV series - not that that's a bad thing. Mainly interesting for its slice of life view of life during wartime. Interesting gay references, especially for a film from the 40s. Good performances and all just not very compelling. 6/10
I found it particularly gripping personally, it had a wonderful balance of post-war angst and frustration and the romance for me was extremely effective. As far as alcolism goes, I can't think of a film that handles it with more grace. Also, the sequence where he disarms that "thing", was incredibly tense. I don't think it's perfect though, occassionally quaint and the ending seemed rushed. David Farrar is incredible, one of my favourite actors.

[MadMan]

Wait, you're running for president?Haha.

Weekend Viewings (back to watching only things on cable again. Feels good):

*Swiss Family Robinson (1960)-I haven't seen this film in ages, but I remember loving it as a kid.
*The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)-Demands to be watched simply because of the title. I imagine it will be gloriously awful.
*Night of the Hunter (1955)-Considering the praise this has gotten, expectations will be high.
*Sudden Impact (1983)-I wonder if this film holds up. At least worth seeing to hear Clint say "Go ahead. Make my day."

Oh and AMC is airing Pearl Harbor on Sunday night. Part of me wants to tune in to witness the horror. The other part of me tells me that "Dude you've seen at least 20-30 minutes of that crapfest. That was enough."

[Ezee E]

Looks like I might watch Matteo Garrone's 2008 Cannes Grand Prize winner Gomorrah somewhere next week.

Although I doubt it, has anyone seen it yet?
It's good.

Don't expect something groundbreaking like City of God, instead, think of it like The Wire in Naples. Only without the police. So I guess that ain't The Wire at all... More like The Wire on BET.

[soitgoes...]

excellent lineup

Aoyama's film is especially amazing.I'm pretty stoked on all them. Aoyama's film looks very intriguing, but honestly they all do. Should be a good weekend.

[Winston*]

It's good.

Don't expect something groundbreaking like City of God, instead, think of it like The Wire in Naples. Only without the police. So I guess that ain't The Wire at all... More like The Wire on BET.

Did you get confused between all of the old Mafia dudes? I got confused between all of the old Mafia dudes.

[Derek]

Oh and AMC is airing Pearl Harbor on Sunday night. Part of me wants to tune in to witness the horror. The other part of me tells me that "Dude you've seen at least 20-30 minutes of that crapfest. That was enough."

Wow. The only thing I can imagine worse than sitting through Pearl Harbor again is watching in pan&scan with commercial breaks. What's that a 5-hour time commitment? Don't do it MadMan!

I think I actually dislike AMC even more than Michael Bay. At least he's upfront about the crap he shovels out to the American public.

[soitgoes...]

Wow. The only thing I can imagine worse than sitting through Pearl Harbor again is watching in pan&scan with commercial breaks. What's that a 5-hour time commitment? Don't do it MadMan!

I think I actually dislike AMC even more than Michael Bay. At least he's upfront about the crap he shovels out to the American public.Yeah, I hate searching for something to watch, and finding a movie I've really wanted to see only to find it's showing on AMC. I won't even waste my time with it. The last movie I attempted to watch on that channel was Five Easy Pieces a number of years ago. I changed it when they fuzzed out Sally "Jesus of the African Children's" tits at the beginning.

[balmakboor]

Wait, you're running for president?

I've read this comment several times and I'm still wondering, "What are you talking about?"

[NickGlass]

I've read this comment several times and I'm still wondering, "What are you talking about?"

P.O.W. = prisoner of war. If you watched Sarah Palin's speech last night, you'd think it's the only reason she'd vote for McCain. Then again, she couldn't make room to talk about how great McCain is because she was too busy shootign down her "opponent."

[balmakboor]

P.O.W. = prisoner of war. If you watched Sarah Palin's speech last night, you'd think it's the only reason she'd vote for McCain. Then again, she couldn't make room to talk about how great McCain is because she was too busy shootign down her "opponent."

Oh. No I didn't catch her speech. I'm sure she knows a lot about "shooting people down" though.

[NickGlass]

Oh. No I didn't catch her speech. I'm sure she knows a lot about "shooting people down" though.

No, although she's all for hunting animals, she doesn't believe in literally shooting people--or a fetus--down (unless, you know, they're not American).

[Watashi]

Keep the political talk in the political threads.

[balmakboor]

Keep the political talk in the political threads.

Um, sorry. If we had been discussing Fear Eats the Soul, I would've been FASozupow. Late Spring would've made me fasOZUpow. Just the luck of the movie I guess that turned things unfortunately political.

[Ezee E]

Did you get confused between all of the old Mafia dudes? I got confused between all of the old Mafia dudes.
Very much so.

That's probably why I think the story with the kids excelled so much. I wonder if another viewing would improve on everything. Probably.

What did you think?

The scene with the kids in the garbage trucks is full of lulz.

[Rowland]

So, Death Race... I've already forgotten most of it. Better than AVP I suppose, but still worse than his earlier stuff.

[megladon8]

Mortal Kombat was a sweet movie back in the day.

I watched it so much the VHS tape stopped working.

[MadMan]

Wow. The only thing I can imagine worse than sitting through Pearl Harbor again is watching in pan&scan with commercial breaks. What's that a 5-hour time commitment? Don't do it MadMan!

I think I actually dislike AMC even more than Michael Bay. At least he's upfront about the crap he shovels out to the American public.Yeah, I won't. I've learned my lesson about bad movies after seeing I Spit On Your Grave.

And heh yeah the only good thing Bay does is pull no punches. He does admit what he does, and that its all he's interested in doing.

[megladon8]

I couldn't even finish Pearl Harbor in multiple sittings.

You made the right choice, MadMan.

[Milky Joe]

Mortal Kombat was a sweet movie back in the day.

I watched it so much the VHS tape stopped working.

It's still a pretty sweet movie. My friend and I played a drinking game wherein we watch Mortal Kombat and take a shot every time they say the word "soul." Great fun was had.

[Melville]

Oh, ha. I've actually read whatever Sutra this comes from. A few years back now though. I also remember some stuff about the Dragon King's daughter and a lot of boddhisatvas. And one really surreal story that described a god sounding more like Krishna than anything else I've encountered in Buddhism.
It's from the Lotus of the Wonderful Law. And, yeah, those Buddhists sure do love their boddhisatvas.

[MadMan]

Yeah Mortal Kombat is good stuff. Years from now it'll be remembered as a cheesy campy cult classic.

[megladon8]

The fight scenes were also pretty sweet, if I remember correctly.

Particularly Liu Kang vs. Reptile.

[balmakboor]

I just watched it a second time and I consider Death in Venice to be an absolute masterpiece. More morbid obsession, fear of death, longing for youth, and visual genius than I ever thought could barely be contained in a little over two hours. Plus hauntingly amazing use of Mahler. I've also seen The Leopard and I really love this guy Visconti.

I have an odd double-bill coming up for the weekend. Visconti's The Damned (aka Fassbinder's favorite film) and Godzilla vs. Mothra. I'll also fit in a second viewing of Vengeance is Mine, hopefully.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Mortal Kombat was a sweet movie back in the day.

I watched it so much the VHS tape stopped working.

That film had the good sense to embrace its camp factor. At some point, Anderson thought he was making meaningful films, which led to Soldier, Event Horizon, Resident Evil, and Alien vs. Predator. All of which suffer from the same enormous flaw: they're humorless.

Obnoxious sound design and boring visuals don't help either, but a little levity goes a hell of a long way.

[soitgoes...]

Between Lost Highway and Gemini, tonight has given me quite a twisted lesson on identity. Both are great films. I'll definitely have to check out some more from Tsukamoto, and as for Lynch, this might motivate me to watch all the Twin Peaks stuff out there finally. I was a bit disillusioned after Inland Empire.

[transmogrifier]

Kudos to the Lost Highway love. Great, gorgeously grimy film.

Just watched One, Two, Three - absolute firecracker of a film, funny and breathless, once it gets through the set-up. Cagney is awesome.

[Morris Schæffer]

It's good.

Don't expect something groundbreaking like City of God, instead, think of it like The Wire in Naples. Only without the police. So I guess that ain't The Wire at all... More like The Wire on BET.

Ah ok. Thanks.


Weekend Viewings (back to watching only things on cable again. Feels good):

*Swiss Family Robinson (1960)-I haven't seen this film in ages, but I remember loving it as a kid.


Same here. This is one of my childhood faves along with The Love Bug (1969) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). I own the DVD and I suspect a rewatch won't result in diminished adoration.

[Boner M]

City of God = groundbreaking? Hmm...

[Scar]

The fight scenes were also pretty sweet, if I remember correctly.

Particularly Liu Kang vs. Reptile.

I wouldn't go that far. But that is the best fight scene in the movie.

[Ezee E]

City of God = groundbreaking? Hmm...
For South American filmmaking? I'd definitely say so.

[Boner M]

Images - Plot is kinda whatever and a good example of the pitfalls of films with schizophrenic subjects, but goddamn if Altman doesn't direct the shit out of it. Worked best when I just tuned out emotionally, and pretended it was a non-narrative film dedication to secluded country homes in autumn - then it really got under my skin.

[Boner M]

For South American filmmaking? I'd definitely say so.
I suppose, but that doesn't say anything about the film's quality.

[Yxklyx]

I suppose, but that doesn't say anything about the film's quality.

Really? I'd say that more often than not a groundbreaking film is not particularly good. Directors with original visions usually pave the way for later filmmakers. The groundbreaking film is a rough diamond which gets shined by others.

[Sven]

Just watched One, Two, Three - absolute firecracker of a film, funny and breathless, once it gets through the set-up. Cagney is awesome.

One of my favorite moments in any film: Horst Buchholz has just been rescued by Cagney and company from the Germans who've been torturing him with "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". Back at the office, Cagney is shaving. Horst is delusional on Cagney's couch, muttering "itsy... bitsy... teenie weenie..." Cagney looks at him. Beat. Cagney says "Drop. Dead."

Gets me every time. Love that film. Wrote a pretty good paper on its visual style. It got an A anyway.

[Boner M]

Really? I'd say that more often than not a groundbreaking film is not particularly good. Directors with original visions usually pave the way for later filmmakers. The groundbreaking film is a rough diamond which gets shined by others.
That's what I was implying, though I was more inferring the term's irrelevance when it comes to gauging the quality of a film, rather than that it's a negative term.

[Grouchy]

For South American filmmaking? I'd definitely say so.
It's just a good film for export, because it shows exactly what Europeans and Americans want to see about South America - poverty and guns - in a frenetic style that reminded everyone of Goodfellas.

Macunaima and Black Orpheus are ten times more important / groundbreaking for Brazilian cinema in my opinion.

EDIT: I still like City of God a good deal, though.

[Wryan]

One, Two, Three is pretty interesting for Cagney's terrificness and Buchholz's awfulness.

[Rowland]

Mortal Kombat 59
Event Horizon 57
Resident Evil 55
AVP 34
Death Race 42

City of God 47

[Ezee E]

Mortal Kombat 59
Event Horizon 57
Resident Evil 55
AVP 34
Death Race 42

City of God 47
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA

[Watashi]

It's so cute when Match Cut hates great movies.

[Qrazy]

It's so cute when Match Cut hates great movies.

Field of Dreams sucks.

;)

[Watashi]

Field of Dreams sucks.

;)
It doesn't.

[Qrazy]

It doesn't.

Fair.

[Ezee E]

It doesn't.
Indeed.

[Rowland]

It's so cute when Match Cut hates great movies.
I'm the embodiment of Match Cut? Sweet.

And 47 isn't hate, more like mediocre tipping over into the negative end of the scale.

[transmogrifier]

One, Two, Three is pretty interesting for Cagney's terrificness and Buchholz's awfulness.

Actually, I liked Buchholz....sure, he's way, way, way over-the-top, but he has a lot of funny lines, and it works to have the two opposing ideologies embodied by loud-mouths, but one who's all business down the line, the other who's all about idealism.

[Sycophant]

My copy of Kurosawa's Pulse is out of state, and I'd like to reference a few images for an essay I'm writing, so could anyone post screengrabs of the moments where Junco evaporates and becomes a smudge on Michi's wall, as well as the moment when the smudge scatters?
Whoops. Forgot about it till I was at work this morning. Here you go.

Took several. (http://whatnot.bombdotcom.net/shit/pulsefordd.zip)

Damn, that's a good scene.

[Morris Schæffer]

Both Field of Dreams and City of God are bonafide masterpieces.

::awaits rep::

[Sven]

Yeah, normally Buchholz is beyond terrible, but somehow he works in One Two Three.

[MadMan]

Same here. This is one of my childhood faves along with The Love Bug (1969) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). I own the DVD and I suspect a rewatch won't result in diminished adoration.I haven't seen 20,000 Leagues, but I have seen The Love Bug. I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid.

And of course Field of Dreams is a great movie. But a masterpiece? I donno about that.

[Spinal]

The wide-eyed romantic view of baseball in Field of Dreams is just too much for me to take without an eye roll these days, although the film does have some memorable moments. I much prefer the warts-and-all depictions of the sport that we get in films like Eight Men Out and Ken Burns' Baseball.

[Derek]

And 47 isn't hate, more like mediocre tipping over into the negative end of the scale.

Which is about right for City of God.

Resident Evil > City of God

And I'm almost positive that film is as close to a sacred cow on MatchCut as any other from this decade. It's so cute when Wats gets overly defensive about a film a large majority of people already like. I mean, I gave it a middle-of-the-road score yet it's the only review where I've ever gotten hate mail...twice no less, w00t!

[/provocation!]

[Spinal]

Resident Evil is certainly a better film than Chinatown and Au hasard Balthazar. But City of God? Come on, that's crazy talk. :)

[Derek]

Resident Evil is certainly a better film than Chinatown and Au hasard Balthazar. But City of God? Come on, that's crazy talk. :)

:lol: Repped.

Asshole.

[Watashi]

Which is about right for City of God.

Resident Evil > City of God

And I'm almost positive that film is as close to a sacred cow on MatchCut as any other from this decade. It's so cute when Wats gets overly defensive about a film a large majority of people already like. I mean, I gave it a middle-of-the-road score yet it's the only review where I've ever gotten hate mail...twice no less, w00t!

[/provocation!]
It's also cute when the FDT has turned into a Paul W.S. Anderson consensus thread.

[Winston*]

Resident Evil is a bad movie IMO.

[Watashi]

Resident Evil is a bad movie IMO.
How dare you!

[Derek]

It's also cute when the FDT has turned into a Paul W.S. Anderson consensus thread.

Man, Rowland must hold a lot of sway in your mind since he was the only one to rank/rate PWSA. Plus you think he's the embodiment of MatchCut! You've got a thing for him, huh Wats? ;)

And to qualify my earlier statement, I don't think Resident Evil is a particularly good movie either.

[Watashi]

Well, now that my man-crush for Rowland has been let out into the public, I guess I have no shame into admitting it.

Come here you cynical little bastard.

*snuggles*

[MadMan]

Brokeback Match-Cut :lol:

Wats to Rowland: I wish I could quit you!

[balmakboor]

It's also cute when the FDT has turned into a Paul W.S. Anderson consensus thread.

About the only thing I can add to this discussion is my younger daughter bought me AVP for Father's Day last year because she thought the scary looking cover looked like something I would like. And I dutifully watched it, and surprisingly enjoyed it.

I'm so ashamed.

Not really.

[balmakboor]

I'm pretty stoked. I found a pristine used hardbound copy of Pauline Kael's anthology For Keeps for $10 and it came in the mail today. It must weigh 4 pounds and has like 1/5 of her total output. Great stuff. I spend most of my time reading film criticism by bouncing back and forth between her and Robin Wood. The practice has almost driven me psychotic.

[balmakboor]

I decided to survey my feelings about Woody Allen's body of work. It was a pleasureful stroll down memory lane. It was kinda depressing. And it was a bit surprising in that there are more I've missed than I realized. He just makes so damn many movies.

Favorites
Alice (1990)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Zelig (1983)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Manhattan (1979)
Annie Hall (1977)

Great
Match Point (2005)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Radio Days (1987)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Love and Death (1975)
Sleeper (1973)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
Bananas (1971)
Take the Money and Run (1969)

Pretty Good
Celebrity (1998)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Another Woman (1988)
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
Interiors (1978)

Pretty Bad
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Shadows and Fog (1992)
New York Stories (1989) (segment "Oedipus Wrecks")

Really need to see again before I decide (but leaning toward liking)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Haven't seen (Which should I rush to see? Or flee from in terror?)
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
Scoop (2006)
Melinda and Melinda (2004)
Anything Else (2003)
Hollywood Ending (2002)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
Small Time Crooks (2000)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
September (1987)
What's Up, Tiger Lily?

[Winston*]

Definitely see Sweet and Lowdown.

[balmakboor]

Definitely see Sweet and Lowdown.

Yeah, that was the biggest surprise to me. I've heard so many good things about it. I just dropped it into my Netflix queue at the top.

[Watashi]

Nice to see someone list Alice among their favorite Woodys and put Shadows and Fog at the bottom. Probably my least favorite Woody film.

[Scar]

Resident Evil is a bad movie IMO.

Its fucking horseshit.

[transmogrifier]

Haven't seen (Which should I rush to see? Or flee from in terror?)
Cassandra's Dream (2007) - NO his worst movie
Scoop (2006) - YES funny
Melinda and Melinda (2004) NO dull
Anything Else (2003) EH
Hollywood Ending (2002) NO unfunny
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - his second worst movie
Small Time Crooks (2000) YES underrated and sweet
Sweet and Lowdown (1999) YES but can't remember much about it
September (1987) NO silly
What's Up, Tiger Lily? DON'T KNOW haven't seen it

Comments above....

[Ezee E]

did a trailer recut for Punch Drunk Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLupX2k8OhE
well done

[Mysterious Dude]

Fake trailers always lose me when they include cursing. Real trailers never include cursing. I like the fake trailer for Se7en where they cut off the profanity with Morgan Freeman chuckling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lInBjPyvPt8

[MadMan]

Haha.

Weekend Viewings (back to watching only things on cable again. Feels good):

*Swiss Family Robinson (1960)-I haven't seen this film in ages, but I remember loving it as a kid.
*The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)-Demands to be watched simply because of the title. I imagine it will be gloriously awful.
*Night of the Hunter (1955)-Considering the praise this has gotten, expectations will be high.
*Sudden Impact (1983)-I wonder if this film holds up. At least worth seeing to hear Clint say "Go ahead. Make my day."So far, so good although I substituted "Zombies" with Scott's "1492." I just couldn't make it through "Zombies," and its clear that the title is the only good thing about it. The film wasn't even really bad in a funny or fun way, it was just bad. The viewing was aborted roughly 25 minutes in. The others I have seen, although I'm worried that due to going to the UNI game tomorrow at 4:05 pm I may miss out on the start of Night of the Hunter, which means I'll have to pass. Luckily my local library has a copy, but I love watching movies on TCM.

[Boner M]

Caught the last hour of La Region Centralé today. Pretty amazing stuff, and I'm kinda pissed off that I assumed I didn't have to see the whole thing. Very surprised at how few narrative filmmakers have been influenced by the film's conceit, save for Gaspar Noe in Irreversible. There's unlimited potential in this thing.

[Morris Schæffer]

Both Field of Dreams and City of God are bonafide masterpieces.

::awaits rep::

:has gotten rep:

"understands now how the system works:

:lol:

[Morris Schæffer]

I haven't seen 20,000 Leagues, but I have seen The Love Bug. I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid.


You really should try to see the former. It's a great adventure movie with remarkable FX and the set pieces are certainly not small.

[D_Davis]

Resident Evil is a bad movie IMO.

One of the worst. It's soulless, feckless drivel, with less dramatic tension and cinematic verve than even the video games it is based upon. I'd rather watch someone play through the games.

[dreamdead]

Whoops. Forgot about it till I was at work this morning. Here you go.


Indeed it is a good scene. That scene and the tower suicide sequence epitomize the film for me, even if Kurosawa's humanism underscores the rest of the work. It's what allows the film to possess a dialectic for me.

Meantime, Darabont's The Mist presents some good imagery and tension throughout (specifically in its use of Dead Can Dance), but I am rather tired of seeing one-dimensional religious zealots serving the narrative arc of films. Harden's character is too one-note to possess the dimensional necessary and even if one argues that Darabont is working with archetypes, they have become rote archetypes and thus possess no nuance or surprise. Though the ending works, somehow it feels too quick and devoid of any sustained nihilism before the reveal; Darabont pulls back from the nihilism too quick to sustain the drama. Not bad, though.

Kim Ki-Duk's Time, however, possesses the same glib characteristics and one-note characterizations of adult distrust in relationships. Though it's certainly intentional, it denies the film a stronger maturity or dialectic with which to comment on. Instead, it's reversals layered over reversals without much thought toward developing out the pettiness into any sustained characterization. The characters ultimately become too static, though the excursions to the sclupture park had nice resonance given the themes of stasis. I'm a bit hesitant to go back and revisit 3-Iron after finding less in Kim's recent work.

[Grouchy]

Mildred Pierce floored me. Excellent movie. It's an unusual film noir, almost a melodrama, although it has most of the characteristics of the genre - femme fatale, greed as a motive for murder, and shadowy ambiences. Joan Crawford is awesome on her long-suffering mother role, and if you know anything about her life and Mommie Dearest it's pretty damn ironic. Maybe the plot developments come a little too rushed or appear too forced, but the film sustains itself because it has the mystery established on the first scenes to go back to. I was surprised by the visual inventiveness of Michael Curtiz - he's almost like Carol Reed, sometimes starting with a close-up of an object and only then framing the entire scene. I didn't catch too much of that stuff in Casablanca.

Then I saw too experimental films at my class - Saut Ma Ville by Ackerman and Daisies. The first one is dull, but Daisies was very imaginative. I can see how, at 74 minutes, a movie about two girls raising mayhem and speaking in code could become a bit of a bore, but the changes on film stock and incredible editing keep oit up. I like this film a lot, I might even watch it again.

[transmogrifier]

Harvey may contain my favorite Jimmy Stewart performance, which is strange seeing as he basically wanders around grinning like an idiot for just under two hours. The man had presence.

[Rowland]

Time was heavy-handed, visually flat, and shrill, but there were enough elements within it that worked for me to give it a slightly positive score. The last ten minutes in particular are brilliantly baroque.

[soitgoes...]

Glory to the Filmmaker! was disappointing. I'm not sure what the point of the movie was. It's like Kitano had absolutely no idea what kind of film he wanted to make, so he just threw together a bunch of ideas, and tied it all together with some narration to explain where his thoughts are going. All in order to be clever. Some laughs, but mostly it was a head-scratcher. By far my least favorite of his films.

[Sven]

Glory to the Filmmaker! was disappointing. I'm not sure what the point of the movie was. It's like Kitano had absolutely no idea what kind of film he wanted to make, so he just threw together a bunch of ideas, and tied it all together with some narration to explain where his thoughts are going. All in order to be clever. Some laughs, but mostly it was a head-scratcher. By far my least favorite of his films.

have you seen Getting Any? I found it akin to that picture in its seemingly pure anarchistic design. I don't think it's worthless, but it's exhausting for sure. However, the mad scientist dude's laugh is pretty much the greatest thing I've ever seen in any movie. And the scene with the pro-wrestlers... come on, dude.

[soitgoes...]

have you seen Getting Any? I found it akin to that picture in its seemingly pure anarchistic design. I don't think it's worthless, but it's exhausting for sure. However, the mad scientist dude's laugh is pretty much the greatest thing I've ever seen in any movie. And the scene with the pro-wrestlers... come on, dude.I have not seen Getting Any?. The whole cockroach-wrestling scene was the best part of the movie. Like I said it garnered some laughs, some of it was smart, but overall I was lost at what he was trying to accomplish. The second to last scene was pretty much great too, where he blows up his world and the only thing left standing is the film's title. Maybe I'm being too harsh, and I need to rewatch it with a different mindset (i.e. me being high.)

[megladon8]

Mildred Pierce floored me. Excellent movie. It's an unusual film noir, although it has most of the characteristics of the genere - femme fatales, greed as a motive for murder, and shadows. Joan Crawford is awesome on his long-suffering mother role, and if you know anything about her life it's a role filled with irony. Maybe the plot developments come a little too rushed or sound too forced, but the film sustains itself and it never lets down on the mystery. I was surprised by the visual inventiveness of Michael Curtiz - he's almost like Carol Reed, sometimes starting with a close-up of an object and only then framing the entire scene. I don't caught too much of that stuff in Casablanca.


I saw this one earlier this year, and it's easily one of this year's best viewings so far.

An incredible movie, and Joan Crawford was just, wow.

[Raiders]

Heh. I had never noticed Nathan Fillion is in Saving Private Ryan as the wrong Pvt. Ryan.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Watched Late Marriage (2001) a couple of days ago, above average film that explores tradition and custom within the Israeli community. It's a successful film in this regard, and it's focus on marriage and relationships raises many questions about the nature of love and commitment. It's well shot, and well acted. Overall though, it kinda leaves me cold. I don't know, this style of film doesn't really thrill me.

Also saw Death Race (2008) , it's badly made, and it's blatant misoginy and sexism drives me up the wall... even the action sequences are pretty badly shot. Yet, I enjoyed it because shit blew up and stuff.

Ooo, and Jacob's Ladder (1990), just misses the mark from being truly great. I wasn't much of a fan of the direction, though the dream sequences and effects are pretty awesome. Explores the sheer power of the mind in a very provocative and frightening way.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Ooo, and for those of you who loved Mildred Pierce, I highly recommend The Reckless Moment. They're both quite different, but deal with the oh-so rare mother as protagonist in a noir.

[Sven]

The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) 67Alright, jerk, what's your problem?

[Ezee E]

Hmm... Redbelt is quite easily David Mamet's best movie. He certainly sets up a lot to be at stake at the fight, and gets around it all being about the final fight in the ring.

[Raiders]

Alright, jerk, what's your problem?

Nothing. I loved the beauty of the images and Herzog's manipulation of sound and image. But, while the stuff with Dourif and the scientists worked to round out the film--conservatist, wonder and alien beauty of the natural world, our peculiarities worth noting and preserving--I just wasn't as involved or as moved as I have with other Herzog ruminations on nature. Still, I quite enjoyed myself.

[Sven]

Nothing. I loved the beauty of the images and Herzog's manipulation of sound and image. But, while the stuff with Dourif and the scientists worked to round out the film--conservatist, wonder and alien beauty of the natural world, our peculiarities worth noting and preserving--I just wasn't as involved or as moved as I have with other Herzog ruminations on nature. Still, I quite enjoyed myself.

So it gets what amounts to a D+?!

Nah, I'm just joshing. But allow me to state, without hyperbole, that I think it is Herzog's finest accomplishment. Have you seen Lessons of Darkness and/or Fata Morgana?

What do you suppose it is that distanced you from total involvement? I mean, it's got startling and imposingly beautiful music, unimaginable imagery (I don't think I've ever seen a more wonderful image than the close-up from underneath of one of the deep-sea divers emerging into the light and somehow the recalibration of pressure whooshing the water, combined with the natural froth and the disseminated light give it the illusion of cosmic transfiguration), and Dourif going bananas.

[Qrazy]

Everyone raving about Mildred Pierce ought to do themselves a favor and check out Curtiz's The Breaking Point. It's an adaptation of To Have and Have Not. Tis good.

[Qrazy]

Nothing. I loved the beauty of the images and Herzog's manipulation of sound and image. But, while the stuff with Dourif and the scientists worked to round out the film--conservatist, wonder and alien beauty of the natural world, our peculiarities worth noting and preserving--I just wasn't as involved or as moved as I have with other Herzog ruminations on nature. Still, I quite enjoyed myself.

I concur.

[Morris Schæffer]

Heh. I had never noticed Nathan Fillion is in Saving Private Ryan as the wrong Pvt. Ryan.

A terrible scene in an otherwise incredible movie. I'm ok with lightening the mood from time to time, but for some reason this moment felt really wrong.

[dreamdead]

Time was heavy-handed, visually flat, and shrill, but there were enough elements within it that worked for me to give it a slightly positive score. The last ten minutes in particular are brilliantly baroque.

Interesting that you found the finale to work the best. Though I concede that this is where Kim indicts the larger Korean society so that it's not just an issue for these two characters, which is effective, the replaying of the chase (which was charming the first time) here defuses the energy of the film. Even though the film had flirted with being hit by cars throughout the narrative, this moment now becomes oddly syncopated and devoid of impact. And the doctor's desire to help Seh-hee a second time seems unlogical, since the film has hitherto suggested that he basically regrets the action.

The most affecting sequences for me were when the doctor and his assistant try on Seh-hee's face, and her reaction to it. Kim had me for that moment.

[Grouchy]

Thanks for both recommendations. Oh, and edited the original Mildred Pierce post. I'd written in a hurry and it read really wrong.

Saw Stuart Gordon's From Beyond, which was quite good. It's funny how the original Lovecraft story is only the pre-titles sequence, and the rest of the film logically expands on that. I liked the whole sexual angle they added to the pineal gland thing, even if sex is not something Lovecraft would ever discuss. I also really liked the color scheme of the images and, of course, the groundbreaking special effects. I'm completely in awe of some of the FX featured here, although the monsters look wildly irregular from scene to scene. The brain-through-the-eye-socket shot is amazing. However, as a side criticism, Gordon clearly lost some of his focus with this one, which sometimes feels as if it's never gonna find the right note to end with. I think the momentum is a helluva lot better in Re-Animator. I recommend this one, though. Ken Foree is the shit.

I also rewatched Assault on Precinct 13, obviously the Carpenter one. Still one of the best action films ever made. Fucking awesome.

[Watashi]

A terrible scene in an otherwise incredible movie. I'm ok with lightening the mood from time to time, but for some reason this moment felt really wrong.
It's probably my favorite scene in the film.

And no, it's far from "lightening the mood". Quite the opposite.

[Mysterious Dude]

I think that scene represents a lot of what is wrong with Saving Private Ryan. It's Screenwriting 101. . It reduces World War II to the most simple kind of story. The characters have a goal to achieve and have to overcome obstacles, and the "wrong" Ryan is just another obstacle. They think they've achieved their goal, then it's back to the drawing board. Like Wile E. Coyote's endless attempts to kill the Road Runner.

The film has great atmosphere, but in the end, I don't think it has much interesting to say about war.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Stage Fright (1950) was a very minor Hithcock, which is to say a good film that simply doesn't live up to his best efforts. It certainly uses the conventions of cinema in an interesting way, though I'm unsure if it really works... the last act seems kinda sloppy and something about the handling of the reveal just doesn't feel quite right. Dietrich is wonderful, she has this incredible onscreen presence and I can't take my eyes off her when she is in the shot. There are some wonderful visual touches here, from the dress to one of the last scenes in the car when the light only catches Wyman's eyes.

The Curse of the Cat People, on the other hand, was absolutely delightful. One of the strangest films (probably wins for weirdest sequel, if you can even call it that), I've ever seen. Unlike the other Lewton's, I wouldn't call this one a straightforward horror, though there are certainly some frightening moments. It feels more at home with The Night of the Hunter, than the other films in the Lewton collection. It's amazing what these filmmakers were able to accomplish with so little, and most of these films stand far above their A-grade contemporaries. I now only have 2 Lewtons left to see, The Leopard Man and the Ghost Ship.

[The Mike]

The Curse of the Cat People, on the other hand, was absolutely delightful. One of the strangest films (probably wins for weirdest sequel, if you can even call it that), I've ever seen. Unlike the other Lewton's, I wouldn't call this one a straightforward horror, though there are certainly some frightening moments. It feels more at home with The Night of the Hunter, than the other films in the Lewton collection. It's amazing what these filmmakers were able to accomplish with so little, and most of these films stand far above their A-grade contemporaries. I now only have 2 Lewtons left to see, The Leopard Man and the Ghost Ship.
I also liked this one a lot, just as much as the original even. As for the other Lewtons mentioned, I don't even recall Leopard Man, and remember thinking The Ghost Ship was pretty dull.

I also agree on Stage Fright being a middle-of-the-road Hitch film. Good, but little more.

[megladon8]

The Body Snatcher was my favorite from the Lewton set.

[The Mike]

The Body Snatcher was my favorite from the Lewton set.

I'd go with a toss-up between that and I Walked With a Zombie. Nothing else came close, though I enjoyed the Cat People flicks.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I also liked this one a lot, just as much as the original even. As for the other Lewtons mentioned, I don't even recall Leopard Man, and remember thinking The Ghost Ship was pretty dull.

I also agree on Stage Fright being a middle-of-the-road Hitch film. Good, but little more.
I might even prefer it to the original, they're both so different though, it's difficult to compare. I've seen Cat People a few times, I think I might watch it again just because I have it on hand. I especially love Simone Simon.

Meg, The Body Snatcher is my favourite as well.

[Rowland]

You knew it was coming:

Cat People 65
The Ghost Ship 67
The Seventh Victim 72
The Leopard Man 75
I Walked With a Zombie 78
The Body Snatcher 62
The Curse of the Cat People 77

[megladon8]

The Bourne Ultimatum is great, and I can say that I definitely like the second film the best - though that can always change.

I do love the series, though, and would say that it's one of my favorite trilogies ever. I would rank it up there with Star Wars (OT of course) and the "Man With No Name" trilogy.

And I really love the music, and the use of musical cues. Hearing the theme from the second film when Bourne sees mention of Marie in that news article was done really well.

I can also say definitively that it is the same scene from the end of the second film, used again in the third (with a few added angles).

And the ambiguous past between Bourne and Nicky revealed in the diner scene was definitely a highlight.

[The Mike]

I need to revisit Ultimatum. I haven't seen it since theater, and my only memories of it are being confused by the repeat scene and thinking "Why's he fighting Barack Obama?"

I still think the original is the best film of the series, if only for the intrigue of its newness. Plus, I'm in the "Greengrass' direction could give me a seizure" camp.

[MadMan]

Yeah the Val Lewton movies rock. I have three left to view, and I can't wait. Even though none of them crack my Top 20 Horror Movies list (Cat People comes close), I enjoy pretty much all of them. I'd say that The Body Snatcher might be my favorite.

The Bourne series does indeed rock, and is one of the most satisfying action series in recent memory.

[megladon8]

I need to revisit Ultimatum. I haven't seen it since theater, and my only memories of it are being confused by the repeat scene and thinking "Why's he fighting Barack Obama?"

I've always kind of taken issue with the "assets" or "operatives" or "agents" or whatever they're called in each movie - the other guys who work for Treadstone and try to take out Bourne.

I would have thought they'd go out of their way to hire very regular, unassuming looking people who easily blend in and whose appearances don't scream "I'M AN AGENT!!!" everywhere they go.

Also, they really need to doaway with the whole "touch your earpiece every time you talk" thing.

[megladon8]

I also love the water imagery used throughout, and the way the first and third films are reflections of each other, even stylistically.

The first film uses a colour palette of blues and whites, reflecting the cold climates as well as the "carte blanche" Bourne begins with, not knowing anything.

The second film changes its colour palette to greens, yellows and browns, and takes place in warmer, muggy climates. Things are coming back to him, but it's muddy and murky, and he still can't make much sense of it.

The third film returns to blues and whites, and returns to NYC where it is winter time, as Bourne returns home both literally and figuratively.

Plus, it ends with that scene on the roof where Bourne says to the other agent "look at what they make you give", the exact words Clive Owen said to him near the end of the first film.

[Dead & Messed Up]

So TNT just went from Saving Private Ryan to United 93. Apparently me blubbering once tonight wasn't enough for them.

[Rowland]

More compelling to deliberate in retrospect than it is to watch, Boarding Gate is so frequently dull that I suspect this pervasive tone was an intentional device to contrast/comment upon the thriller mechanics and reflect the themes being explored. Nevertheless, the movie remains frequently dull, the performances flat, the Eno-cribbed scoring generally perfunctory, and the psychosexual tensions viscerally unconvincing. All that said, it's a fascinating picture that has lingered in my mind and left an unexpectedly positive aftertaste, so despite its myriad flaws, I'm settling for a just-barely-there positive score. All in all though, a major step down from Clean.

[Winston*]

I watched Clean last week, thought it was good for the most part. Couldn't really get into the stuff with the kid near the end, maybe 'cos the kid wasn't much of an actor. Was weird when Tricky turned up for 8 seconds. Terrific Maggie Cheung performance. Nick Nolte's probably one of the all time greats. Sentence fragment.

[megladon8]

The best year for film in the time you've been alive?

I'd say 2006 for me...

The Fountain
The Departed
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige
Superman Returns
Casino Royale
Children of Men
The Descent
and Fido

...were all movies that I loved.

And several came out that year that I thought were very good-to-great...

Slither
V for Vendetta
Mission: Impossible 3
A Prairie Home Companion
Monster House
The Descent
Crank
Volver
Fido
Rocky Balboa