28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[megladon8]

Tadanobu Asano is becoming one of my favorite actors.

[SirNewt]

Hrm I found the coda to be fairly over done personally, end it at the oil fields I say... perfect final image.
He doesn't need to lose his life for it to resonate that he's already lost anything of real value.

this is a thought from my review of the film which I believe addresses this.

Cluzout finishes Mario not because greed cannot be shown to pay, but because putting off the future to secure it, is one of the greatest ills of our time. We seem now to have so much time, the joy of living will always be found in tomorrow. Today more than ever we see death as the most obvious wage not of fear but of life.

[balmakboor]

Anyone got any more Powell recs?

Everything.

[Qrazy]

In many ways The Wages of Fear's ending is overdone. I like it, though. Taken as an operatic-like coda, it subverts the traditional survival story and emphatically underscores the idea that these men cannot last under such conditions. It's about more than losing everything of value. Either Mario becomes deadened to the world and surrenders to his status as slave-workers for the capitalist system, or he places such emphasis on highlighting his individuality that he renounces any consideration of safety. It carries a sense that Mario hasn't looked over the truck before he leaves, something that his elder had done when they first left, and so the film highlights that the factory doesn't really prize his safety after he's delivered their product. His use-value, to pull a Marxist term, is no more, so they don't need to guarantee his safety.

It simply doesn't ring true to me that after taking such pains with the initial journey (even with his new found elation) that he would be so reckless in his return. To me his elation in the scene is also a slight against the scenes prior where it seemed as if he had finally realized that the deaths of his comrades (one of which he more or less caused) were not worth the financial reward. By essentially killing his partner he has already emotionally and psychologically lost whatever gain leaving that hellhole provides. Taking his life is a superfluous gesture. The factory didn't really value his safety even before he'd delivered the product, the men on the mission are viewed as expendable as long as they deliver the goods. The uncaring nature of the factory is firmly cemented long before the coda.

[Qrazy]

this is a thought from my review of the film which I believe addresses this.

Cluzout finishes Mario not because greed cannot be shown to pay, but because putting off the future to secure it, is one of the greatest ills of our time. We seem now to have so much time, the joy of living will always be found in tomorrow. Today more than ever we see death as the most obvious wage not of fear but of life.

It still seems entirely superfluous to me. While being superfluous isn't a horrible crime the drastic tonal shifts from the preceding moments is. Mario has already lost the war. He is a much more tragic and broken character having to continue to live with the blood money he's earned than he is in death as a result of a lack of care taken for the return journey... a dangerous journey on a dangerous road which he just saw kill a bunch of his partners. He may not be the smartest bulb in the bunch but it cheapens the character to paint him as so uncaring (his elation) and moronic (the way he drives) so as to come to the end the film chooses for the sake of tying up any loose ends.

[MadMan]

Hrm I found the coda to be fairly over done personally, end it at the oil fields I say... perfect final image.
He doesn't need to lose his life for it to resonate that he's already lost anything of real value.This is how I feel, as well. Although the actual ending isn't bad, either. Its just not too surprising.

I'd have to check the review I wrote, but I felt that the extended ending was partly why I docked the film five points. Still the movie is pretty great regardless.

[Sycophant]

Tadanobu Asano is becoming one of my favorite actors.He never fails to impress me. I was just talking about his performance in Love & Pop earlier today. What did you see recently?

[Boner M]

The Banishment wasn't all that bad, given its poisonous Cannes reception last year. I haven't seen Zvyagintsev's The Return, but in spite of his new film's flaws, there's enough good stuff here to encourage me. If anything, the discrepancy between the film's formal mastery and epic portent, and the thin, contrived plot only makes me more keen to see that virtuosity applied to material more befitting of such a lugubrious touch. There's a nagging 'bad art film parody' quality about the film, but also enough mood and visual splendor to warrant a mild commendation.

Pialat's Police has been described as his Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and though it isn't as immediately radical and bizarre a genre reinvention as Cassavetes' film, it shifts one's attention away from the generic to the atmospheric in a way that's somewhat unnerving in its imperceptibility. Feels a bit of a mess, but of the most interesting kind; resulting from the tension between commercial demands and a singular, personal vision.

[Boner M]

FWIW, rate last year's Cannes competetion 'banner year':

4 Months, Weeks, 2 Days - 7
Aleksandra - h/s
The Banishment - 6
Breath - h/s
Death Proof - 7.5
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - 6.5
The Edge of Heaven - 6.5
Import/Export - 8.5
The Last Mistress - 6.5
Love Songs - h/s
The Man From London - h/s
The Mourning Forest - h/s
My Blueberry Nights - 6.5
No Country for Old Men - 8.5
Paranoid Park - 7
Persepolis - 7
Secret Sunshine - h/s
Silent Light - 8
Tehilim -h/s
We Own the Night - 7.5
Zavet - h/s
Zodiac - 9

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Aleksandra - h/s
The Banishment - h/s
Breath - 5.5
Death Proof - h/s
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - h/s
The Edge of Heaven - h/s
Import/Export - h/s
The Last Mistress - h/s
Love Songs - h/s
The Man From London - 6
The Mourning Forest - h/s
My Blueberry Nights - 5
No Country for Old Men - 8
Paranoid Park -h/s
Persepolis - 4
Secret Sunshine - 8.5
Silent Light - 6
Tehilim -h/s
We Own the Night - h/s
Zavet - h/s
Zodiac - 7

[Spinal]

Death Proof - ** (Grindhouse version)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - **1/2
The Last Mistress - ***1/2
No Country for Old Men - ***1/2
Paranoid Park - ***
Persepolis - **1/2
Zodiac - ***

[Boner M]

Oh, forgot to list 4 Months, Weeks, 2 Days. That'd be a 7.

[MadMan]

Death Proof-85
No Country for Old Men-97
We Own the Night-81

That's all I've seen.

[transmogrifier]

Death Proof :cool:
My Blueberry Nights :|
No Country for Old Men :confused:
Paranoid Park :)
Secret Sunshine :)
We Own the Night :)
Zodiac :pritch:

[NickGlass]

FWIW, rate last year's Cannes competetion 'banner year':

Sure, why not.

4 Months, Weeks, 2 Days: 8.5
Death Proof: 6.5
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: 7.0
The Edge of Heaven: 8.5
The Last Mistress: 6.5
Love Songs: 5.0
My Blueberry Nights: 7.0
No Country for Old Men: 8.0
Paranoid Park: 8.5
Persepolis: 9.5
Silent Light: I should have seen this by now, but I haven't.
Zodiac: 7.0

[Spinal]

Perhaps it was a mistake to watch Into the Wild so soon after reading the book. It was probably too fresh in my mind and I couldn't help but fixate on the way the text and the events had been adapted. Whereas Krakauer's book successfully uses journalistic distance, anecdotes from personal experience, as well as scientific and historical context to address the more off-putting aspects of Christopher's personality, Penn's film embraces him pretty much wholeheartedly as a pure and noble hero. I think the film is successful at depicting the ultimate ironic lesson in Christopher's journey, but it becomes overwrought in the way it romanticizes its subject matter. A camera circling around the protagonist with his arms outstretched? Come on. Running and playing amongst the wild horses? Oh dear. Preaching from the mount to the old man who discovers that he can indeed climb the mountain where God's love blesses him from above in the form of a ray of sunshine? Stop it already! The film certainly has its strengths. It's quite beautiful to look at and generally well acted. However, I think it is too quick to pile blame on the parents and too willing to gloss over Christopher's selfishness.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Thank you. I had the exact same reaction (though it seems to have bothered me a bit more than you) and I haven't even read the book. Good to know someone saw it like I did.

[Spinal]

Thank you. I had the exact same reaction (though it seems to have bothered me a bit more than you) and I haven't even read the book. Good to know someone saw it like I did.

The book is pretty awesome. Highly recommended. Krakauer finds a perfect balance between compassion, admiration and acknowledgment of Christopher's flaws.

[Melville]

4 Months, Weeks, 2 Days - 8.5
Death Proof - 3.5
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - 6
No Country for Old Men - 8
Persepolis - 6.5
Zodiac - 8

[Grouchy]

Re-watched Death Proof. Well, sort of, because I saw the full version this time. Still don't like it. Remember how in Jackie Brown, for example, Jackie mentioning the Delphonic makes for a plot point where Robert Foster goes to find that particular casette? This movie is filled with dialogue that should play like that one, but is myopic and fake instead, like all the talk about car movies. It's very well directed, everything has to be said, but it's by far the lamest, most self-indulgent and stupid film QT has ever been involved with.

[Duncan]

4 Months, Weeks, 2 Days - 8.5
Aleksandra - 8.0
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - 5.5
The Man From London - 9.0
No Country for Old Men - 4.0
Paranoid Park - 5.0
Persepolis - 8.5
Zodiac - 8.0

[The Mike]

Death Proof - B
No Country for Old Men - A
Zodiac - A+

[Sycophant]

Rewatched Payne's Election last night. Forgot exactly how good it was.

[D_Davis]

Tadanobu Asano is becoming one of my favorite actors.

He's awesome.

[Raiders]

Perhaps it was a mistake to watch Into the Wild so soon after reading the book. It was probably too fresh in my mind and I couldn't help but fixate on the way the text and the events had been adapted. Whereas Krakauer's book successfully uses journalistic distance, anecdotes from personal experience, as well as scientific and historical context to address the more off-putting aspects of Christopher's personality, Penn's film embraces him pretty much wholeheartedly as a pure and noble hero. I think the film is successful at depicting the ultimate ironic lesson in Christopher's journey, but it becomes overwrought in the way it romanticizes its subject matter. A camera circling around the protagonist with his arms outstretched? Come on. Running and playing amongst the wild horses? Oh dear. Preaching from the mount to the old man who discovers that he can indeed climb the mountain where God's love blesses him from above in the form of a ray of sunshine? Stop it already! The film certainly has its strengths. It's quite beautiful to look at and generally well acted. However, I think it is too quick to pile blame on the parents and too willing to gloss over Christopher's selfishness.

Indeed to all this. I actually liked it noticeably less than you.

[Stay Puft]

Death Proof - 4
No Country for Old Men - 8
We Own the Night - 6
Zodiac - 8

That's all I've seen. I'm still catching up on movies from two years ago. Or more.

[Stay Puft]

The few bright spots in Young Brother's character all reside within his interaction with his son, and here again he's without his son. As such, how empty or fully are we to view his final choice in the film? Wang's ambiguity is so powerful here; I'll likely be watching the film again in the next year (might fit into a dissertation topic), so these are all good ideas to linger on for the next viewing.

Ah, indeed, that's given me something to think about. Thanks for the response. Really have to watch this one again soon.

[Sycophant]

Cannes 2007

My Blueberry Nights 7.0
Death Proof 8.5 (still only seen the GH version)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 7.0
No Country for Old Men 10.0
Persepolis 8.0
Zodiac 9.0
Ocean's Thirteen 6.5

Good reminder to watch Secret Sunshine.

[Spinal]

Indeed to all this. I actually liked it noticeably less than you.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the biggest mistake was to spend so much time with Christopher. Yes, it is the story of his spiritual quest. But I think it should also be the story of those who have lost him. Making his sister into the sometimes narrator doesn't quite cut it. I particularly didn't like the line about how he was doing everything he had to do. Really? I think that should be up for debate. And it doesn't feel right to me to allow his parents to be the villains that Christopher's young mind may have thought they were in certain moments.

[Raiders]

Death Proof - **
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - **½
The Man From London - **
My Blueberry Nights - ***
No Country for Old Men - ***½
Paranoid Park - ****
Persepolis - ****
We Own the Night - ***½
Zodiac - ***½

[Winston*]

I came away from that movie thinking that McCandless was a selfish egotistical twat so I don't know I guess it worked for me.

[Raiders]

I came away from that movie thinking that McCandless was a selfish egotistical twat so I don't know I guess it worked for me.

I can see thinking that, and I would sort of agree. But nowhere did I feel the film ever made that distinction and most of the time I felt the film didn't even consider it.

[Watashi]

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days - ***1/2
Death Proof - ****
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - ***
My Blueberry Nights - ****
No Country for Old Men - ****
Paranoid Park - ****
Persepolis - ***
We Own the Night - ***1/2
Zodiac - ****

Pretty terrific line-up.

[Winston*]

I can see thinking that, and I would sort of agree. But nowhere did I feel the film ever made that distinction and most of the time I felt the film didn't even consider it.

I think the film made the distinction by casting Emile Hirsch in itself. That dude exudes twattery.

[Winston*]

Death Proof - Do not dig
No Country for Old Men - dig
Paranoid Park - Do not dig
Zodiac - dig

[Watashi]

I think the film made the distinction by casting Emile Hirsch in itself. That dude exudes twattery.

How so?

[Ivan Drago]

Death Proof - 10
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - 9
No Country for Old Men - 9.5
Zodiac - 4

[Winston*]

How so?

I'm not really familiar with the biology of the situation. Maybe it comes out of his eyebrows?

[Spinal]

I came away from that movie thinking that McCandless was a selfish egotistical twat so I don't know I guess it worked for me.

I don't think that's necessarily the impression we should be left with either. The ideal film would have left us with a balance. It's understandable to be high-minded and selfish and a wee bit pretentious at his age. I think that had he had the chance to grow up, he might have matured into an extraordinary person. But Penn's film mostly reveres him, never allowing him to be accessible to the ordinary film goer.

[Spinal]

Richard Schickel puts it really well:


I think the central mistake of this film derives from its lack of irony, a sense it refuses to impart that the world may not be exactly as the zealous Christopher perceives it to be. The film needs at least to entertain the possibility that its protagonist was driven less by high principle than by lamentable screwiness. And we need to leave it carrying some sense of tragic consequence with us. Instead, we're simply glad to be finished, at last, with this annoying man-child.

[Watashi]

Madagascar 2 - The first post-9/11, pro-gay marriage CGI animated movie

Fun stuff.

[Rowland]

I found Into the Wild one of the more audacious examples of form reflecting and complementing text that I saw last year, and the very paradoxes being raised here and dismissed as sycophantic flattery exactly what makes it such a beautiful, slippery, and acutely tragic work.

[The Mike]

I found Into the Wild one of the more audacious examples of form reflecting and complementing the text that I saw last year, and the very paradoxes being raised here and dismissed as sycophantic flattery exactly what makes it such a beautiful, slippery, and acutely tragic work.I like words and all, but Dude.... :confused:

If you're saying Into the Wild was good, then I agree.

[Rowland]

Damn, has this ever been a mediocre year for comedy. So many promising-looking movies have disappointed. Add Role Models to the list of underwhelming comedies, along with, to varying degress, Get Smart, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Step Brothers, and Tropic Thunder. I'm finally catching up with Burn After Reading this week, hopefully that will reverse the trend.

[Watashi]

I like words and all, but Dude.... :confused:

If you're saying Into the Wild was good, then I agree.

Say hello to Rowland.

[Watashi]

Damn, has this ever been a mediocre year for comedy. So many promising-looking movies have disappointed. Add Role Models to the list of underwhelming comedies, along with, to varying degress, Get Smart, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Step Brothers, and Tropic Thunder. I'm finally catching up with Burn After Reading this week, hopefully that will reverse the trend.

This has been the best year for comedies in forever.

I have no idea what you find funny.

[megladon8]

I was let down by Tropic Thunder, too.

But Get Smart was great fun.

[Watashi]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Burn After Reading
Step Brothers
Tropic Thunder
Kung Fu Panda
Pineapple Express

That's more comedies I've liked from the past two years combined.

I can't wait to see Role Models. I've heard nothing but positive stuff.

[The Mike]

This has been the best year for comedies in forever.

I have no idea what you find funny.

I agree with this. Loved Tropic Thunder, Step Brothers and Burn After Reading, and liked Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Smart, and Role Models a bunch.

Lately I've been jaded by most comedies, but this year's been pretty fun.

[Rowland]

This has been the best year for comedies in forever.

I have no idea what you find funny.
Well, I just watched the first Madagascar, and I think I laughed harder at the Antarctica gag than any moment in the aforementioned list of movies. *shrug*

[Spinal]

Satisfying comedies:
Burn After Reading
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Religulous
Tropic Thunder
Kung Fu Panda

Somewhat disappointing:
Get Smart

Very disappointing:
Be Kind Rewind

[Watashi]

Well, I just watched the first Madagascar, and I think I laughed harder at the Antarctica gag than any moment in the aforementioned list of movies. *shrug*
Well, I don't judge on how funny a movie by the actual amount of times I LOL. In fact, even in the comedies I loved mentioned above, I rarely, if ever, actually laugh hard. It's mostly just a chuckle underneath my breath.

[Rowland]

There we go, I liked Be Kind Rewind a great deal, Wall-E even more so, and my favorite movie of the year, Stuart Gordon's Stuck, is an uproarious dark comedy.

[Sycophant]

Very good comedies:
CJ7
Burn After Reading
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Get Smart

Good comedies:
Religulous
Horton Hears a Who!

Mediocre comedies:
Pineapple Express
Son of Rambow
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Step Brothers

Letdowns:
Be Kind Rewind
Meet Dave
Tropic Thunder

[Rowland]

Well, I don't judge on how funny a movie by the actual amount of times I LOL. I don't either. I was just sayin' is all. But it helps, since I do enjoy laughing a great deal. ;)

[Rowland]

CJ7
Burn After Reading
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Horton Hears a Who!
Pineapple ExpressI intend on seeing all of these. In fact, CJ7 is sitting in front of me as we type, and given how much I loved Chow's previous two exports (both funnier than anything I've seen this year), my hopes are high.

[Spinal]

Horton Hears a Who!

Forgot about that one. Yeah, liked that one too.

[Ezee E]

-The comedies this year seem to be on par with most years.

-The only thing I don't like about the Into the Wild book is Krakauer's own stories, comparing himself to McCandless. Great read still. I still like the movie, but agree with all the dissenters, especially when showing the parents as the villains.

-Diving Bell, Zodiac, No Country For Old Men, Death Proof (in its Grindhouse version), 4 Months are all great. What an awesome Cannes lineup.

[Spinal]

-The only thing I don't like about the Into the Wild book is Krakauer's own stories, comparing himself to McCandless. Great read still.

I found that section to be initially jarring as well. But I think what he's doing there is trying to get into the head of someone who flirts with death, but doesn't necessarily crave it. He's trying to dispel the notion that Christopher was suicidal and also assert that his youthful wanderings may have been viewed much differently had he matured into a wiser man and reunited on some level with his family.

[Stay Puft]

Hmmm, comedies...

Satisfying:
Burn After Reading

Somewhat disappointing:
Harold & Kumar EFGB
Be Kind Rewind

Well, I liked the fight scene:
Pineapple Express

[megladon8]

Still really enjoy Get Smart. It was a great one to watch with the family.

MAXWELL SMART: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

CHIEF: I don't know. Were you thinking "holy shit! Holy shit! A swordfish almost went through my head!"

[Qrazy]

Still really enjoy Get Smart. It was a great one to watch with the family.

MAXWELL SMART: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

CHIEF: I don't know. Were you thinking "holy shit! Holy shit! A swordfish almost went through my head!"

That was for sure the best line in the film.

[Pop Trash]

Wow, Pineapple Express needs some more love. Back me up Raiders.

[megladon8]

Yeah Pineapple Express was great.

The guy dressed in the scuba suit who comes in with the lighter, at the very beginning...that was grand.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Radio On was such a joy to watch. Such an amazing, amazing film. I urge everyone to check it out. One of the best road movies I have ever seen.

EDIT: No wonder Radio On seemed Wenderesque. He was the producer of this film!

[EyesWideOpen]

Comedies this year that I really liked:

Baby Mama
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Pineapple Express
Role Models
Step Brothers
Tropic Thunder
Don't Mess With the Zohan

The only straight up comedy i disliked was Kung Fu Panda.

[MadMan]

Still really enjoy Get Smart. It was a great one to watch with the family.

MAXWELL SMART: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

CHIEF: I don't know. Were you thinking "holy shit! Holy shit! A swordfish almost went through my head!"Just reading that part makes me laugh. Alan Arkin delivered that line perfectly.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I feel like a dirty whoring spammer, but I spent all day on this!

10 Underseen Hollywood Comedies (http://houseofmirthandmovies.wordpres s.com/2008/11/10/10-underseen-classic-hollywood-comedies/#comment-880)

[The Mike]

I feel like a dirty whoring spammer, but I spent all day on this!

10 Underseen Hollywood Comedies (http://houseofmirthandmovies.wordpres s.com/2008/11/10/10-underseen-classic-hollywood-comedies/#comment-880)
The three I've seen (Unfaithfully Yours, Libeled Lady, Twentieth Century) are all ones I really like...may have to take on some of the others. Thanks for the link!

[megladon8]

Libeled Lady was great!

Jen's been pressing me to track down Nothing Sacred. Seems a little tricky to find.

[Philosophe_rouge]

The three I've seen (Unfaithfully Yours, Libeled Lady, Twentieth Century) are all ones I really like...may have to take on some of the others. Thanks for the link!
I obviously recommend all of them, but I think you'd especially get a kick out of The More the Merrier and Cluny Brown. Have you seen much Preston Sturges? I seriously love that man. Unfaithfully Yours is probably my favourite of his.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Libeled Lady was great!

Jen's been pressing me to track down Nothing Sacred. Seems a little tricky to find.
Yea, Nothing Sacred isn't the easiest to find. I heard rumours it was in the public domain, which is a mixed blessing. I saw it on a VHS tape a few years ago. I'm due for a rewatch, but it left an impression.

[The Mike]

Jen's been pressing me to track down Nothing Sacred. Seems a little tricky to find.
I just bumped it near the top of my Netflix queue. Lombard is Heaven. :pritch:

[soitgoes...]

I feel like a dirty whoring spammer, but I spent all day on this!

10 Underseen Hollywood Comedies (http://houseofmirthandmovies.wordpres s.com/2008/11/10/10-underseen-classic-hollywood-comedies/#comment-880)
I love the inclusion of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. The best comedy of the 50's? Quite possibly.

[megladon8]

Yea, Nothing Sacred isn't the easiest to find. I heard rumours it was in the public domain, which is a mixed blessing. I saw it on a VHS tape a few years ago. I'm due for a rewatch, but it left an impression.


It seems to be pretty popular. I'm surprised it's not easier to find.

[The Mike]

I obviously recommend all of them, but I think you'd especially get a kick out of The More the Merrier and Cluny Brown. Have you seen much Preston Sturges? I seriously love that man. Unfaithfully Yours is probably my favourite of his.

I've seen Unfaithfully Yours, Palm Beach Story, and Sullivan's Travels, and love them all dearly. The Lady Eve is on my shortlist to see, too.

[The Mike]

It seems to be pretty popular. I'm surprised it's not easier to find.

Amazon has 10 different DVDs of it, all under $10 and as low as $.01 plus shipping. (Well, Americanese dollars, that is.)

Doubt the quality's great, however. :sad:

[soitgoes...]

I've seen Unfaithfully Yours, Palm Beach Story, and Sullivan's Travels, and love them all dearly. The Lady Eve is on my shortlist, too.
The Lady Eve is on my shortlist of films for which I do not get the love.

[Boner M]

Radio On was such a joy to watch. Such an amazing, amazing film. I urge everyone to check it out. One of the best road movies I have ever seen.

EDIT: No wonder Radio On seemed Wenderesque. He was the producer of this film!
I missed the screening of this in my film class last semester, which sucks. What was weird was when I came in next week, all the students I'd pegged as philistines were raving about it.

I had an awesome teacher for that class, at least as far as film taste went... watched Wanda, Two-Lane Blacktop, Kaurismaki's Ariel, Fox and his Friends, among some of my favorite canon films (Paris, Texas, The Conversation, Taxi Driver).

[Ivan Drago]

Just out of interest, but isn't Timecop the movie with four movies going on at one time? Because I think we're watching that tommorrow in my Film Analysis class.

[Spinal]

Get Smart certainly has its share of good moments. They just aren't consistent enough for me to really get behind the film.

As for Bug ... I'll paraphrase James Brown. You're talking loud, but you ain't saying nothing. I was kind of enjoying this at the beginning, particularly for Ashley Judd's lead performance. But the more loony it got, the more I found that I did not care. The actors sure seemed to bite into it as if something important were at stake, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I should care about any of it.

[Spinal]

Just out of interest, but isn't Timecop the movie with four movies going on at one time? Because I think we're watching that tommorrow in my Film Analysis class.

No, that's Mike Figgis' Timecode.

[Ivan Drago]

No, that's Mike Figgis' Timecode.

Oh ok, thanks. I got mixed up.

[Qrazy]

Johnny To Evening

Triangle - Nearly total garbage... Tsui Hark's segment was incomprehensible gibberish, Ringo Lam's was a slight improvement but still poor and To's was about the same as Lam's.

Sparrow - Ok To, probably put it near the bottom of his top eight or so. It's light on it's feet, slick and enjoyable but the 'pickpocketing off' got a little too absurd.

I've asked this a few times before but get different responses so once more... are any of these worth watching?

# Justice, My Foot! (1992)
# Casino Raiders II (1993)
# The Bare-Footed Kid (1993)
# The Mad Monk (1993)
# Executioners (1993)
# Loving You (1995)
# A Moment of Romance III (1996)
# Lifeline (1997)
# Where a Good Man Goes (1999)
# Needing You... (2000) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Help!!! (2000) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Wu yen (2001) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Fat Choi Spirit (2002) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Love For All Seasons (2003) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Turn Left, Turn Right (2003) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Yesterday Once More (2004)
# Linger (2008)

I'm thinking Mad Monk and Where a Good Man Goes.

[Spinal]

Oh ok, thanks. I got mixed up.

Perhaps you're familiar with this site (http://www.imdb.com/). :)

[Boner M]

Sparrow - Ok To, probably put it near the bottom of his top eight or so. It's light on it's feet, slick and enjoyable but the 'pickpocketing off' got a little too absurd.
Loooved this one. I agree that it's somewhat insubstantial, but it's just so cinematic and cheerful, I couldn't help but smile long after it was over. I actually prefer it to all the other To I've seen (Election, Exiled, Mad Detective). I guess that makes me a homosexual.

[Derek]

The Lady Eve is on my shortlist of films for which I do not get the love.

I like The Lady Eve, but I'd be thrilled if it and Sullivan's Travels were replaced by Miracle at Morgan's Creek and Palm Beach Story as the iconic Sturges film.

I really liked Unfaithfully Yours and its particularly dark tone, so that's a great pick as well philosophe. Design for Living would be my pick for the Lubitsch film that needs more love, but Cluny Brown is wonderful as well. I actually added Midnight to my queue just last week and will give it a bump up now. Show People, Theodora Goes Wild, Nothing Sacred and Libeled Lady were off my radar, though I remember hearing very good things about the latter two. I will definitely make sure to get to those at some point.

[The Mike]

Just out of interest, but isn't Timecop the movie with four movies going on at one time? Because I think we're watching that tommorrow in my Film Analysis class.I think you might mean Timecode? Haven't seen it yet, but that sounds like what you're talking about, as opposed to Timecop with JCVD.

And, I should read the thread before posting a reply. So, to get myself out of jail, here's a list of movies I'm thinking about watching this week....what's most necessary from them?

CJ7 (Stephen Chow, 2008)
The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
The Red Shoes (Powell & Pressburger, 1948)
The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)
Nine Queens (Fabian Beilinsky, 2000)
Space Amoeba (Ishiro Honda, 1970)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton, 2007)
Body & Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947)

[Boner M]

Ooh, I nearly forgot that White Dog in 35mm is at the cinematheque tonite. BRB.

[Boner M]

Timecop could've used a pervasive split-screen effect. 4x JCVD!!! :eek:

[Derek]

The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)

These two for sure. Others will say The Red Shoes, but like most P&P (aside from Black Narcissus which is leagues above the rest of their films IMO), I could only admire it from afar. It's certainly worth a look if only for the dance scene late in the film.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

What was weird was when I came in next week, all the students I'd pegged as philistines were raving about it.

It has Sting in it and some pictures of boobs and dildos. Thats probably got their juices going.

[soitgoes...]

These two for sure. Others will say The Red Shoes, but like most P&P (aside from Black Narcissus which is leagues above the rest of their films IMO), I could only admire it from afar. It's certainly worth a look if only for the dance scene late in the film.Ditto. While I do think The Red Shoes is great, I think Powell was more entertaining during WWII.

[Qrazy]

Loooved this one. I agree that it's somewhat insubstantial, but it's just so cinematic and cheerful, I couldn't help but smile long after it was over. I actually prefer it to all the other To I've seen (Election, Exiled, Mad Detective). I guess that makes me a homosexual.

I'd say your desire to assert yourself as a homosexual is probably more indicative of any potential homosexuality than your taste in To's films... but yeah... Here's how I'd rank my favorites. The rest I've seen don't match up to these. To be clear I did quite like Sparrow, looking back I don't think my comments communicated that all too well. The first five are more or less interchangeable in their category as are the other four in a second tier category.

Election 2
Election
Exiled
PTU
The Mission

Breaking News
Throwdown
Sparrow
Mad Detective

[MacGuffin]

Possession was filled with metaphoric excessiveness and generally weird behavior; I mean, let's face it, this is really just the story of an extremely troubled marriage with a bunch of symbols thrown in to represent various struggles: none of which I could be bothered to examine, because I knew there would be no payoff, and there isn't! Also, I don't know if Cannes gave the actress award to Adjani or her eyes, which were actually deeper than the movie itself, but still an admirable performance, even if I could probably appreciate Sam Neil's more, which is to say I liked Adjani's performance more, but most will probably prefer Sam Neil's just because they may be put off by the woman. I know I was. Heck, I wasn't even going to finish this movie and turned it off last night thirty minutes in. Decided to finish it today because I had waited so long to see it; kind of glad I did, I guess. Especially since it is a "video nasty" and I want to see more of those just to say I did.

Fun fact: Rumor has it that this is the only movie David Lynch is afraid of. It struck me as something by him meets something by David Cronenberg. Great creature effects.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Possession was filled with metaphoric excessiveness and generally weird behavior; I mean, let's face it, this is really just the story of an extremely troubled marriage with a bunch of symbols thrown in to represent various struggles: none of which I could be bothered to examine, because I knew there would be no payoff, and there isn't! Also, I don't know if Cannes gave the actress award to Adjani or her eyes, which were actually deeper than the movie itself, but still an admirable performance, even if I could probably appreciate Sam Neil's more, which is to say I liked Adjani's performance more, but most will probably prefer Sam Neil's just because they may be put off by the woman. I know I was. Heck, I wasn't even going to finish this movie and turned it off last night thirty minutes in. Decided to finish it today because I had waited so long to see it; kind of glad I did, I guess. Especially since it is a "video nasty" and I want to see more of those just to say I did.

Fun fact: Rumor has it that this is the only movie David Lynch is afraid of. It struck me as something by him meets something by David Cronenberg. Great creature effects.

I think this film does for marriage what Eraserhead does for fatherhood.

The ending of this film is balls-flying fantastic.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I love the inclusion of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. The best comedy of the 50's? Quite possibly.
I think it's my favourite, I haven't seen too many comedies from the decade however. I really like the Girl Can't Help it as well.


The Lady Eve is on my shortlist of films for which I do not get the love.
I agree, but I should rewatch it sometime.


I like The Lady Eve, but I'd be thrilled if it and Sullivan's Travels were replaced by Miracle at Morgan's Creek and Palm Beach Story as the iconic Sturges film.

I really liked Unfaithfully Yours and its particularly dark tone, so that's a great pick as well philosophe. Design for Living would be my pick for the Lubitsch film that needs more love, but Cluny Brown is wonderful as well. I actually added Midnight to my queue just last week and will give it a bump up now. Show People, Theodora Goes Wild, Nothing Sacred and Libeled Lady were off my radar, though I remember hearing very good things about the latter two. I will definitely make sure to get to those at some point.

I need to see Miracle, but I agree on Palm Beach Story... at least I prefer to The Lady Eve. I love Sullivan's Travels.

Design for Living is wonderful, but there would be a few I'd put ahead of it. To Be Or Not To Be, Trouble in Paradise and The Shop Around the Corner notably. I didn't include any of them because I think they're FAIRLY well known. I have yet to see a sound era Lubitsch I dislike however, though admittingly Ninotchka and Monte Carlo are fairly medriocre.

[Bosco B Thug]

I found Into the Wild one of the more audacious examples of form reflecting and complementing text that I saw last year, and the very paradoxes being raised here and dismissed as sycophantic flattery exactly what makes it such a beautiful, slippery, and acutely tragic work. Agree here. The overloaded tactility of Penn's aesthetic and form actively keep the film from escaping a very close proximity to human cognitive perception, which, counterintuitively, can be seen as actually a very tactile and rather materialistic thing, working against ideas that the film is pushing objective judgments and entirely disposed to glorify McCandless' idealism.

I think reading books right before watching film adaptions do really hurt films. Case in point, I watched Carpenter's Christine yesterday and I liked it a lot more compared to the semi-antagonistic ambivalence I felt for it when I watched it after I read the book.

It's a very very slick movie, and Carpenter builds drama and pathos very well. But even that I attribute to its general technical excellence, not any great depth or subtext, which is why it's not above a 7. It does have a neat, striking sort of glibness in its attitude towards its story of a kid's super extreme fall into delinquency and self-centered nastiness, met very well by the film with its rather glib coda and final line. Poor Arnie indeed.


I feel like a dirty whoring spammer, but I spent all day on this!

10 Underseen Hollywood Comedies (http://houseofmirthandmovies.wordpres s.com/2008/11/10/10-underseen-classic-hollywood-comedies/#comment-880) I've only seen Nothing Sacred a long time ago. Wasn't crazy about it, I don't think, but all I remember of the plot is there's lots of funny face-punching. Never heard of most of your other recs, though, I hope to find a lost gem among them!


As for Bug ... I'll paraphrase James Brown. You're talking loud, but you ain't saying nothing. I was kind of enjoying this at the beginning, particularly for Ashley Judd's lead performance. But the more loony it got, the more I found that I did not care. The actors sure seemed to bite into it as if something important were at stake, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I should care about any of it. Yeah, the content isn't of much highbrow worth, but Judd definitely is great and Friedkin does really well with the little scope the material provides.


Possession was filled with metaphoric excessiveness and generally weird behavior; I mean, let's face it, this is really just the story of an extremely troubled marriage with a bunch of symbols thrown in to represent various struggles: none of which I could be bothered to examine, because I knew there would be no payoff, and there isn't! I had a feeling the whole film would boil down to how you describe it in this paragraph, so sweet, at least now I have this checked in my expectations.

[Spinal]

The overloaded tactility of Penn's aesthetic and form actively keep the film from escaping a very close proximity to human cognitive perception, which, counterintuitively, can be seen as actually a very tactile and rather materialistic thing, working against ideas that the film is pushing objective judgments and entirely disposed to glorify McCandless' idealism.

There's a lot of great words here, but I'm not sure that I understand what they're saying when put in this particular combination.

[Derek]

There's a lot of great words here, but I'm not sure that I understand what they're saying when put in this particular combination.

I think he's essentially saying that in its pure dedication to representing McCandless' subjective experience through its materialistic representations of his surroundings, the film cannot also be objectively glorifying him. In other words, the film puts you so deeply inside his head that in showing the events through his eyes, it of course is not going to be very critical of his decisions. I thought Penn clearly left that up to us, as evidenced by everyone's ability, at least here, to walk away from the film without seeing McCandless as flawless. I don't think the film is concerned with bringing the critical eye you wanted from it and personally I thought it was all the better for it.

[Qrazy]

This new trend on Match-cut of unnecessarily convoluted communication needs to stop. On another note the plot of City on Fire was retarded.

[Derek]

This new trend on Match-cut of unnecessarily convoluted communication needs to stop. On another note the plot of City on Fire was retarded.

I appreciate the irony of this coming from the guy involved in some of the most convoluted and unnecessarily overlong arguments this site has ever seen.

[Qrazy]

I appreciate the irony of this coming from the guy involved in some of the most convoluted and unnecessarily overlong arguments this site has ever seen.

Overlong maybe, convoluted how?

[Derek]

Overlong maybe, convoluted how?

In your unsuccessful attempts to make your points clear to each other, you both often had to make the same points over and over using different words. Perhaps repetitive would be more fitting than convoluted, so take your pick. :)

EDIT: Oh, and to be clear I'm only talking about your arguments with the late iosos, not any other posts you've made.

[transmogrifier]

I think he's essentially saying that in its pure dedication to representing McCandless' subjective experience through its materialistic representations of his surroundings, the film cannot also be objectively glorifying him. In other words, the film puts you so deeply inside his head that in showing the events through his eyes, it of course is not going to be very critical of his decisions. I thought Penn clearly left that up to us, as evidenced by everyone's ability, at least here, to walk away from the film without seeing McCandless as flawless. I don't think the film is concerned with bringing the critical eye you wanted from it and personally I thought it was all the better for it.

Indeed. I really don't think the film takes a stand either way - I actually think it would be lazy and dishonest to sit back with the benefit of hindsight and play tut-tut moralizing. I never, ever felt for a second that the parents come across as villains, just as I never really saw McCandless as selfish or egotistical. It was his life to do with what he pleased, and he made a few mistakes along the way, including the ultimate one. I find people who automatically bridel at the idea of McCandless being afforded sympathy, rather than criticism, are people who have a completely different idea to me about what life means.

[Qrazy]

In your unsuccessful attempts to make your points clear to each other, you both often had to make the same points over and over using different words. Perhaps repetitive would be more fitting than convoluted, so take your pick. :)

EDIT: Oh, and to be clear I'm only talking about your arguments with the late iosos, not any other posts you've made.

Yeah but I would argue that has more to do with our stubborn and opinionated natures than with overly convoluted expression on either side. We both had to continually rephrase our points in order to build up the walls of our argumentation and/or to clarify certain elements of a discussion but we usually did so coherently.

All I meant with my earlier remark is that while verbosity is all well and good, when you have to read a post more than once to be certain you're not misunderstanding a poster than communication has become needlessly difficult. More often than not a simpler word can carry the same or greater meaning.

However, if other people dislike people commenting on their posting styles as much as I do then I ought to stop this critique here... so I will.

[Boner M]

I like ItW a lot, though I do think Penn takes the easy way out in a sense by sticking doggedly to McCandless' subjectivity in a way that deflates any potential criticism of the film. It's a little coy in that sense, but I don't think it could reach the ecstatic heights that it does by assuming any degree of critical distance. My main issue was that I thought Emile Hirsch was miscast, despite admirable commitment. He's just too naturally inexpressive for this role.

[balmakboor]

Agree here. The overloaded tactility of Penn's aesthetic and form actively keep the film from escaping a very close proximity to human cognitive perception, which, counterintuitively, can be seen as actually a very tactile and rather materialistic thing, working against ideas that the film is pushing objective judgments and entirely disposed to glorify McCandless' idealism.

I'm assuming that this is a parody of the kind of academic gibberish that's found in 99 out a 100 term papers. Are you a fed up professor or something?

[Grouchy]

I think this film does for marriage what Eraserhead does for fatherhood.
Very good comment. I'm sort of in the fence with this one - on one side I appreciate it, but it's too damn hard to watch. Scene after scene of yelling contests and self-destruction before you actually begin to make a little sense of what's going on. Adjani's subway scene is fucking fantastic, though.

Alex Cox's Walker is one of the most curious political satires I've ever seen. I fucking loved it. Ed Harris is priceless in a one-note performance as William Walker that demands him to be more and more over the top until an ending that has to be seen to be believed. I really liked how Cox gradually changed the film from a more or less regular historical biopic to a balls-out black comedy filled with anachronisms (Coca-Cola, Marlboro and Time magazine show up) and quotable lines. The film might not be LOL funny, but it's rich in irony and double-entendre. I can easily understand why it destroyed the Cox's career - not only is it a hard thing to get into, it's so gloriously anti-US's so-called "foreign policy" that it must have pissed off over half of Hollywood. This is a film I'll probably watch again in the near future and show some of my friends, just to enjoy their stunned faces.

[D_Davis]

Johnny To Evening

Triangle - Nearly total garbage... Tsui Hark's segment was incomprehensible gibberish, Ringo Lam's was a slight improvement but still poor and To's was about the same as Lam's.




Triangle was a huge disappointment. I didn't care for any of it, but Tsui's segment was my favorite, if that means anything.

As far as To goes, I think these are worth watching:


# The Bare-Footed Kid (1993)
# The Mad Monk (1993)
# Loving You (1995)
# Lifeline (1997)
# Where a Good Man Goes (1999)
# Needing You... (2000) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Wu yen (2001) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Turn Left, Turn Right (2003) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Yesterday Once More (2004)


These range from great (Where a Good Man Goes, The Bare-Footed Kid, and Mad Monk) to merely okay (Yesterday Once More, Turn Left, Turn Right, Needing You... (a few of his romantic comedies)), but each offers up something worth watching.

[Bosco B Thug]

I'm assuming that this is a parody of the kind of academic gibberish that's found in 99 out a 100 term papers. Are you a fed up professor or something? Hee, yeah... Sorry people. Talk about "overloaded tactility." I had a feeling that sentence wouldn't quite come through.

Anyway, Derek pretty much sums it up (very appreciative, btw). The film is very rooted in the act of reflecting characters' very hypersensitive, hypersuggestive cognition. The opening shot hooked me right away, for example - the blurry shot of Chris' photo, his loving voice, then the revelation that it is the mom in a delusional, stricken state. The opening credits emphasize the tactile, essential materiality of this venture of his (the awkward CG'd green longhand text). The whole film has this sensitivity and inventiveness. This reflects the characters' perceptions, which are necessarily attached to the material around them. Even though the story and most of its characters push very lofty ideas about their relationship with society and with McCandless, they ultimately want security, companionship, progeny, etc. And what I think I was trying to get through is that human perception is never as removed from those non-lofty desires as it sometimes wishes it could be. A fuzzy idea, yeah, but I think that's somewhat part of the "paradoxes" and slippery "acute tragedy" Rowland speaks of.

[balmakboor]

Very good comment. I'm sort of in the fence with this one - on one side I appreciate it, but it's too damn hard to watch. Scene after scene of yelling contests and self-destruction before you actually begin to make a little sense of what's going on. Adjani's subway scene is fucking fantastic, though.

Alex Cox's Walker is one of the most curious political satires I've ever seen. I fucking loved it. Ed Harris is priceless in a one-note performance as William Walker that demands him to be more and more over the top until an ending that has to be seen to be believed. I really liked how Cox gradually changed the film from a more or less regular historical biopic to a balls-out black comedy filled with anachronisms (Coca-Cola, Marlboro and Time magazine show up) and quotable lines. The film might not be LOL funny, but it's rich in irony and double-entendre. I can easily understand why it destroyed the Cox's career - not only is it a hard thing to get into, it's so gloriously anti-US's so-called "foreign policy" that it must have pissed off over half of Hollywood. This is a film I'll probably watch again in the near future and show some of my friends, just to enjoy their stunned faces.

I gave Walker several chances a while back and just couldn't find much to like about it. It's all of the things you say, more or less. But -- and this is hard to define but easy to feel while watching -- the movie never took flight for me. It seemed flat and dull and clunky. I remember yawning a lot and having to hit the chapter-back button a few times because I'd catch my mind wandering.

[Grouchy]

I gave Walker several chances a while back and just couldn't find much to like about it. It's all of the things you say, more or less. But -- and this is hard to define but easy to feel while watching -- the movie never took flight for me. It seemed flat and dull and clunky. I remember yawning a lot and having to hit the chapter-back button a few times because I'd catch my mind wandering.
I guess it's a very personal thing. I saw Repo Man with my girlfriend, and while she could sort of see why I liked it (the rambling dialogue, the satire of consummerism, the randomness of it all) she still thought it was one of the worst films she'd seen. A couple of friends I lent it too couldn't see any good in it either.

I guess Alex Cox is just a very divisive guy. He makes movies that are rambling as all hell, filled with on-your-face satire, interminable dialogues and ridiculous situations.

[balmakboor]

OK, I give up. What's the new banner from? It looks like something Altman I think.

[Grouchy]

OK, I give up. What's the new banner from? It looks like something Altman I think.
Dude, I kept thinking the exact same thing.

And why the hell did they replace that beautiful Eastwood banner?

[Spinal]

Indeed. I really don't think the film takes a stand either way - I actually think it would be lazy and dishonest to sit back with the benefit of hindsight and play tut-tut moralizing. I never, ever felt for a second that the parents come across as villains, just as I never really saw McCandless as selfish or egotistical. It was his life to do with what he pleased, and he made a few mistakes along the way, including the ultimate one. I find people who automatically bridel at the idea of McCandless being afforded sympathy, rather than criticism, are people who have a completely different idea to me about what life means.

I absolutely think that it is proper and appropriate to afford Christopher some sympathy. Much of what he did was indeed praiseworthy. However, some of that same sympathy could have been afforded to his family. I would say that people who cannot see that leaving behind your family without giving them any idea of your location or whether you are dead or alive is an act of cruelty and selfishness are people who have a completely different idea to me about what life means.

Nick Schager gets it right: (http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=3183)


Pieced together from journals, interviews, police reports, and anecdotes, Krakauer's novel held McCandless in esteem but not with the rose-tinted glasses through which Penn views him, as the director casts his protagonist as a veritable Christ figure to be not only revered but envied.

[Raiders]

Dude, I kept thinking the exact same thing.

And why the hell did they replace that beautiful Eastwood banner?

It's from Short Cuts. And that Clint banner was there almost a week. Several people didn't like it, and I myself was sick of looking at it.

[Wryan]

I'll finally be able to rest easy when my Sarlaac Pit/Thornhill/fedora banner goes up.

[Sycophant]

Can we keep banner discussion in the banner thread?

And can we also refrain from lobbying hard for our own banners?

[Ezee E]

Can we keep banner discussion in the banner thread?

And can we also refrain from lobbying hard for our own banners?
Word.

[Grouchy]

Eastwood banner > MatchCut

[Wryan]

Can we keep banner discussion in the banner thread?

And can we also refrain from lobbying hard for our own banners?

My "lobbying" was neither hard nor intended to be taken seriously.

[megladon8]

OK so it looks like a terrible movie and it stars Stephen Baldwin, but damn this is one sweet DVD cover...

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/5499/sharksinvenicer1artpicwv2.jpg

[Qrazy]

Nice shark reflection on the water behind the boat.

[balmakboor]

Can we keep banner discussion in the banner thread?

And can we also refrain from lobbying hard for our own banners?

We have a banner thread?

[Sycophant]

We have a banner thread?
In the maintenance subforum: http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?t=923

[Qrazy]

Triangle was a huge disappointment. I didn't care for any of it, but Tsui's segment was my favorite, if that means anything.

As far as To goes, I think these are worth watching:


# The Bare-Footed Kid (1993)
# The Mad Monk (1993)
# Loving You (1995)
# Lifeline (1997)
# Where a Good Man Goes (1999)
# Needing You... (2000) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Wu yen (2001) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Turn Left, Turn Right (2003) (co-directed with Wai Ka-Fai)
# Yesterday Once More (2004)


These range from great (Where a Good Man Goes, The Bare-Footed Kid, and Mad Monk) to merely okay (Yesterday Once More, Turn Left, Turn Right, Needing You... (a few of his romantic comedies)), but each offers up something worth watching.

What are your favorite Tsui Hark's again? I feel like watching something Shanghai Blues-esque.

[Rowland]

I just wrote a long defense of Into the Wild as a fundamentally spirtual story justifying its bold, arguably envious telling of McCandless' journey as an allegorical reflection of a nation divided between the paradoxes of idealistic self-worth and the realities of a chaotic natural world through which we only have one another to help guide us, but I lost it by hitting the wrong button when switching to another tab, losing it as a result. This just happened to me a week ago while working on my write-up for Sunshine. Fucking balls, man.

[Winston*]

Maybe you should start writing your longer, more polysyllabic word-filled posts in Word first, Rowland

[Melville]

Pieced together from journals, interviews, police reports, and anecdotes, Krakauer's novel held McCandless in esteem but not with the rose-tinted glasses through which Penn views him, as the director casts his protagonist as a veritable Christ figure to be not only revered but envied.
I can't understand this view that the film wholeheartedly embraces McCandless' ideals (or the similar idea that it sticks to his subjective point of view). The film seemed to take the same stance as the book (as described by Spinal): it admires and sympathizes with McCandless, but it sees the wrong-headedness of his idealism. Certainly the beer/and/or/sports-drink-commercial style of certain scenes carries a hyper-subjective tone, but from the narration to all the weeping side-characters, the film was filled with things to pull us away from that hyper-subjectivity. My review. (http://www.match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=7825&postcount=979)

[MadMan]

Please don't take offense, Rowland (I like your posts, and your reviews-the one for Stuck was pretty good) but your last batch of posts remind me of the following line from Blazing Saddles: " God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore."

*Runs*

And I love Repo Man. Saw it last year, thought highly of it although its by no means a great film. Once again another "lost" review (aka one I was too lazy to post).

[D_Davis]

What are your favorite Tsui Hark's again? I feel like watching something Shanghai Blues-esque.

Gosh, I don't know off hand - I just reformatted my PC, so my film-related docs aren't handy right now.

My favorite is The Blade, and a Top 5 probably looks something like this, on any given day:

The Blade
Peking Opera Blues
Once Upon a Time in China
We're Going to Eat You (you may enjoy this)
Zu Warriors


Have you seen Love in the Time of Twilight or Playing With Fire, yet?

[Qrazy]

Gosh, I don't know off hand - I just reformatted my PC, so my film-related docs aren't handy right now.

My favorite is The Blade, and a Top 5 probably looks something like this, on any given day:

The Blade
Peking Opera Blues
Once Upon a Time in China
We're Going to Eat You (you may enjoy this)
Zu Warriors


Have you seen Love in the Time of Twilight or Playing With Fire, yet?

No, I've seen the first three Once Upon a Time in China films, Peking Opera Blues, Green Snake and Shanghai Blues.

[D_Davis]

Oh, forgot to mention The Lovers.

I would group The Lovers, Love in the Time of Twilight, Shanghai Blues, Peking Opera Blues, and Green Snake together, in that they are all highly romantic - Tsui was working on the same wavelength when he made these..

We're Going to Eat You is just pure fun - it's a total blast.

Playing With Fire is dark and somewhat disturbing.

[D_Davis]

Did anyone see Role Models, and is it as funny as the trailer makes it look?

[The Mike]

Did anyone see Role Models, and is it as funny as the trailer makes it look?

Yes, and mostly.

Far better than, for example, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

[D_Davis]

Nice. The trailer for that makes me laugh every time I see it.

[EyesWideOpen]

Did anyone see Role Models, and is it as funny as the trailer makes it look?

It's pretty damn funny.

[Spinal]

Maybe I missed the metaphor or something, but I could not connect with Tony Takitani at all. It's as if the director was intentionally trying to lull me to sleep by pitching the film at one pace and tone and then leaving it there for the duration of the film. And that same music over and over and over. Too much trying to force poetry out of nothing. Silliness.

[chrisnu]

I watched The Silence of the Lambs for the first time today. Although it tells its story efficiently, I thought that it also did a good job with meditating on the moment when needed, binding them to your memory with imagery or sounds. Also, while Anthony Hopkins gets all the attention, I thought that Ted Levine was just as good. Creepy as all hell.

[Winston*]

Maybe I missed the metaphor or something, but I could not connect with Tony Takitani at all. It's as if the director was intentionally trying to lull me to sleep by pitching the film at one pace and tone and then leaving it there for the duration of the film. And that same music over and over and over. Too much trying to force poetry out of nothing. Silliness.It's barely a movie.

[Grouchy]

Please don't take offense, Rowland (I like your posts, and your reviews-the one for Stuck was pretty good) but your last batch of posts remind me of the following line from Blazing Saddles: " God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore."
Heh.

Just saw Blood Simple for the second time in ages. Those Coens, man, they sure know how to tell a story. This has to be their worst script next to Ladykillers, but the direction is fucking beautiful. The expressionistic lighting, the drawn-out suspense scenes, the Carpenter-like soundtrack... It's a lazy story told in the sweetest, juiciest style possible.

[Rowland]

Please don't take offense, Rowland (I like your posts, and your reviews-the one for Stuck was pretty good) but your last batch of posts remind me of the following line from Blazing Saddles: " God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore."

*Runs* I make my points exactly as they come to me. If you feel you could rephrase them in a less wordy manner, be my guest.

:P

[Rowland]

In any case, I'm gonna pull an old-school me and reference a review (http://www.deep-focus.com/dfweblog/2007/09/into_the_wild_2007.html) by the underapprecited Bryant Frazer that expresses many of the reasons I love Into the Wild better than I could.

Indyweek.com's Godfrey Chesire (http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A162465) chose it as his number one movie from last year as well.

[Rowland]

CJ7 isn't up to Chow's previous two movies, but it's still a hoot, and unexpectedly moving to boot. And I loooove that soundtrack. More thoughts to come, probably tomorrow when I intend on catching up with my reviews.

[megladon8]

I must echo D and say that anyone and everyone who hasn't seen We're Going to Eat You must do so as soon as humanly possible.

That movie is more fun than a bag of tits.

[D_Davis]

I must echo D and say that anyone and everyone who hasn't seen We're Going to Eat You must do so as soon as humanly possible.

That movie is more fun than a bag of tits.

:eek:

:lol:

Yeah - it's a total hoot, and the only kung fu/cannibal/comedy/horror film to feature roller skating that I know of.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I must echo D and say that anyone and everyone who hasn't seen We're Going to Eat You must do so as soon as humanly possible.

That movie is more fun than a bag of tits.

Bag of tits?

[megladon8]

Bag of tits?


Yeah. And?

Don't act like that wouldn't be fun.

And to think that the movie is more fun than that.

That's a lot of fun you're gonna have.

[The Mike]

I support the idea of a bag of tits. Thus, I must support this movie.

[Winston*]

In my mind a bag of tits doesn't sound fun at all. It sounds repulsive and disturbing. I'm not going to see this sick mastectomy movie.

[megladon8]

In my mind a bag of tits doesn't sound fun at all. It sounds repulsive and disturbing. I'm not going to see this sick mastectomy movie.


Your loss.

If you're looking for me, you'll find me in that burlap sack in the corner that looks like it's full of balloons.

[Winston*]

Your loss.

If you're looking for me, you'll find me in that burlap sack in the corner that looks like it's full of balloons.
I'm calling the Ottawa police.

[megladon8]

Saw this on the front page of IMDb today...

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4435/lohantb2.jpg

And I have to admit I got the headlines mixed up while reading them the first time, and it nearly resulted in me spitting my beverage all over the monitor.

"Lohan is 'bisexual', Schwarzenegger urges"

:lol:

[MadMan]

Heh.

Just saw Blood Simple for the second time in ages. Those Coens, man, they sure know how to tell a story. This has to be their worst script next to Ladykillers, but the direction is fucking beautiful. The expressionistic lighting, the drawn-out suspense scenes, the Carpenter-like soundtrack... It's a lazy story told in the sweetest, juiciest style possible.I see no problems with the script. I think this is one of their best movies. Great stuff, and M. Emmet Walsh makes for one creepy villain. It also perfectly realizes the nightmare of being buried alive. Thinking about that scene still makes me shiver quite a bit.


I make my points exactly as they come to me. If you feel you could rephrase them in a less wordy manner, be my guest.

:PHah. You know I dig yah man. Strictly non-platonic, of course :lol:

Part of me wants to create a thread where I throw up my reviews and I have you guys tear them apart. But once again it runs into my constant problem of not posting any of said reviews. I did write a half ass write up of Annie Hall today in about 15 minutes though. Paper>the internet.

[Ivan Drago]

Timecode was surprisingly a pretty good movie. I thought its gimmick was a little tough to get used to after a while but I got more interested in the gimmick and the story as the movie went on. I liked how it was shot on digital and despite a few unintentionally hilarious moments, the improv was impressive.

[eternity]

My review of Quid Pro Quo

(11:30:29 PM) zach zealous: you know what's really disgusting?
(11:30:34 PM) zach zealous: this Vera Farmiga movie I'm watching
(11:30:39 PM) ledfloyd18: lol
(11:30:45 PM) ledfloyd18: she's hott
(11:30:47 PM) zach zealous: it's exploitative indie trash
(11:30:56 PM) ledfloyd18: is that the one where she's a drug addict or something?
(11:31:13 PM) zach zealous: no, she's some weird chick who has some sort of mindfuck fetish to want to be paralyzed
(11:31:18 PM) ledfloyd18: weird
(11:31:21 PM) zach zealous: and it's some hidden phenomenon being investigated by a radio host who actually is
(11:31:23 PM) ledfloyd18: the inside of my ear itches
(11:31:26 PM) zach zealous: Quid Pro Quo
(11:31:30 PM) ledfloyd18: it may or may not drive me insane
(11:31:43 PM) zach zealous: they're having a real wheelchair guy/fake wheelchair Vera Farmiga sex scene right now
(11:31:45 PM) zach zealous: it's hilarious
(11:31:58 PM) zach zealous: parapalegic secks!
(11:32:00 PM) ledfloyd18: i was thinking of down to the bone
(11:32:14 PM) ledfloyd18: the puppies are hiding
(11:32:17 PM) zach zealous: :(
(11:32:19 PM) zach zealous: puppy!
(11:33:24 PM) zach zealous: yes it is
(11:34:01 PM) ledfloyd18: i want one of these puppies
(11:34:06 PM) ledfloyd18: they look like footballs
(11:34:08 PM) ledfloyd18: you could punt them
(11:34:09 PM) zach zealous: oh my god, this did not just happen
(11:34:16 PM) zach zealous: the main character in this movie put on magic shoes
(11:34:18 PM) zach zealous: and is walking
(11:34:22 PM) ledfloyd18: bwahahahaha
(11:34:46 PM) zach zealous: the first five minutes he mentioned "magic shoes"
(11:34:50 PM) zach zealous: and now all of a sudden, it happens
(11:34:54 PM) zach zealous: 2/3rds into the movie
(11:34:57 PM) zach zealous: completely unrelated to the rest of the plot
(11:35:01 PM) ledfloyd18: the title doesn't make any sense to me
(11:35:14 PM) zach zealous: it's a reference to Farmiga's character
(11:35:21 PM) zach zealous: he basically says to her "you're such a quid pro quo"
(11:37:17 PM) ledfloyd18: that doesn't make sense
(11:37:31 PM) ledfloyd18: also we're back to crappy angle
(11:37:32 PM) zach zealous: neither does anything in this movie
(11:37:36 PM) zach zealous: :( crappy angle
(11:38:07 PM) zach zealous: "oh god, that would be heaven! being in my wheel chair 24/7! i'm coming out to my mom! I'm so happy!"
(11:38:27 PM) zach zealous: "dude, i'm actually in a wheelchair. and i hate it. what the fuck?"
(11:39:13 PM) zach zealous: did you ever sneeze and feel like it's a second chance? I CAN WALK AGAIN! BECAUSE OF THESE SHOES!
(11:39:28 PM) zach zealous: this is an avant garde drama being played completely serious. it's not Like Mike or anything.
(11:39:52 PM) ledfloyd18: hahaha
(11:40:07 PM) zach zealous: yes, never watch this. ever.
(11:43:13 PM) zach zealous: WHO MADE YOU THE ARBITER OF WHETHER OR NOT I CAN MAKE A PORCELAIN ELEPHANT!?
(11:43:26 PM) ledfloyd18: what?
(11:43:38 PM) zach zealous: vera farmiga had a sudden outburst at her mother
(11:43:45 PM) zach zealous: i get it, she is mentally not right in the head
(11:43:55 PM) zach zealous: but does it have to be in the most wicker mannian way?
(11:44:06 PM) ledfloyd18: did she say porcelain elephant?
(11:44:12 PM) zach zealous: yes, porcelain elephant
(11:44:16 PM) zach zealous: at random
(11:44:25 PM) ledfloyd18: this movie rules
(11:44:27 PM) zach zealous: her, her mom and the main character were eating hamburgers
(11:44:32 PM) zach zealous: and random outburst
(11:44:44 PM) zach zealous: the reviews made it seem right up my alley
(11:44:49 PM) zach zealous: but i just can't help but laugh my ass off
(11:45:22 PM) zach zealous: it's this farfetched film about a secret society of people who feel like they are paralyzed people in people who can walk's bodies
(11:48:00 PM) ledfloyd18: like men in women's bodies
(11:48:02 PM) ledfloyd18: and vice versa
(11:48:07 PM) zach zealous: yes
(11:48:20 PM) ledfloyd18: i'm sure there are alot of people who feel like they can walk in paralyzed peoples bodies that would be willing to trade off
(11:48:43 PM) zach zealous: hah
(11:48:46 PM) zach zealous: i know
(11:48:57 PM) zach zealous: and the guy who actually can't walk (well, now he can because of these magic shoes)
(11:49:21 PM) zach zealous: never questions it at all. doesn't seem phased at all by people literally going to the doctor paying hundreds of thousands of dollars getting their legs removed
(11:49:47 PM) ledfloyd18: ....
(11:50:12 PM) zach zealous: porcelain elephant!
(11:50:56 PM) zach zealous: "when you found out these shoes made you walk again, i wanted to be happy, because you were happy! I tried, but I can't! I can't be happy walking!"
(11:51:13 PM) zach zealous: paralyze yourself. No, you have to paralyze me!
(11:51:51 PM) ledfloyd18: lolol
(11:52:05 PM) zach zealous: this is getting a 0
(11:52:11 PM) zach zealous: unless if the last 20 minutes redeem themselves
(11:55:06 PM) zach zealous: ...she is holding his magic shoes hostage unless if he paralyzes her
(11:55:15 PM) zach zealous: "you don't deserve to be paralyzed. OH BUT YOU DO!!!!!!!!!!"
(11:56:00 PM) ledfloyd18: lol
(11:56:16 PM) ledfloyd18: how did this movie get madE?
(11:56:22 PM) zach zealous: did i mention this pretentious flashbacks to the main characters parents getting into a car crash?
(11:56:33 PM) zach zealous: amd random scenes in the movie being in black and white?
(11:58:13 PM) ledfloyd18: lol
(11:58:32 PM) zach zealous: "you think i'm fucked in the head don't you." "no, i think you're gang banged in the head."
(11/11/2008 12:04:43 AM) zach zealous: oh my god, magical twist ending
(12:04:47 AM) zach zealous: crazy lady
(12:04:52 AM) zach zealous: was the one who crashed into the parents car!
(12:04:59 AM) zach zealous: when she was a little kid!
(12:05:03 AM) friend: omg no way are you for real?
(12:05:15 AM) zach zealous: and that's why he became paralyzed!
(12:05:28 AM) zach zealous: and she had a porcelain elephant in her parents truck who she stole and killed them all!

0/10

[origami_mustache]

Role Models was a solid comedy. Pretty standard structured script for a comedy, but manages to bring some unique stuff into the equation. The whole L.A.I.R.E. subplot was fantastic. It was nice to see a lot of The State cast together again along with some funny stuff from the youngin's and the headliners, but Jane Lynch ends up stealing the show. All of her scenes are easily the funniest.

[megladon8]

A neat article by Roger Ebert (http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/10/eberts_little_rule_book.html) on the "DONT'S" of film critiquing.

[balmakboor]

Did anyone see Role Models, and is it as funny as the trailer makes it look?

I watched it last night and will be reviewing it for the paper on Friday. For the first 15-20 minutes, I made the mental note that I had finally entered movie reviewer Hell. I was in the realm of embarrassingly awful. By the 45 minute mark, I was smiling. By the end, I realized I'd had a pretty darn good time.

I'm sure you are familiar with the Hero's Journey stuff that writers draw from so consciously these days. Well, this movie plays like a first effort by a writer taking a Joseph Campbell 101 class. Dialog like "when one door closes, another opens" signaling the call to adventure and "that was a transformation" when the hero shows some effort to change and "you'll know when to put it on" when the hero is given a costume.

And yet, even though it's not supposed to all be so transparent, the movie proves the durability of myth. It's so fun to see these things play out even if you can put little mental check marks next to each stage as it transpires.

By the way, Zack and Miri was equally transparent. I think both movies are about equal in quality although I probably enjoyed Role Models a bit more by the end.

[balmakboor]

Bag of tits?

I'm a bit creeped out over that one.

[dreamdead]

Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky is a wonder of cinematography by the incomparable John Toll. Scenes look ravishing, magnificently alive with color, and they lend the film an atmosphere of incongruity as images look too alive, too vivid. However, Crowe's working in pop psychology here, so any wonder that the images contain are not carried over to the story. Which is a shame, since there's good character acting by Russell, Swinton, and Spall, and even Cruise, but they don't amount to much. And even the opening shot of NYC streets empty doesn't quite resonate because it hasn't been contrasted against any earlier filmic cognition of the city. Further, positioning the score on popular music is too much, as the musical cues feel too manufactured and manipulated. This is a film that could have amounted to a powerful depiction of the individual in contemporary society, but it's too inconsistent in tone. Sad.

[Watashi]

Role Models is amazing. It was like someone made a movie directly for me.

[The Mike]

Role Models is amazing. It was like someone made a movie directly for me.

I had that with Tropic Thunder. And partially with Step Brothers, although it seemed to be directer to a friend of mine.

But yes, it was good times.

[Spinal]

Every clip I see of Role Models seems to involve something about kids saying inappropriate things or being in inappropriate situations. Not my kind of humor.

[D_Davis]

I liked Vanilla Sky when I first saw it - it's very slick, but it was also dumbed down quite a bit when the Noah Taylor character comes on screen and basically says, "In case you were confused, here's what happened!"

Then I saw Open Your Eyes, and totally fell in love. This film is fantastic.

And then it dawned on me why I enjoyed both so much - they seemed to be patterned off of Philip K. Dick's novel UBIK. I wouldn't be at all shocked to find that the original film was at least partially inspired by UBIK, and maybe even Time Out of Joint (which I believe was also secretly the inspiration for The Truman Show).

I like the narrative in these films because it reminds me of something PKD might have written. It tackles some of the same themes of identity and modern society.

[megladon8]

I remember back when Vanilla Sky first came out, I was in high school and there was this guy who sat behind me in French class named Dan Cornejo.

Open Your Eyes was one of his favorite movies, but he said one glaring "fault" it had was that the main character's facial scars were nothing, really. He said that Vanilla Sky had much more convincing scarring, especially to make the audience believe that the protagonist would choose to wear a mask to cover it up.

[megladon8]

I read a review of Sukiyaki Western Django that described it as "two great tastes that taste great together."

I thought that was a cool way to sum it up. Definitely want to see this one soon.

[Ezee E]

I read a review of Sukiyaki Western Django that described it as "two great tastes that taste great together."

I thought that was a cool way to sum it up. Definitely want to see this one soon.
It's out on DVD now

[megladon8]

It's out on DVD now


Yes I know. This was a review of the DVD :P

[The Mike]

Every clip I see of Role Models seems to involve something about kids saying inappropriate things or being in inappropriate situations. Not my kind of humor.

Yeah, as someone who works in social work with young people, there were moments in the film that made me cringe. But, luckily I work with young people that swear and do drugs, so it wasn't a big deal most of the time.

However, that work experience also made Jane Lynch's already awesome character even funnier. There are many people EXACTLY like that working in the field, and she was spot on in every scene.

[The Mike]

I read a review of Sukiyaki Western Django that described it as "two great tastes that taste great together."

I thought that was a cool way to sum it up. Definitely want to see this one soon.

Starting this one any minute now. Totally looking forward to it. :pritch:

[soitgoes...]

I pretty much couldn't stand watching Sukiyaki Western Django. It was almost a painful experience. A gorgeous looking film, but having to listen to non-English speaking Japanese phonetically recite their lines does not equal a good time.

[D_Davis]

Time for...

Christmas on Mars

Yes.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Sitting down to watch Make Way For Tomorrow, thoughts later....

[origami_mustache]

Time for...

Christmas on Mars

Yes.

Can't wait to see this...downloaded the soundtrack today.

[EyesWideOpen]

I pretty much couldn't stand watching Sukiyaki Western Django. It was almost a painful experience. A gorgeous looking film, but having to listen to non-English speaking Japanese phonetically recite their lines does not equal a good time.

Yep that's what killed the film for me also.

[The Mike]

I really hoped I would disagree with you guys about the English in Sukiyaki Western Django, but I can't. Some really, really rough dialogue in there. :sad:

The movie looked great, was incredibly frantic, and otherwise enjoyable, if not original. But it still comes off as disappointing from the expectations I had.

[SirNewt]

Just blind bought and watched, "Touch of Evil", pure greatness. That opening is like a musical.

[EyesWideOpen]

I really hoped I would disagree with you guys about the English in Sukiyaki Western Django, but I can't. Some really, really rough dialogue in there. :sad:

The movie looked great, was incredibly frantic, and otherwise enjoyable, if not original. But it still comes off as disappointing from the expectations I had.

Believe me i feel you. Everything about the movie made me think it was made just for me but the dialogue killed it. I still think it's a good movie but extremely disappointing and as a Miike fan it's not one I plan on rewatching anytime soon.

[D_Davis]

Were people really going into Sukiyaki Western Django expecting great dialog? Really? Even knowing that the Japanese actors were memorizing their lines phonetically in English without truly understanding much of what there were actually saying?

It's all part of the game of genre ping pong this particular brand of western is known for. Go back and watch, and you'll see that many of the spaghetti westerns contain less than stellar dialog spoken and dubbed by actors who spoke different languages. Miike simply elevated this particular quirk to an absurd level, and the film is better for it.

That's all part of the milieu and charm of the film.

It's all part of the "Nevada, Japan" that Miike creates.

The choice to shoot this in Engrish wasn't done just because, there was some careful thought put into it that strengthens the entire point and world of the film.



Anyhow...


Christmas on Mars

This film contains many of the things that I love about the Flips, but also suffers from problems often associated with amateur filmmaking.

Namely, it lacks the touch of an editor who wasn't personally connected to the film as a band member, writer, actor, creator. At only 85 minutes, it still feels long, and by lopping off a good 15 minutes it could be far better. Too many of the scenes and sequences go on for far too long, probably just so all of their friends and family could get as much screen time as possible. One character in particular is incredibly annoying, and just about any scene with him could be cut down. There are also a few wonderful moments that should have been extended, a few beautiful shots that should have lingered on for a few more minutes.

But there is some good here as well. Like many of their songs, the film is deceptively thoughtful. While on the surface, and to a non-fan, the band may seem like a group of merry jesters, underneath that bright and colorful surface are four guys struggling deeply, trying to understand humanity's place within the cosmos. What does it mean to be a human being? It also touches upon themes prevalent in their best songs, and reminded me greatly of images from three of their best albums: Transmissions, Clouds Taste Metallic, and The Soft Bulletin. Namely, it reminded me of Coyne's constant search for a superman, a being to come and show us the way, to save us at the last moment; sometimes this being comes from within us, and sometimes it comes from outer space.

Like a lot of their music, Christmas on Mars is sad and examines the eternal plight of mankind. Filming it in black and white, with only brief punctuations of color, adds to this sadness. Many of the shots are wonderfully done, and they add to the stark loneliness of the narrative. I am sure there were practical reasons for shooting in B&W, mainly to hide the blemishes of the cheap sets and costumes, but there are also artistic reasons. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition for a band whose normal stage show and album covers are always vibrantly and garishly colored. It accentuates the streak of darkness found within the band.

The film is also strange, and totally bizarre. There's a vagina-headed marching band, a deformed baby in a bubble, a suicidal Santa, and a bunch of other weird things. But the film is not just a total freak-out. There are also moments of melancholy and stillness. There are moments of quietness.

There is also a noticeable lack of music. I would have expected this to be more of a showcase for the band's music, but it is surprisingly empty in this department. Yes there is a score, and sometimes it gets loud and noisy, but it is tastefully done, and not overbearing.

I can't recommend this film to those who don't like the Flips, but as a long-time, but critical fan of Coyne and co. I greatly enjoyed it.

[soitgoes...]

Were people really going into Sukiyaki Western Django expecting great dialog? Really? Even knowing that the Japanese actors were memorizing their lines phonetically in English without truly understanding much of what there were actually saying?

It's all part of the game of genre ping pong this particular brand of western is known for. Go back and watch, and you'll see that many of the spaghetti westerns contain less than stellar dialog spoken and dubbed by actors who spoke different languages. Miike simply elevated this particular quirk to an absurd level, and the film is better for it.

That's all part of the milieu and charm of the film.

It's all part of the "Nevada, Japan" that Miike creates.

The choice to shoot this in Engrish wasn't done just because, there was some careful thought put into it that strengthens the entire point and world of the film.
It isn't the dialog, it's the delivery. Whether or not the spaghetti westerns had great dialog is irrelevant. They were dubbed by English speakers who could speak the language. If Miike had decided to dub his film, I would've had a completely different view of it. I probably would've loved it, because the only hit against it was that painful to hear Engrish. If that was his intended effect he was after, then so be it. It didn't work for me. This is the only film of his that I haven't liked, so I can tell you I was as surprised as anyone. I was expecting a cinematic orgasm, and all I got was blue balls.

[ledfloyd]

Anyhow...


Christmas on Mars

This film contains many of the things that I love about the Flips, but also suffers from problems often associated with amateur filmmaking.

Namely, it lacks the touch of an editor who wasn't personally connected to the film as a band member, writer, actor, creator. At only 85 minutes, it still feels long, and by lopping off a good 15 minutes it could be far better. Too many of the scenes and sequences go on for far too long, probably just so all of their friends and family could get as much screen time as possible. One character in particular is incredibly annoying, and just about any scene with him could be cut down. There are also a few wonderful moments that should have been extended, a few beautiful shots that should have lingered on for a few more minutes.

But there is some good here as well. Like many of their songs, the film is deceptively thoughtful. While on the surface, and to a non-fan, the band may seem like a group of merry jesters, underneath that bright and colorful surface are four guys struggling deeply, trying to understand humanity's place within the cosmos. What does it mean to be a human being? It also touches upon themes prevalent in their best songs, and reminded me greatly of images from three of their best albums: Transmissions, Clouds Taste Metallic, and The Soft Bulletin. Namely, it reminded me of Coyne's constant search for a superman, a being to come and show us the way, to save us at the last moment; sometimes this being comes from within us, and sometimes it comes from outer space.

Like a lot of their music, Christmas on Mars is sad and examines the eternal plight of mankind. Filming it in black and white, with only brief punctuations of color, adds to this sadness. Many of the shots are wonderfully done, and they add to the stark loneliness of the narrative. I am sure there were practical reasons for shooting in B&W, mainly to hide the blemishes of the cheap sets and costumes, but there are also artistic reasons. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition for a band whose normal stage show and album covers are always vibrantly and garishly colored. It accentuates the streak of darkness found within the band.

The film is also strange, and totally bizarre. There's a vagina-headed marching band, a deformed baby in a bubble, a suicidal Santa, and a bunch of other weird things. But the film is not just a total freak-out. There are also moments of melancholy and stillness. There are moments of quietness.

There is also a noticeable lack of music. I would have expected this to be more of a showcase for the band's music, but it is surprisingly empty in this department. Yes there is a score, and sometimes it gets loud and noisy, but it is tastefully done, and not overbearing.

I can't recommend this film to those who don't like the Flips, but as a long-time, but critical fan of Coyne and co. I greatly enjoyed it.
i really need to see this ASAP, i didn't realize it was out yet. i suck at being a flips fan.

[megladon8]

While I still maintain that Hellbound: Hellraiser II is Hellraiser's Aliens (direct continuation of the first story, ups the scope and the effects budget, more characters on both the good and bad side, little mute blonde girl who happens to be deeply implicated in the whole mess, etc.) I've come to realize that the movie is just awful.

It's funny because about 3 years ago I thought it was the shiznit. I would have easily ranked it in my top 5 horrors of all time, and would have said that it was bigger and better than the first movie.

But jeez, watching it last night, the dialogue is some of the worst I've ever heard. Really, the script for this movie is an absolute pile of bollocks, and I think one of the biggest mistakes they made was trying to portray Pinhead and the rest of the Cenobites as just, moral creatures and - dare I say - sympathetic.

I can excuse their "deal making" with Kirsty in the first film because what Frank did really, really pissed them off and was seemingly the first time someone has ever escaped them like that. So sure, I guess they'd be willing to spare Kirsty if she could lead them to Frank.

But in the second film she does it again. And again. Hell, I was half-expecting Kirsty to ask Pinhead if he wanted to come over and make popcorn so they could watch a scary movie together (like, say, the first Hellraiser).

I will give the film this, though - it's absolutely disgusting. Movies like Saw, Haute Tension and Hostel are disturbing to watch, and can make you flinch by the pain they show the characters experiencing...but Hellbound: Hellraiser II is just gross.

Dead Alive may be the goriest film of all time, but I'd say this is the most disgusting, or at least in the top ranks.

I haven't seen so many phallic images shooting out razor blades, or phallic images eating brains, or phallic images slicing peoples' throats in all my life. Add to that the people walking around without skin, the people being eaten alive by a woman without skin, and, ugh, the guy who thinks he is covered in insects and is given a razorblade (by his doctor, no less!) to try to cut them off...and yes, this is one sickening horrorfest.

I still enjoy the hell out of it. It's briskly paced, has some great one-liners by Pinhead, and the make-up and SFX are top notch.

But the writing is just so, so terrible that I cannot bring myself to call it a "favorite" or "best" anymore. In fact, I can barely bring myself to give it a passing grade.

[D_Davis]

It isn't the dialog, it's the delivery. Whether or not the spaghetti westerns had great dialog is irrelevant. They were dubbed by English speakers who could speak the language. If Miike had decided to dub his film, I would've had a completely different view of it. I probably would've loved it, because the only hit against it was that painful to hear Engrish. If that was his intended effect he was after, then so be it. It didn't work for me. This is the only film of his that I haven't liked, so I can tell you I was as surprised as anyone. I was expecting a cinematic orgasm, and all I got was blue balls.

If there is one thing I've learned about Miike over the last decade and a half, it's that he plays by his own rules, and does things his own way. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Once again, he has taken a trope, a convention, and raised it to a level of absurdity most filmmakers would shun.

That is awesome, and the film is more amazing for it.

I've disliked plenty of his films (after all, you couldn't possibly like 50+ movies by the same director - some of them are going to be bad), but this one is clearly in the upper echelon of his filmography, and will be one that I return to time and time again.

[EyesWideOpen]

That's great and all that you love it because he's trying something different but for me it's an interesting failure. I've seen more Miike films then most here and if he continues this engrish nonsense which started in Imprint and continued to Sukiyaki i'll be watching less.

[Raiders]

I really should see more of Miike's work. I'm hesitant though, as I did not care at all for Ichi the Killer and was mixed on Imprint. I did quite like Audition though. That's all I have seen so far.

[D_Davis]

I've seen more Miike films then most here and if he continues this engrish nonsense which started in Imprint and continued to Sukiyaki i'll be watching less.

Okay.

[Qrazy]

I really should see more of Miike's work. I'm hesitant though, as I did not care at all for Ichi the Killer and was mixed on Imprint. I did quite like Audition though. That's all I have seen so far.

I feel there are a few I still ought to see just to be fair to the guy but I'm really not a fan at all. Hated Happiness of the Katakuris, disliked Dead or Alive and Sukiyaki Western Django, thought The Bird People in China was decent and liked Audition.

Gozu, Visitor Q and DOA2 I'll probably check out eventually but I"m in no hurry.

[Wryan]

I hadn't seen Unforgiven in a few years, despite having the dvd for as long and remembering that I enjoyed it a lot. So I popped it back in last night. Still a lot of good stuff here: the killing of the first of the two cowboys; the gentle little scene between Delilah and Munny; all of Richard Harris and the guy that plays W.W. Beauchamp; the climax and plenty else.

But what struck me this time were a large number of line readings and acting/script moments that flew out of mouths and then stopped dead as if they had hit a gong. The Schofield kid is generally terrible except in his big scene. The madame and proprietor of the saloon aren't great. Even some of Clint's/Hackman's/Freeman's moments come off a bit false (that oblique masturbatory reference? what?). I felt strange watching it, not remembering hearing 'em this way the first time. I still appreciate the film though, tremendously. There's way too much power here to let some little things make it stutter.

[EyesWideOpen]

I really should see more of Miike's work. I'm hesitant though, as I did not care at all for Ichi the Killer and was mixed on Imprint. I did quite like Audition though. That's all I have seen so far.

Gozu, Bird People in China and Happiness of the Katakuri's are all good one's to see if your gonna like his work or not.

[Ezee E]

I really should see more of Miike's work. I'm hesitant though, as I did not care at all for Ichi the Killer and was mixed on Imprint. I did quite like Audition though. That's all I have seen so far.
Check out 3... Extremes. His short is Box. All three are pretty great.

[Raiders]

Watching a film like The Place Promised in Our Early Days pretty much shames most every other film. So messy, so flawed and yet so remarkably compelling and emotional. The ending is nothing short of brilliant, and I don't mind saying I got a little misty eyed. It's also stunningly beautiful... and that violin!

[Russ]

Watching a film like The Place Promised in Our Early Days pretty much shames most every other film. So messy, so flawed and yet so remarkably compelling and emotional. The ending is nothing short of brilliant, and I don't mind saying I got a little misty eyed. It's also stunningly beautiful... and that violin!
Boy I really want to see this. I quite like 5 Centimeters Per Second (tho many here apparently don't..), and tho I don't blind buy anymore, I think I'd make an exception for this one.

Re: Miike films - I'd put Big Bang Love, Juvenile A at or near the top of his body of work, and would recommend it without question.

[D_Davis]

Watching a film like The Place Promised in Our Early Days pretty much shames most every other film. So messy, so flawed and yet so remarkably compelling and emotional. The ending is nothing short of brilliant, and I don't mind saying I got a little misty eyed. It's also stunningly beautiful... and that violin!

Awesome.

It's a pretty incredible little film. The emotional impact of it all kind of sneaks up on you, and before you know it, you're totally lost in the narrative. The art and music invokes strong feelings of nostalgia, and I couldn't help but care about the characters and their relationships.

I can see this film creeping up in rank on my top 100.

[Sycophant]

Anyone who enjoyed Place Promised should really make a point of seeing 5 centimeters per second. I found it to be quite superior.

[Grouchy]

I really should see more of Miike's work. I'm hesitant though, as I did not care at all for Ichi the Killer and was mixed on Imprint. I did quite like Audition though. That's all I have seen so far.
I recommend Big Bang Love: Juvenile A and Full Metal Yakuza.

I agree with everything D said about the Engrish. The film is obviously a parody of the spaguetti western, and the fact that all of the characters speak phonetically is a part of that. Miike has done that before with One Missed Call - grabbing the tropes of a particular genre (J-Horror, in that case) and taking them to ridiculous extremes.

I also have to agree with meg on Hellbound: Hellraiser II. It's louder and gorier than the original film, but comparatively suffers a lot on the writing. I stopped watching the sequels at the third one, convincing myself that there was no way any of them would get better than the original.

[Raiders]

Anyone who enjoyed Place Promised should really make a point of seeing 5 centimeters per second. I found it to be quite superior.

I can't imagine it being much superior, but I'm definitely checking it out along with Voices of a Distant Star.

[D_Davis]

Makoto Shinkai can paint the fuck out of a sky.

[Russ]

Makoto Shinkai can paint the fuck out of a sky.
Repped and QFT.

[D_Davis]

Repped and QFT.

It should be a box quote on all of his DVDs.

[Watashi]

I told my inner Star Wars kid I would eventually check out Star Wars: The Clone Wars on DVD.

I feel like punching my inner kid to death.

[thefourthwall]

I recently watched Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves and was quite pleasantly surprised. I was a little nervous because I had high hopes for it, but I also had high hopes for In Dreams that weren't quite realized. But The Company of Wolves beautifully uses fairy tale tropes and multiple narratives to make some very interesting comments about the relationships between men and women. I definitely have some more musing to do--I'm unsure what the whole anachronistic Johnathan Pryce scene is about.

I think it would be very interesting to consider this and Angela Carter's short story "In the Company of Wolves" along with Joyce Carol Oates's "Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?" and Smooth Talk (Chopra, 1985). Potentially it would be a bit of an alarmist view of men though...

[MadMan]

Strangers On a Train is just utterly fantastic. I'm not sure what to rate it at this point and time, but the film's last act is insanely suspenseful. The final confrontation is executed extremely well, and there's actually a scene that managed to unnerve me. The fact that Hithcock sat around thinking up this stuff kind of amuses me. Where as others may think of something more cheerful, the man was constantly mediating on murder and mischief.

[The Mike]

Strangers On a Train is just utterly fantastic. I'm not sure what to rate it at this point and time, but the film's last act is insanely suspenseful. The final confrontation is executed extremely well, and there's actually a scene that managed to unnerve me. The fact that Hithcock sat around thinking up this stuff kind of amuses me. Where as others may think of something more cheerful, the man was constantly mediating on murder and mischief.
Yeah, it's awesome. :pritch:

[Ezee E]

Transsiberian starts off as a solid, Hitchcockian thriller. However, it doesn't know how to use the Russian mob angle, and basically falls apart once they're involved. Bummer, I was really digging it too.

[Lucky]

Am I alone in thinking the ending of Strangers on a Train is completely hokey? Everything from the tennis match on makes me embarrassed for the compelling first act and development of the memorable antagonist.

[Qrazy]

Am I alone in thinking the ending of Strangers on a Train is completely hokey? Everything from the tennis match on makes me embarrassed for the compelling first act and development of the memorable antagonist.

I don't really agree... top 7 Hitch for me.

[B-side]

As is evident by my sig, I was also really impressed with Strangers On A Train.

[soitgoes...]

Am I alone in thinking the ending of Strangers on a Train is completely hokey? Everything from the tennis match on makes me embarrassed for the compelling first act and development of the memorable antagonist.Yeah, I can't agree either. It's my second favorite Hitchcock film. Great stuff.

[Boner M]

w/e

An Autumn Tale
Au Revoir, Les Enfants
Imitation of Life

Had these waiting for too long.

[soitgoes...]

Weekend possibilities:

Il Grido (Antonioni)
Le Notti Bianche (Visconti)
Father (Majidi)
The Invincible Fist (Chang)
La Antena (Sapir)

[Raiders]

Am I alone in thinking the ending of Strangers on a Train is completely hokey?

I hope so.

[Wryan]

Strangers on a Train, along with Notorious, is probably my top-tier Hitchcock. I don't find the last act hokey. I adore it utterly.

[megladon8]

Yeah, I'd rank it amond my top Hitchcock as well, with North By Northwest, Rope, Psycho and Vertigo.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, I'd rank it amond my top Hitchcock as well, with North By Northwest, Rope, Psycho and Vertigo.
Psycho, Rope, Lifeboat, Notorious, and Strangers on a Train are on the tops for me.

[megladon8]

Psycho, Rope, Lifeboat, Notorious, and Strangers on a Train are on the tops for me.


I really want to see Lifeboat. It's very un-Hitchcock from what I hear.

And yeah, it's nice to see others loving Rope. It's the film that really got my attention on Hitchcock's filmography beyond his more famous stuff.

[Ezee E]

Denver Film Festival in town, so who knows what I'll see this weekend.

NETFLIX:
Quai des Orfevres (how is this pronounced?)
Citizen Ruth
Elite Squad

THEATER:
Waltz with Bashir (DFF)
Tokyo! (DFF)

And since the theater is right there, I may check out:
Synecdoche, New York
Let the Right One In
Rachel Getting Married

Bond can wait.

[Ezee E]

I really want to see Lifeboat. It's very un-Hitchcock from what I hear.

And yeah, it's nice to see others loving Rope. It's the film that really got my attention on Hitchcock's filmography beyond his more famous stuff.
The thing about Hitchcock is that he's got so many movies, it feels like I'll never see them all. Kind of like Woody Allen.

I've still got movies like Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt, The Man Who Knew Too Much, andThe Wrong Man.

[Wryan]

I really want to see Lifeboat. It's very un-Hitchcock from what I hear.

It's really good, but I dunno how uncharacteristic it is, apart from the condensed scope. Can get very unnerving.

[Wryan]

The thing about Hitchcock is that he's got so many movies, it feels like I'll never see them all. Kind of like Woody Allen.

I've still got movies like Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt, The Man Who Knew Too Much, andThe Wrong Man.

His early stuff can mostly wait, apart from The 39 Steps and The Skin Game. I almost slept through The Lodger.

[Raiders]

Weekend:

My Name is Bruce
Quantum of Solace
Ballast
Slumdog Millionaire
Isolation

[balmakboor]

I really want to see Lifeboat. It's very un-Hitchcock from what I hear.

It is great. And it has "Hitchcock" written all over it.

[Amnesiac]

Can anyone here vouch for Knife In The Water or Lord of the Flies? The Criterion editions are cheaply priced at a store near me and I was thinking about picking them up.

[Raiders]

Can anyone here vouch for Knife In The Water or Lord of the Flies? The Criterion editions are cheaply priced at a store near me and I was thinking about picking them up.

Both are worth seeing, definitely. Polanski's would be my recommendation if you're trying to decide one over the other, but for cheap prices, both are certainly worth a shot.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Quai des Orfevres (how is this pronounced?)


kay daze or-FEHVR

[Ezee E]

Check out Knife in the Water. It's definitely a small-scale movie, but it's good Polanski.

[dreamdead]

Well now, Chang Cheh's Five [Deadly] Venoms was pretty damn fun. Thrillingly shot, and with a story that never telegraphed where it was going. I love the artistry of how Cheh established movement with the camera; just wonderful cinema. I just wish Netflix had sent a copy that allowed me to switch to subtitles rather than the bad American dubbing.

I think I'll make The Water Margin the next of his to check out.

[Ezee E]

Well now, Chang Cheh's Five [Deadly] Venoms was pretty damn fun. Thrillingly shot, and with a story that never telegraphed where it was going. I love the artistry of how Cheh established movement with the camera; just wonderful cinema. I just wish Netflix had sent a copy that allowed me to switch to subtitles rather than the bad American dubbing.

I think I'll make The Water Margin the next of his to check out.
Yes! Probably my favorite classic kung fu movie. Despite the dubbing, I think the voice of the narrator is the coolest of all films, even better than Orson Welles. I'm curious if he's done anything else.

[Sven]

I've frequently cited Five Deadly Venoms as the Casablanca of Kung Fu films. So great. So classy. So expertly structured.

[Grouchy]

His early stuff can mostly wait, apart from The 39 Steps and The Skin Game. I almost slept through The Lodger.
I must loudly disagree with this.

39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes and The Lodger are must-see stuff. Much more than The Skin Game.

[D_Davis]

Well now, Chang Cheh's Five [Deadly] Venoms was pretty damn fun. Thrillingly shot, and with a story that never telegraphed where it was going. I love the artistry of how Cheh established movement with the camera; just wonderful cinema. I just wish Netflix had sent a copy that allowed me to switch to subtitles rather than the bad American dubbing.

I think I'll make The Water Margin the next of his to check out.


Yes! Probably my favorite classic kung fu movie. Despite the dubbing, I think the voice of the narrator is the coolest of all films, even better than Orson Welles. I'm curious if he's done anything else.

The narrator has done loads of stuff. He was one of the staples of the old school dubbers.

Chang Cheh doesn't get enough credit as a great visual director. His best movies look as good as any others, and his shot selection is fantastic. Unfortunately, The Five Deadly Venoms would signify the beginning of his third period, an era in which his films became more pulpy, and less artistic. That's not to say his 'venom mob' movies aren't entertaining - Chinese Super Ninjas, anyone? - but they are less ambitious and not as finely crafted as his earlier films.

The Shaws tightened their budgets during this time, and demanded that more of the movies were shot indoors on the sound stages rather than a mix of indoor and outdoor locations. While some directors flourished during these times (Lau Kar Leung, for example) I believe this hampered Chang's vision.

With that said though, I cannot recommend The Water Margin (aka Seven Blows of the Dragon, aka Heroes of the Marsh aka All Men are Brothers), especially if you haven't read or know too much about the books it is based upon. The movie just isn't very good.

If you are looking for a classical epic in the tradition of The Water Margin, check out Chang Cheh's The Brave Archer saga.

[D_Davis]

I've frequently cited Five Deadly Venoms as the Casablanca of Kung Fu films. So great. So classy. So expertly structured.

I wouldn't go this far.

It's good, and probably the best made of the venom films (I still prefer Return of the Five Deadly Venoms and Chinese Super Ninjas for pure entertainment factor).

Even Chang himself directed films that were much better, like Boxer From Shantung for instance, the film I consider to be the greatest martial arts film ever made. It's the Casablanca and Citizen Kane of the genre, to use the old film-buff cliche.

[Rowland]

w/e:

The Fall
Burn After Reading
Rachel Getting Married

[balmakboor]

I wouldn't go this far.

It's good, and probably the best made of the venom films (I still prefer Return of the Five Deadly Venoms and Chinese Super Ninjas for pure entertainment factor).

Even Chang himself directed films that were much better, like Boxer From Shantung for instance, the film I consider to be the greatest martial arts film ever made. It's the Casablanca and Citizen Kane of the genre, to use the old film-buff cliche.

Have you ever heard if Shantung might be getting a Region 1 release with subtitles? My copy is dubbed but watchable.

[balmakboor]

While it's no WR or Sweet Movie, I really liked The Coca-Cola Kid. It reminded me just how interesting Eric Roberts was back in the day.

[dreamdead]

Chang Cheh's The Brave Archer is getting (re?)released on DVD at the end of the year, so I'll hopefully have time to look into it before his consensus. I did, however, put out for a copy of Boxer of Shantung today, so hopefully I'll experience the wonder that Daniel feels.

Weekend:
Sondheim's Passion (finally)
Ordet
Jang Sun Woo's Lies

[D_Davis]

Are all four parts of The Brave Archer getting released here?

[D_Davis]

Have you ever heard if Shantung might be getting a Region 1 release with subtitles? My copy is dubbed but watchable.

I have no idea.

[Watashi]

Weekend:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Transsiberian
Quantum of Solace
JCVD

[Qrazy]

Can anyone here vouch for Knife In The Water or Lord of the Flies? The Criterion editions are cheaply priced at a store near me and I was thinking about picking them up.

They're both were seeing once and have a few standout scenes. I don't think too highly of either one ultimately though.

[Sven]

While it's no WR or Sweet Movie, I really liked The Coca-Cola Kid. It reminded me just how interesting Eric Roberts was back in the day.

He's still got it, beeyotch.

[MadMan]

Weekend:

*Modern Times(1936)
*Quantum of Solace(2008)
*Diabolique(1955)

[origami_mustache]

Weekend:
Slumdog Millionaire
Unknown Pleasures
Platform

[ledfloyd]

i'm now rating films with batting averages.

[Ezee E]

i'm now rating films with batting averages.
Genius.

[MadMan]

i'm now rating films with batting averages.That is awesome.

[Watashi]

i'm now rating films with batting averages.

No fucking way Atonement bats that low.

[Yxklyx]

Are there any happy Romanian films?

In the banner, who is the person that looks like Steve Martin?

[ledfloyd]

No fucking way Atonement bats that low.
if it makes you feel any better AI would hit over 300