28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Qrazy]

Well, granted, those three films are all superb. In fact, Dazed and Confused is my least favorite of the three; the fact that Wonder Boys and The Purple Rose of Cairo are two of my personal favorites doesn't help its case much, though.

Hopefully Hanson will find a decent script to direct sometime soon. He's spinning his wheels imo.

[Amnesiac]

I forgot to mention, I watched the Bluray of Chungking Express this past Friday night. My first Wong Kar Wai (or is it Kar Wai Wong?) film.

It looked tremendously beautiful. It was my first Criterion Bluray and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The narrative structure was kind of surprising, what with a kind of stylish film noir/quirky romance genre being played out at first before making room for a more primary and eccentric love story. This transition wasn't frustrating, but I certainly didn't see it coming. It was more curious. The ambiguities of the first half remain kind of puzzling but perhaps it will seem clearer on an eventual re-watch. Or perhaps it won't. The details and exposition of that segment probably don't concern Kar Wai.

The use of music ranged from splendid to kind of grating. But not excessively so. I guess it occupied a strange middle ground between amusingly ingratiating and grating. But, the song that plays when Faye is redecorating Tony Leung's apartment was strangely moving. That part of the movie was just so exuberant and wonderful and sweet. There are many other moments in the film that reach a similarly sublime level. Leung and Faye Wong have amusing chemistry (or anti-chemistry) and this bolsters the film's charming and childish spirit.

The ending was a tad perplexing, though. But I suppose it goes along well with a film that deals with reticent, hesitant and shy lovers.

[D_Davis]

Watched Knowing and Dante 01 this weekend. Both were okay. Knowing was surprisingly good. Proyas makes decent genre pictures. I like him, I like religious SF, and I like thrillers, and so I kind of liked Knowing. The f/x shots were fantastic, there was an incredibly intense moment when a car is surrounded by some strange men, and the film takes a wild turn at the end. I can see some people being totally turned off by the film's final reveal, but I dug it.

Dante 01 was also kind of good. Reminded me of a French version of Kitamura's Alive although it lacked that film's ever-building tension (I was also reminded of Boogiepop Phantom and Cube in parts). Caro does quite a bit with not so much, and he utilizes his claustrophobic set to great effect. I've always liked Dominique Pinon, and while he's not given a lot to work with here it's still nice to see him. He has an expressive face, and I like his mannerisms.

All-in-all, two SF films worth watching.

[Skitch]

I've been anticipating Dante 01. Good to hear.

[trotchky]

At least? What's after that? Top nine material, I guess. Anyway, it's pretty good, but Linklater's attempts to recreate the period through decor, costumes, and music strike me as being only slightly more authentic than an episode of That '70s Show. I much prefer Slacker, Before Sunrise, Waking Life, Before Sunset, and A Scanner, Darkly.

Sweet.

By the way there's no comma in A Scanner Darkly's title.

[Rowland]

I rented my first two movies in nearly two months, a break I needed after growing tired of trying to catch up with '08. I was in the mood for some light stuff, so I went with Kung-Fu Panda, which I know has its proponents, and Max Payne, mainly just to see what Sven was talking about, and also because I've found many past video games adaptations to be unfairly shit upon.

[Grouchy]

I've recently rewatched the first two Godfather movies (still as great as ever), and I'm going to see Part III soon; I hated it at first, but I have a feeling that could change. I was wondering, what's the consensus on it? Is it really bad, or does it just fall short of the perfection of the first two?

Well, last month I bought the boxset so I rewatched the entire trilogy... and I found the third part even worse than I remembered. Not only the Sofia thing, but the fact that it's too wandering and shapeless a film. Part II, for example, is brilliant in how it carries over two or even three plots (Vito becoming Godfather, Michael and Fredo and the trial against the Corleone family) and never lets the tension and the interest fall in any of them. Instead the third movie can't even decide what it's about and so when it's dealing with the Vatican power struggle it becomes decidedly boring. Andy Garcia's character is also pretty bland and it's never clearly established what makes Michael like him so much other than the fact that he has no other male heir.

Part III would definitively have benefited from some Tom Hagen.

[Grouchy]

So, Paul W.S. Anderson - what can you say about the guy, other than 'well, he's really keeping the b-movie schlock tradition alive.' Him, and Uwe Boll - gee, they'd be more at home in the sixties and seventies.

Well I can say he's married to a real beauty:



Imagine waking up to that every mornin'.

[baby doll]

Sweet.

By the way there's no comma in A Scanner Darkly's title.

Whad'ya know, there isn't. And according to IMDb at least, there's no comma in Through a Glass Darkly either.

[Grouchy]

So, Jason and the Argonauts is rocking good fun! I'd never seen one of Harryhausen's movies before and I was afraid that other than the celebrated special effects they would be pretty dated. I was wrong. This movie is great and very compelling also on a plot level, although the script takes some strange detours (Heracles being set up as a major character only to abandon the expedition a scene later) in order to be more faithful to the Greek story, I guess. Although I laughed at first when I saw Olympus (too much Monty Python) I gotta say this movie nails one thing about Greek mythology not many modern adaptations consider, and it's that the Gods always play human tragedy for their personal amusement and nothing else. Harryhausen's work is great. The skeletons are impressive stuff, and there's no beating that Talos gladiator and the merman. The Hydra is cool too, although I wonder why they didn't use the "cut one head, two grow on its place" thing during the flight. Maybe the growing part just didn't look convincing.

On the other side, Howl's Moving Castle was a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, movie is mostly great and features some genuine Miyazaki magic, but it's the only one of his movies that I've seen that I would say overstays its welcome. Too much magic alternatives appear that I didn't completely understand, and some scenes played for no real purpose - like Howl's depression fits. Near the climax, for example, stuff started to happen that I definitively just didn't get. Why did Sophie tore down the castle only to re-animate it? The humor is the best part of this, with the grandmother near the end and the wise-cracking fire. One thing the movie did was it made me want to read the source material to see if I got the grasp of the story a little better. Right now, I'd put this at the bottom of my Ghibli rankings. By the way, I watched it in the original Japanese, although some of the actors involved in the dubbing (Lauren Bacall, Michael Keaton) make it sound quite tasty.

[Rowland]

I've said it before, but I don't hate Paul W.S. Anderson as much as most do. He's certainly a more capable craftsman than Boll.

As far as his body of work goes, Event Horizon is derivative and meaningless but irresistably nasty and gorgeous, Mortal Kombat is primo mid-90's schlock, and Resident Evil bastardizes its namesake but remains slickly entertaining on its own terms, while Death Race only really has its cast and proclivity for violent carnage going for it, and AVP is pretty much pure junk from conceptualization to execution.

Even his few credits as Producer aren't bad, including John Fawcett's follow-up to Ginger Snaps, the sadly underseen The Dark (starring Maria Bello and Sean Bean), and the '00s equivalent to Mortal Kombat, Corey Yuen's delirious DOA: Dead or Alive. Even the Resident Evil sequels, which aren't exactly good by any means, have their guilty pleasures.

[The Mike]

I've said it before, but I don't hate Paul W.S. Anderson as much as most do. He's certainly a more capable craftsman than Boll.

As far as his body of work goes, Event Horizon is derivative and meaningless but irresistably nasty and gorgeous, Mortal Kombat is primo mid-90's schlock, and Resident Evil bastardizes its namesake but remains slickly entertaining on its own terms, while Death Race only really has its cast and proclivity for violent carnage going for it, and AVP is pretty much pure junk from conceptualization to execution.

Even his few credits as Producer aren't bad, including John Fawcett's follow-up to Ginger Snaps, the sadly underseen The Dark (starring Maria Bello and Sean Bean), and the '00s equivalent to Mortal Kombat, Corey Yuen's delirious DOA: Dead or Alive. Even the Resident Evil sequels, which aren't exactly good by any means, have their guilty pleasures.

I second this post, with a slight bit more praise for Death Race.

[Sycophant]

I think I'm going to watch After the Thin Man or Mr. 3000 tonight, pretty much entirely based on which one's shortest.

It has become relevant to mention that this option comes to me courtesy of Netflix's impressively diverse selection and impeccable service.

[Spun Lepton]

AVP is pretty much pure junk from conceptualization to execution.

AVP worked GREAT as a comic book, but there was better attention paid to the story. I'm still waiting on them to that, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Ivan Drago]

Discussion of Paul "The Man" Anderson? Where's bkb when you need him?

[Spinal]

Where's bkb when you need him?

The premise is impossible. Therefore, the question is unanswerable.

[Pop Trash]

I second this post, with a slight bit more praise for Death Race.

Nathan Lee liked that one. It was in his top ten of '08. Guess it was like his version of Sven diggin' Max Payne.

[dreamdead]

Anyone have suggestions for contemporary Japanese films that unconventionally consider the effects of the Hiroshima bombing? I'm not looking for things like Resnais' film, but rather films like Kurosawa's Pulse that approach the bombing allegorically, or contemplate its apocalyptic effects intelligently...

[Amnesiac]

I wish Criterion picked up the rights to the rest of Tarkovsky's films. Is there not even a DVD release of Nostalghia available anymore?

[MacGuffin]

I wish Criterion picked up the rights to the rest of Tarkovsky's films. Is there not even a DVD release of Nostalghia available anymore?

There seems to be a relatively inexpensive one out from Artificial Eye.

[Grouchy]

Anyone have suggestions for contemporary Japanese films that unconventionally consider the effects of the Hiroshima bombing? I'm not looking for things like Resnais' film, but rather films like Kurosawa's Pulse that approach the bombing allegorically, or contemplate its apocalyptic effects intelligently...

That seems to be a recurrent preoccupation of Miyazaki, or at least war and its casualties in a broad sense.

[Pop Trash]

Anyone have suggestions for contemporary Japanese films that unconventionally consider the effects of the Hiroshima bombing? I'm not looking for things like Resnais' film, but rather films like Kurosawa's Pulse that approach the bombing allegorically, or contemplate its apocalyptic effects intelligently...

There's Imamura's Black Rain, but that is directly about the fallout from the bombs. Sad, sad movie but very powerful.

[The Mike]

Nathan Lee liked that one. It was in his top ten of '08. Guess it was like his version of Sven diggin' Max Payne.

I don't think it's all that good, but it's a watchable mix of the original and The Most Dangerous Game, with Statham doing Statham things and Ian McShane being the Ian McShane who can't swear as much as on HBO. Better than a lot of the big budget Terminator/Transformers stuff of late.

[BuffaloWilder]

I wish he'd get a competent editor, Paul W.S. Anderson. Particularly during Death Race, I couldn't tell who was where in what car getting shot by what, half the time.

Annoying, and needless.

[Rowland]

I wish he'd get a competent editor, Paul W.S. Anderson. Particularly during Death Race, I couldn't tell who was where in what car getting shot by what, half the time.

Annoying, and needless.

Indeed, the editing was my chief complaint for Death Race, with all the races chopped up into nigh-incomprehensible shreds. It didn't help either that he shot the insides of the vehicles with the camera convulsing Bay-style and the exterior races with little sense for coherent choreography.