28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Skitch]

Because it's completely awesome and Eric Roberts is the shit.

Me, Sven, and Skitch will kill you now.

Repaired.

[soitgoes...]

Well hello Señor Berlanga! I'm looking forward to watching El Verdugo next. Great satire from a country that really did a good job suppressing any opposition. The first film, Bienvenido Mister Marshall, is more of a straight out comedy. Hilarious throughout. I only wish my Spanish were a bit better so I wasn't so reliant on the subtitles. The dialogue, especially the narration, whizzes by, and I know I was missing a lot of jokes that are untranslatable. The second film, Plácido, is satire through and through. Not the in-your-face satire that Buñuel gave Spain in Viridiana. Plácido is much more subtle.

[Sven]

Watched Runaway Train. Wish I hadn't. Bad performances, bad script, ridiculous ending, corny metaphors, etc. I want my two hours back. How does this film have a good reputation?

Whoawhoawhoa -- really?

[StanleyK]

The sequel was so over the top bad that it was able to accumulate stars. Flying grunion. Genius.

Just out of curiosity, are you going to watch Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep? You know, for completism's sake.

[StanleyK]

After recent viewings of Bullet in the Head and Happy Together, I want to point out that Tony Leung is a seriously amazing actor.

[number8]

After recent viewings of Bullet in the Head and Happy Together, I want to point out that Tony Leung is a seriously amazing actor.

WELCOME TO, LIKE, 20 YEARS AGO, MAN.

[soitgoes...]

Just out of curiosity, are you going to watch Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep? You know, for completism's sake.

Eh, I don't really care enough to do that. If I complete a director's filmography it's usually because I want to see his final films, not that I need to see them just to finish him off. Honestly, outside of the Coens and Kurosawa I can't think of a major director (say one who's directed at least 10 films) from whom I've seen everything. I'm close on Melville, and eventually will complete his filmography.

[soitgoes...]

After recent viewings of Bullet in the Head and Happy Together, I want to point out that Tony Leung is a seriously amazing actor.

A strong case can be made that he's the best Hong Kong actor over the last 20 years, which also means he's the best Hong Kong actor ever.

[megladon8]

He's one handsome mofo, too.

[D_Davis]

A strong case can be made that he's the best Hong actor over the last 20 years, which also means he's the best Hong Kong actor ever.

I'd say so. The dude has range, too. He can be super serious (Hero), and incredibly funny (Eagle Shooting Heroes).

[B-side]

Count me among the Tony Leung fans.

[Derek]

Well, talk about third time's the charm. Noé just made almost every other filmmaker look pretty damn lazy by comparison.

[Derek]

Count me among the Tony Leung fans.

You mean among every human being on Earth who has ever seen Tony Leung?

[B-side]

You mean among every human being on Earth who has ever seen Tony Leung?

Yes. It feels good to be accepted by such an exclusive group.:P

Your Enter the Void rating intrigues me. Not a fan of either of his previous features, yet a 4 star rating for EtV? Interesting. I'm a bit more optimistic now.

[Boner M]

Well, talk about third time's the charm. Noé just made almost every other filmmaker look pretty damn lazy by comparison.

BOO-URNS.

But yeah, I'd happily watch the first half and esp. the DMT-trip scene again.

[Ezee E]

Well, talk about third time's the charm. Noé just made almost every other filmmaker look pretty damn lazy by comparison.

Next Friday for me!!!!!

Heh, I'm debating on whether I take someone to this or not.

[soitgoes...]

Well, talk about third time's the charm. Noé just made almost every other filmmaker look pretty damn lazy by comparison.

Enter the Void (Noé, 2010) ****
I Stand Alone (Noé, 1998) *½

I don't know whether I should be excited or worried now.

[Derek]

Your Enter the Void rating intrigues me. Not a fan of either of his previous features, yet a 4 star rating for EtV? Interesting. I'm a bit more optimistic now.

It is even more out there than advertised - really nothing in his first two films hints that he had a film this ambitious in him.

BOO-URNS.

But yeah, I'd happily watch the first half and esp. the DMT-trip scene again.

At what point did it lose you? I can't imagine liking the first half and not the second. Granted, it goes on for what feels like an eternity, but given the content, I felt it was justified. It's a nearly a perfect marriage of formal and narrative experimentalism and avant-garde techniques in service of visceral impact and thematic purpose. I expect it'll be divisive as hell and part of me still hates his world view, but I can't deny this is a landmark film.

[Boner M]

At what point did it lose you? I can't imagine liking the first half and not the second.

I just got bored; the formal pyrotechnics stopped dazzling and stopped having any visceral impact, so all that's left is shitty melodrama played by shitty actors and lots of rudimentary Freudian nonsense. Maybe being with a jeering, hostile audience could've influenced my negative reaction, but I doubt it. It's not like Irreversible or I Stand Alone were the work of a deep thinker, but they certainly packed a punch both formally and - albeit in a crude way - dramatically. This didn't.

[MacGuffin]

Infinite rep, Derek - I'm super glad you liked it.

edit: I've been thinking about the movie a lot lately and the experience haunts me with a profound effect. Probably more like a 10 than a 9 and maybe even more like an 11.

[Derek]

Next Friday for me!!!!!

Heh, I'm debating on whether I take someone to this or not.

It depends if you ever want them to talk to you again or not. Or if you're planning to abuse some sort of substance beforehand. I took a muscle relaxer, which turned out to be a fantastic idea to get through this 2 1/2+ hours.

I don't know whether I should be excited or worried now.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I just got bored; the formal pyrotechnics stopped dazzling and stopped having any visceral impact, so all that's left is shitty melodrama played by shitty actors and lots of rudimentary Freudian nonsense. Maybe being with a jeering, hostile audience could've influenced my negative reaction, but I doubt it. It's not like Irreversible or I Stand Alone were the work of a deep thinker, but they certainly packed a punch both formally and - albeit in a crude way - dramatically. This didn't.

I found the melodrama to be far more emotionally involving than his previous two combined, which do little more than play strong contrasts of tenderness and abrasive outbursts of violence against each other. At least here, Noe inhabits the middle ground between a lot more. Sure, at its core, the whole after-death/reincarnation idea is rather silly and cumbersome, but I'm less interested in that than what it allows Noe to explore within his character, the world he inhabits and the dizzying narrative structure pieced together as a result. As for this not packing as much of a punch formally, I simply can't imagine that to be the case. This takes the grating and repetitive camerawork of Irreversible and much more variety and cohesiveness. I dunno, I understand where you're coming from. I imagine people will either find it laughable/exhausting or completely invigorating and obviously I'm in latter camp.

Infinite rep, Derek - I'm super glad you liked it.

edit: I've been thinking about the movie a lot lately and the experience haunts me with a profound effect. Probably more like a 10 than a 9 and maybe even more like an 11.

I'll be writing more, but this one will stick with me for a while.

[origami_mustache]

Enter the Void is easily the best film I've seen this year and by a wiiiiiiiide margin.

[Morris Schæffer]

Watched Runaway Train. Wish I hadn't. Bad performances, bad script, ridiculous ending, corny metaphors, etc. I want my two hours back. How does this film have a good reputation?

Oddly enough based on a Kurosawa script who originally envisioned more of a comedy. But it's a great movie. I thought the ending was haunting, gutsy, exactly the opposite of expectation. Imagine Scott's Unstoppable ending with Washington standing on the locomotive and the damn thing just riding off into the horizon.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Whoawhoawhoa -- really?

Absolutely. Just absurd. It all culminated with the warden riding that ladder onto the train. Ridiculous. And I'm embarrassed for the Academy that Roberts and Voight were nominated for those performances, Roberts less so than Voight. Everything they said and did seemed so rehearsed, even when they interrupted each other or gave a look to express their feelings.


In much better news, I watched Don't Look Now for the first time last night. I'll get the bad out of the way first. It's a bit too slow of a slow burn, and at times felt lost in its own atmosphere. Also, I've been very tired with school and work and everything, so that might have affected it too. Plus, my expectations were for something actually scary rather than just unsettling.

That said, the use of color, the use of shadows and space in the confusing alleys of Venice, the editing, the music, the performances... all masterfully crafted and evoke a strong sense of dread throughout, so that even when the film was a bit... slow... the atmosphere that Roeg created made it impossible to look away from. I'd like to give it another whirl in the near future (it'd be especially interesting knowing how it all comes together) but time is an issue. Still, at some point I plan to revisit this. I think my respect will only grow.

[dreamdead]

Kim's The Housemaid is for the most party surprisingly great. I say surprisingly because not too much is said about Korean cinema prior to 2000. Great tension throughout with a wonderful storyline in the main section. The films only real failure is in what turns out to be the ending.[

Show Spoiler

I don't mind the idea of the bookend pieces setting up a story within a story, but why take a perfect good suspense film, serious in tone for its entirety, and then have a little light-hearted fourth wall breaking commentary end the whole film?

]

Yeah, this was my sole critique of the film, too. Its eroticism and social critique are astounding for 1960, and it suggests so much of a national cinema that is not being released here, unlike the Japanese national cinema. I wondered if Kim might have been afraid that he'd made too serious of a film and felt as though he needed to allay spectators' fears. If that's not it, I'm at a loss of why he'd make this decision.

I am looking forward to the remake, which should be interesting in its own right. At the very least, it'll be released here in the States at some point.