28 Film Discussion Threads Later

**balmakboor** · 10-22-2010, 04:06 AM

Wow! I'm kinda surprised that Paranormal Activity 2 is getting such high marks. Surprised and pleased. I was intrigued when I saw that it includes a baby in a crib. It gives me hope that my allegorical reading of the first one will continue. A couple with a baby was the next logical step.

**balmakboor** · 10-22-2010, 04:09 AM

Quoting Ivan Drago (view post)

To this day I will never understand why it took me 22 years to see The Exorcist for the first time. Fucking amazing film.

Yes it is. Great movie. I always found it fascinating that Friedkin shot the exorcism scenes on a refridgerated set so we could see their breath.

**Derek** · 10-22-2010, 04:25 AM

Quoting balmakboor (view post)

Wow! I'm kinda surprised that Paranormal Activity 2 is getting such high marks. Surprised and pleased. I was intrigued when I saw that it includes a baby in a crib. It gives me hope that my allegorical reading of the first one will continue. A couple with a baby was the next logical step.

Hopefully this house will have a basement. Creepy cellar noises FTW!

**Spinal** · 10-22-2010, 05:44 AM

Quoting Ivan Drago (view post)

To this day I will never understand why it took me 22 years to see The Exorcist for the first time. Fucking amazing film.

Well, those first 12 or 13 years are understandable. Not a lot of grade schoolers watch The Exorcist.

**Spinal** · 10-22-2010, 05:45 AM

Quoting balmakboor (view post)

Wow! I'm kinda surprised that Paranormal Activity 2 is getting such high marks.

Think I might go see that tomorrow.

**megladon8** · 10-22-2010, 05:51 AM

Friday November 12th/Saturday November 13th, The Night of the Hunter is playing at IFC Center.

Jen and I will be there (not sure which showing).

**B-side** · 10-22-2010, 05:52 AM

In the interest of furthering my martyr status, who else here wasn't all that impressed with Night of the Hunter?

**Spinal** · 10-22-2010, 05:53 AM

Quoting Brightside (view post)

In the interest of furthering my martyr status, who else here wasn't all that impressed with Night of the Hunter?

Knuckleheads.

**B-side** · 10-22-2010, 05:54 AM

Quoting Spinal (view post)

Knuckleheads.

**Grouchy** · 10-22-2010, 05:58 AM

Quoting baby doll (view post)

In other words, war is bad and makes people crazy, which is far from a pointed analysis of American foreign policy in Southeast Asia.

In My Humble Olympics, this is the key point of the discussion.

You want Apocalypse Now to be something it's not - an analysis of international politics of imperialism that caused US to fuck up Vietnam and to engage in genocide. The film is an adaptation of a Joseph Conrad novel that - I haven't read it either - speaks about violence in the heart of the human being as a whole. Vietnam is simply the adequate setting for such a story. If you stop looking for something that isn't really there, you'd be more able to engage in the experience of a masterpiece.

I mean, even Platoon is more specifically political. I'd like to see the two other movies in the unofficial "Vietman trilogy" (Bourn on the 4th of July, Heaven & Heart) to see movies that dwell more specifically on Vietnam as a chapter of history. I turn to Coppola's film for other things.

**Grouchy** · 10-22-2010, 06:13 AM

The Killer Inside Me
Michael Winterbottom, 2010

Frankly, I wanted to like this much more than I did. I thought it did a nice job at being stylish (I never seen a Winterbottom film that wasn't) but it didn't manage to develop a coherent story. I'm speaking from ignorance here, because I never read Jim Thompson's novel, but the script of this film never dwelled enough into the character. And Casey Affleck was fucking dynamite, so I was left wanting more meat. Not that Jessica Alba isn't a mouthful. In short, it was a slight spectacle that never cut deep enough into its premise, despite some excruciating scenes of violence against the dames. Nice cast.

A Perfect World
Clint Eastwood, 1993

I have no idea why I had never seen this. Badass film. Truly a classic of crime that develops slowly but assuredly. I loved Clint taking a back seat to a cool character arc that might be Kevin Costner's finest moment. The final scene is a fucking masterclass of good emotion directing. I am truly at a loss for more good word at the moment.

Buried
Rodrigo Cortés, 2010

This was pretty much exactly what I expected, but, don't get me wrong, it's good stuff. Cortés knows how to pull the strings, and it's a concept that leaves a lot of tantalizing possibilities once you think about it. The snake scene, without spoling too much, is truly great. There are a couple of other moments that display wonderful dark humor and rang eerily true.

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Show Spoiler

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**transmogrifier** · 10-22-2010, 06:40 AM

Quoting Brightside (view post)

In the interest of furthering my martyr status, who else here wasn't all that impressed with Night of the Hunter?

*hand up*

**B-side** · 10-22-2010, 07:05 AM

Quoting transmogrifier (view post)

*hand up*

Your taste often baffles me, but I suppose that's no different than how folks respond to me, so I suppose we're one in the same.

**Melville** · 10-22-2010, 07:25 AM

Quoting Brightside (view post)

In the interest of furthering my martyr status, who else here wasn't all that impressed with Night of the Hunter?

I was indifferent. My brother and I just kept calling the girl Zuzu to maintain interest in the proceedings. I remember it being kind of hokey, but it's been years since I've seen it, and a kind of hokey lyrical journey down a river, fleeing a killer step-parent in proper fairytale style, seems appealing in retrospect.

**B-side** · 10-22-2010, 08:04 AM

Quoting Melville (view post)

I was indifferent. My brother and I just kept calling the girl Zuzu to maintain interest in the proceedings. I remember it being kind of hokey, but it's been years since I've seen it, and a kind of hokey lyrical journey down a river, fleeing a killer step-parent in proper fairytale style, seems appealing in retrospect.

Well, when you say it like that...

**MadMan** · 10-22-2010, 08:19 AM

I'm just reminded that I still haven't posted my Night of the Hunter review. I thought it was a really good, well made thriller. And that Robert Mitchum was excellent. HIs "Love and Hate" monologue is a classic, really.

**soitgoes...** · 10-22-2010, 08:39 AM

Why the hell did Stanley Kramer feel the need to be as subtle as a sledgehammer? The guy had a mastery of mise en scène and the camera. Technically he was right up there with his contemporaries, but he had no control over the story or actors. It's like his direction to his actors was just let it all hang out from the start. There's no build up, whether he's preaching on the Holocaust, race, nuclear threat or religion, it's over the top from the moment go. The Defiant Ones is the only film of his I'd say is good, but after my last two of his viewings, I'm questioning whether it deserves a rewatch.

Winston* · 10-22-2010, 10:43 AM

Didn't care for the direction in A Single Man. Makes the film too much like watching a series of carefully framed photographs set to orchestral music. Excellent acting by Firth and Moore makes it kind of work though.

**Yxklyx** · 10-22-2010, 12:32 PM

Weekend (all first time I think):

Army of Darkness
Gremlins 2
The Exorcist 3
The Lost Boys

**Boner M** · 10-22-2010, 12:55 PM

Quoting Winston* (view post)

Didn't care for the direction in A Single Man. Makes the film too much like watching a series of carefully framed photographs set to orchestral music. Excellent acting by Firth and Moore makes it kind of work though.

Yup, I can't think of another recent film more spoiled by fussy over-direction.

**Raiders** · 10-22-2010, 12:55 PM

Quoting soitgoes... (view post)

Why the hell did Stanley Kramer feel the need to be as subtle as a sledgehammer? The guy had a mastery of mise en scène and the camera. Technically he was right up there with his contemporaries, but he had no control over the story or actors. It's like his direction to his actors was just let it all hang out from the start. There's no build up, whether he's preaching on the Holocaust, race, nuclear threat or religion, it's over the top from the moment go. The Defiant Ones is the only film of his I'd say is good, but after my last two of his viewings, I'm questioning whether it deserves a rewatch.

:: golf clap ::

And no Qrazy, I still have not watched The Defiant Ones.

**Ezee E** · 10-22-2010, 01:00 PM

Weekend:
Enter the Void

The Secret of their Eyes
Hurlyburly
Fires on the Plain

**Qrazy** · 10-22-2010, 03:28 PM

Quoting Raiders (view post)

:: golf clap ::

And no Qrazy, I still have not watched The Defiant Ones.

*shakes head slowly*

**Qrazy** · 10-22-2010, 03:30 PM

Quoting Melville (view post)

I was indifferent. My brother and I just kept calling the girl Zuzu to maintain interest in the proceedings. I remember it being kind of hokey, but it's been years since I've seen it, and a kind of hokey lyrical journey down a river, fleeing a killer step-parent in proper fairytale style, seems appealing in retrospect.

Yeah I liked it but I"m not that big a fan either.

**Ivan Drago** · 10-22-2010, 05:01 PM

Weekend:

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
Paranormal Activity 2

I'm also working as a sound mixer for my friend's 12-minute thesis film, so I'll be watching that (get made).

Thread: 28 Film Discussion Threads Later

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