28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Rowland]

If JC were making movies today (!), would they be stuffed with low end CGI? Hard to imagine, so I dunno.

Ghosts of Mars was made in 2000 when low-end CGI was readily available, and yet almost all of its effects are practical. And you forget that Carpenter is still making movies today, his The Ward was just released in NYC.

[MadMan]

To bring the former's shoddiness into relief?

No, both are great movies and have similiar things to say about relationships. Allen's movie is better, sure, and has more comedy. Not sure why we had this convo-I learned nothing.

[Irish]

And you forget that Carpenter is still making movies today, his The Ward was just released in NYC.

Forget or willfully ignoring? ;-)

[Irish]

No, both are great movies and have similiar things to say about relationships. Allen's movie is better, sure, and has more comedy. Not sure why we had this convo-I learned nothing.

Well, how about this: 500 Days isn't bad for a teenie romantic drama but placing it next to Annie Hall isn't warranted.

So that you can learn something & this post isn't a complete loss: "Congress" and "Congressman" popularly refers to the House of Representatives and its members, respectively. Although the Senate is technically part of Congress, they are always referred to as "the Senate."

:P

[MadMan]

Well, how about this: 500 Days isn't bad for a teenie romantic drama but placing it next to Annie Hall isn't warranted.

Except that movie actually does deal with adult relationships. Granted, they are young adults, but they are not teenagers.

So that you can learn something & this post isn't a complete loss: "Congress" and "Congressman" popularly refers to the House of Representatives and its members, respectively. Although the Senate is technically part of Congress, they are always referred to as "the Senate."

:P

I know that already. Tell that to Davis.

[baby doll]

(500) Days of Summer is a nice movie about nice, good looking kids and their romantic problems. Seriously, fuck that shit.

[Irish]

Buster Keaton ... smiling? :crazy:

[transmogrifier]

...,. it still exudes that stubbornly old-fashioned analog vibe that characterizes so much of Carpenter's work.

You've got to stop reading Slant.

[Rowland]

You've got to stop reading Slant.

I was actually thinking of this when I wrote that, but yeah, it's a sentiment regarding Carpenter's work and much of my favorite genre work that I share. And Ed was way too kind to The Ward.

[soitgoes...]

Buster Keaton ... smiling? :crazy:

He actually smiles in one of his early films with Arbuckle. I wanna say The Butcher Boy.

[kuehnepips]

Anybody got some opinions on Snatch?

I love it madly and watch it on a at least yearly basis.

[kuehnepips]

I always like Statham in wherever he appears, .

*passes bottle*

[Irish]

*passes bottle*

:P

[Morris Schæffer]

Crack is wack, dumbass.

Snatch is Ritchie's best movie. Its funny, has a fantastic Pitt performance, and a better soundtrack. But that's irrelevent, because Vaughn made a slightly better gangster movie with Layer Cake.

I too prefer Layer Cake. Just felt it was more engaging due to the absence of Snatch's stylistic excesses and characters just slightly more grounded in reality. But perhaps I also simply recognized the Craig character as the film's true protagonist whereas with Snatch's more kaleidoscopic approach, I couldn't quite connect with anyone.

[StanleyK]

I'm an anomaly. A mild fan of Kubrick who's seen Fear & Desire. It was interesting. Not good, but definitely interesting. Kubrick's really trying to figure out how to say things in the film, although it feels too much like somebody "saying things." Flicks like Eyes Wide Shut and Dr. Strangelove and 2001 impress me with how they never feel preachy or obvious, and yet they have a clarity of purpose. Fear & Desire, with its voice-overs and Heart of Darkness iconography, felt ponderous to me.

I actually saw Fear and Desire a long time ago. At the height of my Kubrick fanboyism, I gave it a 7/10. To preserve the illusion that he's never made a bad film, I intend to never revisit it again.

[Mysterious Dude]

Buster Keaton ... smiling? :crazy:

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

[Chac Mool]

Flicks like Eyes Wide Shut and Dr. Strangelove and 2001 impress me with how they never feel preachy or obvious, and yet they have a clarity of purpose.

That's a nice way to put it. Kubrick's movies are crystal-clear and oblique all at once.

[MadMan]

I too prefer Layer Cake. Just felt it was more engaging due to the absence of Snatch's stylistic excesses and characters just slightly more grounded in reality. But perhaps I also simply recognized the Craig character as the film's true protagonist whereas with Snatch's more kaleidoscopic approach, I couldn't quite connect with anyone.

Plus I actually prefer the humor (when its present) in Layer Cake, too. I agree that Craig's performance is great and was something that the audience could care about. On the whole though, I found Vaughn's style to be more interesting than Ritchie's.

(500) Days of Summer is a nice movie about nice, good looking kids and their romantic problems. Seriously, fuck that shit.

I found it to be mostly depressing. I'm also not nice, good looking, and I don't really have romantic problems at the moment. Yet it related to me for some reason. Oh wait, you don't have to have anything in common with a movie for it to be good. I forgot :P

[Dead & Messed Up]

I actually saw Fear and Desire a long time ago. At the height of my Kubrick fanboyism, I gave it a 7/10. To preserve the illusion that he's never made a bad film, I intend to never revisit it again.

It's funny, because my brain used to work in a "Is this good or bad?" sort of way, but now it works in a "Is this interesting?" way, so that even though I can't recommend Fear & Desire to many people, and even though I didn't much "like" the movie, I still found it worthwhile. I even appreciate Kubrick's filmography a little more, because he feels more like a human being now, instead of some sort of unerring Lord of Film.

[Irish]

Was this posted & discussed? Did I miss it?

The Best Films Of 2011…So Far

TL;DR (in no particular order):

- The Tree of Life
- Jane Eyre
- Beginners
- Meek's Cutoff
- Bridesmaids
- Hanna
- I Saw the Devil
- Win Win
- Bill Cunningham New York
- Submarine
- Super 8
- Midnight In Paris
- The Trip
- Certified Copy

Embarrassed to say I haven't see a single one of these movies, although I'm highly interested in Beginners, Meek's Cutoff, Bill Cunningham, The Trip and Hanna. (Never even heard of Meek's, but their writeup of it makes the movie sound really interesting).

[B-side]

Is it odd that knowing Meek's Cutoff was shot in 4:3 made me more excited?

[Spinal]

- The Tree of Life ****
- Bridesmaids ***
- Hanna ***1/2
- Super 8 ****

[Boner M]

The Tree of Life ****
Meek's Cutoff ***1/2
Bridesmaids **1/2
Bill Cunningham New York ***
Super 8 **1/2
Certified Copy ****

It's been a really excellent year thus far, though I'm not keen on the two most acclaimed summer movies (Fast Five > Bridemaids/Super 8).

[B-side]

Re-posted from another forum:



Set against the backdrop of a collapsing government, A Clod of Clay concerns the life of 19th century Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher Ion Creangă and his friendship with poet, novelist and journalist Mihai Eminescu. The latter acts as a guide of sorts for the former, pushing him to hone his talent for storytelling. Due to relatively poor subtitles, Creangă's storytelling skills are kinda hard to appreciate, which is rather unfortunate given how important it is to his character arc. His artistic struggle is contrasted with Eminescu's doomed love affair with a mysterious woman and a brief segment on his journalistic troubles. Margineanu's touch is a light one; attempting to breed emotion through atmosphere and collective political strife as opposed to genuine human drama, but it rarely sticks. The soft look and sepia-toned bookends make the film nice to look at more often than not, which saves the film from being outright poor.

[Bosco B Thug]

Is it odd that knowing Meek's Cutoff was shot in 4:3 made me more excited?

Not. at. all dude. Speaking as someone who just recently saw Murnau's Sunrise for his first time and realized how much the bee's fucking knees 4:3 can be.