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[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

jarosh: the trailer looked excellent; if nothing else, it appears to have many pretty pictures.

Anyway:

The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1968)

8/10

A beautiful film in terms of its appearance. The colors are absolutely gorgeous, and the way that the muted background is a little bit less focused than the colorfully-costumed characters (in some scenes, anyway) is a really neat visual effect. Monica Vitti gives a good performance here; she manages to capture her character's aloof nature. I also like the sound design of the film; there's a constant buzz, as though there is something terrible coming. I can really appreciate what is being said by this movie from an intellectual sense, but I found a little bit too sparse for its own good; it is only ten minutes longer than Jules and Jim, which I watched last night, but it felt significantly longer. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it (as I was a bit sleepy). It was interesting enough to entice me into checking out other Antonioni films.

Edit: I just bought several movies on Amazon.

On Blu-Ray I got:

Boogie Nights
Magnolia
A Serious Man
Goodfellas

On DVD:

Nashville

 

[DesertEater]

didnt really like it.

 

[Cday]

Requim for a Dream & The Fountain
Snatch
Gonna watch Training Day tonight

 

[nilbog21]

thx for the recommendation jarosh

 

[Snuggles]

So I watched Special on Netflix streaming last night. I never heard of it, but I gave it a shot and it was actually pretty good. It's Michael Rappaport as a depressed meter maid who may or may not have gained super powers as a side effect of an experiment medication.

 

[AlternativeUlster]

21. the beat that my heart skipped - ****
22. alexandra - ****
23. un prophet - ***
24. whatever works - ***
25. revanche - ****
26. you, the living - *** 1/2
27. 35 shots of rum - *** 1/2
28. mother - ***
29. sin nombre - ***
30. police adjective - ** 1/2

21. Well crafted film with a great performance from Romain Duris, a great song for people who by chance find their true calling. I do believe that the film would have been one of my favorites of the decade if it was under the photographic eye of someone like the greatly under rated Slawomir Idziak.

22. A glorious film that says so much without saying it at all. A better anti-war film than the likes of The Hurt Locker which replaces its tension among soldiers with reflections of their faces. That might sound a little fruity but you start to feel incredibly depressed the way all the soldiers look at Alexandra and seeing her as if she is like their grandmother and that they may never see them again. I prefer this emotional brillance over the technical brillance of Russian Ark.

23. I didn't love this anywhere near as much I would have liked to and was weighed down by some stylish decisions. Regardless of those, its a worthwhile crime film that I am sure will be heavily praised by most.

24. I held off on Whatever Works for so long. I was going to see it in theaters like I do usually to all Woody Allen films mostly due to bad word of mouth and the trailer not being funny and looked a little cheap. It is indeed a lesser Allen and would not recommend it to other than the hardcore but I did find it really funny after a somewhat jarring couple of minutes and it feeling sometimes too much like a play that Allen decided not to put in Without Feathers. Allen for sure took his best elements from this old screenplay and used it in other films. Larry David, while playing the Woody Allen character well enough, missed some cues that would have been sold better if Allen did play his part. After watching it though, it did make me go out and get a copy of Husbands and Wives which I haven't seen since I was like 16 and thought at the age of 27, was probably a masterpiece. I will probably watch Husbands and Wives tonight along with Jerusalma.

25. A great realistic thriller about revenge even though once you start to understand the characters more, the ending does snap to you prior to when it happens but it still rolls off as nerve racking. I will probably make room for this in my top 10 of 2009.

26. An intelligent comedy that for whatever reason even though all these people are pretty glum, it still feels with you some form of happiness. It's a strange film and some bits don't work as well as others but the ones that do are some of the funniest I have seen in a while. Reminds me of Playtime quite a bit actually with its odd sense of humor and sight gags.

27. A rich film about what's family and what's not that makes you miss out on some of the details but it is probably for the better for you to have to rely on your insight to know what exactly is going on. I think this might have been my first Claire Denis film too actually.

28. An interesting look in the case of motherhood, I felt that a lot of the suspense wasn't handled well at all and the script wasn't as smart as it could be but the final act makes up for it and I really loved the final sequence for the ending. I wish I could love this film if somethings didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

29. There is a point where you realize where everything is mapped out way too early in the film and often is too by the numbers but I forgave it on some level due to some of its haunting photography and showing me a side of Mexico I have never seen before.

30. An overlong film that feels like it is just to tell a joke that really isn't that funny, the film suffers a bit for being too spacious and slow paced even though I thought the police mortality angle was well placed but the film really should have been at 80 minutes more than likely.

 

[AlternativeUlster]

Didn't get to watch many films this weekend, Valentine's Day fucking and drunkenness and such. What I did watch:

Umberto D - Potentially better than Bicycle Thieves. I will say that I enjoyed the ending of this film far more. Yes, it's heavy and sad as Italian neorealist films tend to be, but it also has a good deal of charm and it can be pretty humorous. - 9.5/10

Shoot the Piano Player - I absolutely loved this film. A nice jaunt through film noir tropes as filtered through the mind of a French new wave auteur. My favorite Truffaut to date. - 9.5/10

Pillow Talk - This was the "Valentine's Day movie." Light-hearted romantic comedy with Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Cute and pretty funny in spots. - 6/10

I think Shoot the Piano Player is my favorite Truffaut too actually but I do need to dig deeper in his filmography.

 

[UrbanRats]

Primer.

a really nice low budget(and i mean LOW budget) movie, about time travel theories, really grounded in reality(sort of, :lol).
If you like f*cked up stuff, à là Memento or Lynch, check it out.

The 5 Obstructions:
Great movie about making movies.
A lot of interesting themes pop in, through out the evolution of Jorgen's "struggle" to reelaborate his "The Perfect Man".

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I think Shoot the Piano Player is my favorite Truffaut too actually but I do need to dig deeper in his filmography.

I liked 400 Blows more, but Shoot the Piano Player has the great sight gag of the guy's mother dying.

 

[Timber]

some real good stuff on this page

it's become quite inordinate how many movies i watch nowadays. one of the benefits of the abundance of free time insomnia grants me, i guess. some recent highlights:


Baby Face (1933)
this is kind of (in)famous for epitomising how risque pre-code movies could be. it made me imagine an alternate history where the Hays code never existed. anyway Barbara Stanwyck plays a harried waitress who, after her father is killed in a mob hit, receives a crash course in Nietschean principles, decides to become all wily and fucks lots of men to move up in the world. totally awesome and there's even a very good movie buried beneath all the controverse. John Wayne, who wasn't yet famous then, makes a short appearance and gets shot down by Stanwyck even tho she has no trouble sleeping with way uglier dudes.

Mouchette (1967)
with every Bresson movie i watch, my appreciation of him grows. this one knocked my damn socks off. sometimes the first 10 minutes of a movie are enough for me to accurately predict an impending classification of Supreme Masterpiece; with Mouchette all it took was the 30 second intro. it's is flawless in every way, made with an economy that only Bresson was capable of. it's very similar to Au Hasard Balthasar in the way it portrays a world that is hurt and hurtful, with a female protagonist who tries but fails to live in it. it's amazing how by ridding his movies of all emotion, Bresson manages to make the emotional impact all the more powerful.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
the title is pretty much the gist of the plot, which is not a very original or interesting one, but fortunately Cassavetes is not about plot. this is another great up close & personal character and mood study. i read an interview with Cassavetes where he said he didn't avoid putting boring parts into his movies, and some would argue that he used nothing but boring parts, but to me he had a profound gift of making the boring as interesting as anything i've seen.
i found it very hard not to read this as 'Cassavetes vs. Hollywood', mainly because i'd read a few things about it beforehand, but he doesn't exactly make any attempt to disguise it, esp. with the entertainer guy saying "i'm some kind of unique personality but people just want to see tits" or something along those lines.
the Killing itself was some of the most awe-inspiring and haunting filmmaking. saddest assassination scene ever considering what it is that he kills.

Modern Times (1936)
my love for this movie runs deep. i first saw this about ten years ago and it opened my eyes to Chaplin in particular and old movies in general. i don't know if it's just my bias speaking, but it remains my favourite Chaplin. i cannot watch it without having a dumb smile on my face the entire time. if i start describing why i adore it then i'm likely to go into a sort of scene-by-scene analysis, and no one here can conjure up the time and effort to write or read such a thing, so i'll just say this: Paulette Goddard in this movie. My God.

Citizen Kane (1941)
it's Kane. i watch this so often for the same reason i often watched Pulp Fiction when i was 12: it's structured so immaculately that i never know exactly what scene comes next, and every single one of them is brimming with greatness. one example: Susan's debut performance. it starts, the camera travels upwards to show the disapproval of some stagehands. cut to the aftermath, a lengthy scene where the tensions between Kane and Leland culminate. one of the best scenes in the movie. then it cuts back to the performance. a shot is repeated, Susan gives her worthless performance, Kane applauds her (we've all seen the gif). cut to the second aftermath: Kane and Susan fighting, Kane opens a letter from Leland containing a torn cheque.

it's unparalleled in its greatness and it deserves every bit of its status.

this time i watched it with the intent of catching some of the parallels between Kane and Welles. there are some really obvious lines like "don't believe everything you hear on the radio" and "you're not a professional magician, are you?", but the most interesting thing is how Citizen Kane mythologises its subject while still being very critical of him. Welles spent much of his life creating his own myth, telling stories that were often too good to be believed, but never taking himself all that seriously, often self-deprecatory, sometimes self-destructive. In F for Fake he calls himself a liar and a charlatan. Charles Foster Kane is the same sort of person: larger-than-life but flawed and all too human.

it's great how the movie builds up Kane. first there's the newsreel that sums up his life (and the movie!), then some scenes with the reporters. it's not until 20 minutes in that Kane's life actually starts, and then it takes another 5 minutes for Welles to show up, in a great long scene/shot that starts with his trademark smirk and ends with the famous "I did lose a million dollars last year" quote.

two random observations

1. that story about the woman in the white dress. man. that's the thing that, when I first saw Citizen Kane, stuck with me more than any other part. then, when i began to read up on the movie, i realised that i wasn't the only one and that it's a very famous scene. it's great that the story about the woman in the white dress has become the woman in the white dress. "a fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember," indeed.

2. old Jed Leland looks and sounds so much like Dave Chappelle.

 

[Timber]

I liked 400 Blows more, but Shoot the Piano Player has the great sight gag of the guy's mother dying.

just noticed this post

oh man, yes! this is such a great moment and such a great use of editing. it's so New Wave that I don't think something like it had been done before, and ever since I saw Piano Player I've been keeping my eye out for similar shots.

I mentioned Orson Welles' F for Fake in my previous post, which is rife with these sorts of things. It's often credited for spawning what is now known as 'MTV editing'. A series like Arrested Development makes great use of it, and it all started with Welles. It was is last movie and still innovating more than any other.

Anyway, the only movie I've seen that was released prior to Piano Player and features such a shot is Seven Samurai. The only difference is that in Samurai, it's used for dramatic purposes, whereas in Piano Player, F for Fake and everything that has come since, it was done to create a comedic effect. In Seven Samurai

Spoiler

someone tells Mifune (or Mifune tells that someone, I forgot) that the village elder has decided to stay in his house while it's burning down. Then there's a cut to a shot of him that lasts only a second, sitting in his house waiting for death.

it's these little things that, to me, are indicative of how influential and great people like Kurosawa, Truffaut and Welles were.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

I'm so bummed that the Seattle Art Museum is only showing the new restoration of the Red Shoes until Thursday, and I won't be back in town until Friday. I would kill to see it... :\

 

[commissar]

Well I went to see Fantastic Mr Fox yesterday, and loved it. The wolf was so damn badass and mysterious. Such a pitch perfect film.

I've also been watching through all the old James Bond films in order as the only one I'd seen previous to Goldeneye was License to Kill. So I thought I'd rectify that

 

[Keyvan]

In the last week:

Avatar 7/10

saw the 2d version, the 3d version will probably add a score or two, it was a very good movie. I don't understand the bitching about the story. it's not the story you choose that matters, it's how you present it that makes it a work of art. yes we all heard the story before, but we never experienced it like this.

The Hurt Locker 8/10

A very good movie, funny how when watching the movie I never thought about it being an action movie, reading about it afterward a lot of people called it a great action movie. I Loved the setting and the atmosphere that the movie created. still think that war movies can't reach greatness without leaving the confines of reality a little.

Up in the Air 7/10

Loved the performances, loved the concept, but the second half of the movie didn't live up to my expectations.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 7/10

I liked how Clooney clearly had fun while directing.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 10/10

WOW, just wow. what a great movie. the characters, performances, directing, cinematography, everything was excellent, even narration was used perfectly. now I wish there was a way too see the 4 hours version.

Barton Fink 8/10

Not my kind of film, but that doesn't mean that I can't see its strengths. the symbolism and the way they shape this nightmarish reality from the beginning is astonishing.

The Invention of Lying 4/10

great concept but from the first minute, I had a big problem with this movie. yes in this world you can't lie, but that doesn't mean that you have to say everything that enters your mind. overall I didn't feel like that the movie used even half of the potential of the concept.

 

[noah111]

Saw Man on Fire the other day, really liked it. Dakota is pretty damn amazing in it too. Plot was pretty predictable for me but nevertheless it was a fun action adventure to go on.

 

[eggandI]

The Go-Getter - I watched a trailer for this a long time ago but forgot about it after a couple of days. I rented the movie via netflix just last week. Wasn't expecting anything amazing and it's probably not but I really loved this movie. Great performances all around. Lou Taylor Pucci, Zooey, Jena Malone all were great. I loved the scenes between Mercer and Kate, those were my favorite parts of the movie for sure. It doesn't dwell too long on any one aspect of the trip yet each portion felt satisfying. This is definitely one of my favorite coming of age movies.

ballast

you probably haven't seen ballast. and chances are you haven't heard of it either. it is virtually unknown. it was at sundance in 2008 where it won 2 awards. it eventually played at several other festivals, though it never made it to theaters.

i'd been hoping it would somehow find a distributor, get to europe and make its way to the local arthouses. but that never happened. however, to my surprise it was recently released on dvd and on bluray. i picked up the bluray.

ballast is a somber, slow, quiet, understated, yet intense movie. the performances are pitch-perfect, the cinematography is gorgeous. it tells a simple, rather bleak story with some shimmers of hope about a tragic death and its afermath and the people affected by it. i'm not gonna tell you much more about the plot. if you're interested at all, avoid spoilers or any kind of plot synopsis at all costs. but i urge you to watch the trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/ballast/. it captures the mood of the film perfectly, but gives away very little of the plot. if you think the film might appeal to you based on the trailer, it probably will.

both manohla dargis and ebert have written great, insightful reviews. together with the trailer those are what really got me curious and interested in the movie in the first place. i think it's worth your attention. give it a shot if you feel like it sounds like your type of movie.

Just watched the trailer. Will be watching this movie soon. Thanks!

 

[AlternativeUlster]

I'm so bummed that the Seattle Art Museum is only showing the new restoration of the Red Shoes until Thursday, and I won't be back in town until Friday. I would kill to see it... :\

That sucks man. I'm saving my viewing of the Red Shoes until I see a print of it even though I did buy it on DVD a long time ago but never watched it before my DVDs got stolen. When I was in high school and saw a print of 8 1/2, the next week they were showing the Red Shoes but no one at the time wanted to see it with me. It was probably because I was in high school. Stuff like that deserves to be seen on print. How is Seattle treating you so far man? I think I am going to be there in June to see my pops for a bit.

I think it is really funny that the majority of the posters that hover in this thread didn't post anything in the under rated films thread where people are listing stuff like Gattaca and the Resident Evil movies. I feel like an elitist now.

I drank a lot tonight.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Watched Un Prophete and An Education. The former was great, a bit long though, some slow/weaker moments, but overall great movie with awesome acting and a fascinating story. An Education did a great job of portraying the period (pre/Hippie Great Britain in the 60's) but it's a little sappy. I liked what Rosamund Pike did with her role.

 

[creativity]

ten films

Glad you saw these, some of my favorites of 2009. Agreed about Alexandra being awesome and Police, Adj. being a bore. I need to see The Beat My Heart Skipped.

The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1968)

I love Antonioni. Have you seen his trilogy that precedes Red Desert? I think they're some of the best films ever made. L'eclisse is probably in my top 10 of all time.

ballast

Looks great, I'll check it out.

Mouchette (1967)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Modern Times (1936)
Citizen Kane (1941)

Awesome films and I loved your smart, enthusiastic reviews. My favorite Chaplin will always be City Lights, but that was the first one I saw as well.

I'm really enjoying all your thoughts on foreign and classic films, so I'll try to give mine, at least what I've seen semi-recently.

The Asthenic Syndrome (Muratova) - 10/10
- My second Muratova film went down easier. It's a strange and challenging film, but it's also clearly a masterpiece that rewards your attention many times over. Insanity, apathy and aggression under perestroika. A (metonymic) snake living in a person's belly, sucking his life away. An obese woman playing Strangers in the Night on trumpet. But any attempt to describe it is in vain. High art. Subtitles are available online.

Yeelen (Cisse) - 10/10, rewatch
- Still the greatest African film I've ever seen. As great and important as anything in this thread. Profound and magical, it's a film so beautiful and well made it locks in your attention for its entire duration.

A Moment of Innocence (M. Makhmalbaf) - 10/10
- Another masterpiece. I'm making them seem common. It's a cinematic deconstruction of an event in Makhmalbaf's life and an event in history. Through the process of filming a reenactment, the real thoughts and emotions of the original characters are brought out. Unforgettable ending.

The Graduate (Nichols) - 6/10
- A vacuous film with a vacuous protagonist that expects its audience to identify with him. It had some nice stylistic flourishes, but I still didn't like it very much on the whole.

Travellers (Beyzai) - 5/10 :'(
- Huge disappointment after Bashu. More Parajanov-like cinematic wizardry, and a stunningly brilliant opening, but it couldn't redeem the painful, soft-headed melodrama that followed.

Ratcatcher (Ramsay) - 9/10
- Beautiful. I think I liked it more than Morvern Callar, and I loved Morvern Callar. A modern Kes.

Ten Canoes (de Heer) - 8/10
- Atanarjuat in the swamp. Very pretty to look at. A pleasant but somewhat slight film, I think it offers relatively little except a glimpse into another culture.

I also saw a few more 2009 films,

24 City (Jia) - 10/10
- Possibly Jia's most successful film in terms of engaging the audience at the level of human stories. Boldly blends fiction and documentary. A historical document that's both moving and exquisitely made, few directors can even come close. Time to throw it high on my list somewhere. Incredible film, as great as anything else this year.

The Song of Sparrows (Majidi) - 8/10
- Better than The Willow Tree, but still a little bit too predictable and sentimental. Great, poetic images and sympathetic characters. This film should have broad appeal.

Love Exposure (Sono) - 8/10
- Amazing. I thought I might hate it early on, and I was definitely thinking, "What the fuck am I watching?" during the upskirt-ninjitsu-montage, and it may be a bit incoherent thematically, and the characters may be shallow, but it's also extremely ambitious, highly entertaining and original. Brilliant how it brings together arthouse and exploitation, revenge and romance, perversion and religion, sin and piety (who is so practiced about sinning?), love and lust (totally conflated in protagonist), male and female (Scorpion). Some of the suggestive imagery is so clever---phallus-shaped cutouts topped with upside-down hearts, vulva-shaped windows with anus openings below)---that it makes perverts of the audience, which certainly helps the film achieve its ends. Ultimately more quirky than transgressive, and the conclusion was pretty weak. But the four hours flew by, time well spent.

Breathless (Yang Ik-joon) - 8.5/10
- Smarter than it first seems---all the violence and profanity serve to present a view of hatred and violence as a pathology that victimizes even the aggressors. Admirable in how it makes you pity the cruelest characters. I didn't really buy all the drama toward the end, but I enjoyed the film very much in spite of that. Loved the direction and the moody interludes. Excellent debut.

One 2009 film I still want to see is Tsai's film, Face. I haven't seen it on any lists, and reviews are scant and unenthusiastic. Has anyone here seen it?

 

[akachan ningen]

I just saw The Piano Teacher. Good stuff. The piano teacher was so mean and cute.
Saw A Serious Man. It was great but pretty depressing.
And then there's Three Women. I really appreciated how it ended on a symbolic note instead of something more sensible. I didn't understand why everyone was so mean to Millie. IRL talkative and cheerful people like her are usually really popular, even if it's not popularity with men, they typically have lots of friends.

ballast

you probably haven't seen ballast. and chances are you haven't heard of it either.

I've had it on my netflix q for like a year now. It's available to instantly watch but I haven't gotten around to it. :lol

 

[JGS]

Around the cable channels

Temple Grandlin- HBO film that is great. Claire Daines is a lock for the Emmy. I heard an interview of the real Temple and she nails her voice. If it had been tweaked a little for theaters, it would be up for some awards, but it's not exactly box office gold.

Black Hawk Down - Good movie but probably a tad overrated.

G-Force - Cute but way unfunny. I mus be the only one who does not appreciate Tracy Morgan's brand of humor. My kids seemed to like it a lot.

Spiderman2 - Found the DVD for 2.00 at Half-Priced Books and fell in love with it again. Great effects and some of the best actions scenes ever.

City of Ember- Better movie than expected just too dark and closed up. This makes sense given the setting, but I get why it wasn't the most widely seen movie out there.

 

[Keyvan]

A Moment of Innocence (M. Makhmalbaf) - 10/10
- Another masterpiece. I'm making them seem common. It's a cinematic deconstruction of an event in Makhmalbaf's life and an event in history. Through the process of filming a reenactment, the real thoughts and emotions of the original characters are brought out. Unforgettable ending.

Travellers (Beyzai) - 5/10 :'(
- Huge disappointment after Bashu. More Parajanov-like cinematic wizardry, and a stunningly brilliant opening, but it couldn't redeem the painful, soft-headed melodrama that followed.

The Song of Sparrows (Majidi) - 8/10
- Better than The Willow Tree, but still a little bit too predictable and sentimental. Great, poetic images and sympathetic characters. This film should have broad appeal.

As you clearly have an interest in Iranian Cinema, I suggest you watch these too if you can:

About Elly (Asghar Farhadi)

It won the Berlin's Silver Bear for directing. one of the greatest films I have seen from my country. one of David Bordwell's Favorite film of 2009, it has been compared with the works of Antonioni.

Death of Yazdger (Bahram Beyzai)

You won't find it. it is based on a play by Beyzai and the copies of the movie have terrible quality, but if it's been translated, you should try find a copy of the play and read it. it is his best work. a take on history and performance, like none other.

A few Kilos of Dates for a Burial Ceremony (Saman Saloor)

Great cinematography, with a snowy setting and a handful of great characters.

Deep Breath (Parviz Shahbazi)

A follower of Kiarostami's style Shahbazi's first film, Deep Breath is considered the greatest movie about young adults of Iran by many.

there are more but I don't remember them now.

 

[Zozobra]

I love this thread, it's been such a good resource for finding new movies. Thanks everyone!

Somewhat related question: I watch quite a few movies and really enjoy most of them, but I feel as though I might not be appreciating them as much as I should. I was wondering if anyone can recommend any good books or websites that would be good for a novice film studier? Something that covers what to look for in terms of story, characters, cinematography, etc. would be ideal - not sure if that's too broad or not. Thanks in advance.

 

[bud]

Yeah, Schindler's List is one of the few remaining Spielberg films I still have to see (the others being Close Encounters and Empire of the Sun).

empire of the sun is amazing. i'd totally put it in my top 3 spielberg movies.

 

[AnkitT]

Being There - Not very amazing, but the concept was good, and the acting was also worth it. They stretched out the whole story too long though, IMO. Enjoyed it, but wont be rewatching it any time soon.

 

[ShinAmano]

Cold Souls - 2/10
Interesting concept couldn't get into the characters at all.

 

[Skiptastic]

Saw Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day. The parts where they talk shit about Hoosiers didn't go over very well in the Indianapolis theater I watched the movie in. Plus there were too many damn stars, not enough back story on any of them, and it wasn't very good.

But if you like going to movies where girls sigh about stupid shit on screen, this is the one for you!

 

[creativity]

As you clearly have an interest in Iranian Cinema, I suggest you watch these too if you can:

About Elly (Asghar Farhadi)

It won the Berlin's Silver Lion for directing. one of the greatest films I have seen from my country. one of David Bordwell's Favorite film of 2009, it has been compared with the works of Antonioni.

Death of Yazdger (Bahram Beyzai)

You won't find it. it is based on a play by Beyzai and the copies of the movie have terrible quality, but if it's been translated, you should try find a copy of the play and read it. it is his best work. a take on history and performance, like none other.

A few Kilos of Dates for a Burial Ceremony (Saman Saloor)

Great cinematography, with a snowy setting and a handful of great characters.

Deep Breath (Parviz Shahbazi)

A follower of Kiarostami's style Shahbazi's first film, Deep Breath is considered the greatest movie about young adults of Iran by many.

there are more but I don't remember them now.

Wow! Thanks so much for these recommendations. I'd heard good things about "About Elly," but I can't find a version with subtitles yet. I'm sure that will change.

The others are new to me. I think I found a really bad version of the Beyzai film for free online without subtitles. I'm downloading it, in case I can figure something out. The only one I can easily get right now is "A Few Kilos of Dates." I'll keep an eye out for the others.

 

[jakncoke]

27) Ali 8.0

28) Dropzone 6.0

29) Conspiracy Theory 8.0

30) Excess Baggage 7.0

31) Basic 8.0

32) The Lost Boys 7.0

33) 80 Minutes 5.0

34) Zombieland 8.0

35) Observe and Report 7.0

36) Jennifers Body 7.0

 

[Timber]

Awesome films and I loved your smart, enthusiastic reviews. My favorite Chaplin will always be City Lights, but that was the first one I saw as well.

I'm really enjoying all your thoughts on foreign and classic films, so I'll try to give mine, at least what I've seen semi-recently.

Thanks for the kind words about my scattershot thoughts. I have to say that I haven't even heard of 90% of the movies you mentioned, which is probably good because it's nice to have new things to look forward to.


Cabaret (1972)
I've always loved the idea of a musical period piece, but until now I hadn't found anything to substantialise that idea. Moulin Rouge and Chicago wished they were half the movie Cabaret is. It's both funny and earnest and it's stellar in its depiction of a self-involved world that underestimated the danger posed by the NSDAP.

500 Days of Summer (2009)
Bullshit. Watching this was like having a finger forced down yr throat and being on the verge of vomiting for an hour and a half. It succeeds as nothing but an experiment to make a pastiche of every lame indie movie flourish of the past 10 years. Nothing about it is original. Go to the cinema to watch a parody of Bergman? That was funny in Masculin Feminin. The younger sister offering life advice? Funny in Bottle Rocket. For something that's supposed to be relatable, nothing is grounded in reality. The characters are made out of cardboard. It's a movie for 14-year-olds who can't wait to be indie when they grow up. Who the hell cries at the end of the Graduate? Making mixtapes... jeez. Worst movie of last year.

35 Shots of Rum (2009)
My first time watching a Claire Denis movie and I knew nothing about her except that she's influenced by Ozu and that this movie supposedly shows it. It really does. It's as wonderful a take on Late Spring as Ozu ever managed in his later career, and I mean that as a huge compliment to Denis, not a denigration of Ozu. It's wonderfully understated and restrained; I admire any director who recognises the importance of body language and tacit gestures as opposed to filling everything with dialogue. Every second of this movie is suffused with beauty. Best movie of last year.

 

[Blader]

500 Days of Summer (2009)
Bullshit. Watching this was like having a finger forced down yr throat and being on the verge of vomiting for an hour and a half. It succeeds as nothing but an experiment to make a pastiche of every lame indie movie flourish of the past 10 years. Nothing about it is original. Go to the cinema to watch a parody of Bergman? That was funny in Masculin Feminin. The younger sister offering life advice? Funny in Bottle Rocket. For something that's supposed to be relatable, nothing is grounded in reality. The characters are made out of cardboard. It's a movie for 14-year-olds who can't wait to be indie when they grow up. Who the hell cries at the end of the Graduate? Making mixtapes... jeez. Worst movie of last year.

So much fail in one paragraph, I'm impressed.

 

[Borgnine]

500 Days of Summer (2009)
Bullshit. Watching this was like having a finger forced down yr throat and being on the verge of vomiting for an hour and a half. It succeeds as nothing but an experiment to make a pastiche of every lame indie movie flourish of the past 10 years. Nothing about it is original. Go to the cinema to watch a parody of Bergman? That was funny in Masculin Feminin. The younger sister offering life advice? Funny in Bottle Rocket. For something that's supposed to be relatable, nothing is grounded in reality. The characters are made out of cardboard. It's a movie for 14-year-olds who can't wait to be indie when they grow up. Who the hell cries at the end of the Graduate? Making mixtapes... jeez. Worst movie of last year.

Spot on.

I just watched A Serious Man. It was... well it was insane is what it was.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)

6/10

Eh. I appreciate some of what Jarmusch does here, but I simply did not care about anything that was happening. It was suspended in a strange place between real and surreal, and the mixture really did nothing for me. Depp was pretty good, of course, and I marked out hard for Robert Mitchum; the scene with Billy Bob Thornton and those guys was also pretty funny. The soundtrack worked for some of it, but by the end, I was kind of tired of it. I also do not know that much about William Blake the poet, so a lot of the symbolism and references flew over my head. Thus far, of Jarmusch's filmography, I have seen Ghost Dog, Broken Flowers, and Dead Man. I have heard him talked up as being one of the great modern filmmakers, but of everything that I have seen thus far, I have found little that is 'for me', so to speak. I still have most of his major work left, though, so I'm sure there's some gold left for me to discover.

From my school's library, I just check out:

For the coming days, I got:

White Heat
Grave of the Fireflies
Last Year at Marienbad

I am chipping away at the list of 1000, slowly but surely!

 

[nilbog21]

Fan-fucking-tastic. I think this might be Spielberg's best.

\ARE U MOSSAD?

 

[Eric WK]

500 Days of Summer (2009)
Bullshit. Watching this was like having a finger forced down yr throat and being on the verge of vomiting for an hour and a half. It succeeds as nothing but an experiment to make a pastiche of every lame indie movie flourish of the past 10 years. Nothing about it is original. Go to the cinema to watch a parody of Bergman? That was funny in Masculin Feminin. The younger sister offering life advice? Funny in Bottle Rocket. For something that's supposed to be relatable, nothing is grounded in reality. The characters are made out of cardboard. It's a movie for 14-year-olds who can't wait to be indie when they grow up. Who the hell cries at the end of the Graduate? Making mixtapes... jeez. Worst movie of last year.

Holy shit, yes.

 

[threenote]

Watching Thunderball on BD right now. Connery is the fucking man.

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

I like watching movies, mostly foreign, but here's just a list I can think of that I just watched withing three days (not for the first time):

1. Snatch
2. M (1931)
3. Fulltime Killer
4. Jigyaku No Uta
5. Jumeogi Unda (Crying Fist)
6. The Lives of Others
7. Welcome to Dongmakgol
8. Keinohrhasen
9. Red Cliff
10. Once Upon a Time in the West
11. Driving Miss Daisy
12. Revolver

I'd have to say I enjoyed most of those to a great extent.

 

[harSon]

1. Harakiri - 10.0/10

2. Samurai Rebllion - 8.0/10

3. Munich - 8.5/10

4. The Insider 9.0/10

5. Up - 8.5/10

6. Un flic - 6.5/10
I absolutely love Jean-Pierre Melville, one of my favorite directors of all time, but this was really disappointing. Sucks that this was the last movie he made before dying.

7. Hallelujah! - 7.0/10
A 1929 film with an all Black cast, had to watch it for my History of African American Films class. It's certainly a product of its time but it's surprisingly well done.

8. Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy - 8.0/10
Was on Showtime yesterday, a documentry on the history of Black comedians.

9. The Janky Promoters - 2.0/10
Ice Cube and Mike Epps, they should stick to Friday films.

10. Sugar Hill - 7.5/10
Underrated.

11. The Hustler - 9.0/10

12. Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance - 8.5/10
Love this series

13. I Sell the Dead - 6.5/10.0

14. Flame and Citron - 9.0/10.0

15. Suicide Club - 7.5/10.0

16. Survive Style 5+ - 8.5/10.0

17. The Public Enemy (1931) - 9.0/10 .0

18. Harry Brown - 8.0/10.0

19-20. Phantasm 1 & II - 8.5/10.0 and 7.0/10.0

21-22. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure/Bogus Journey - 9.0/10.0 and 8.0/10.0

23. Notorious - 10.0/10.0

24. Bodyguards & Assassins - 6.5/10.0

25. Youth of the Beast - 10.0/10.0

26. Becket - 10.0/10.0

27. A Man for All Seasons - 9.5/10

28. Pontypool - 8.5/10.0

29-31. The Human Condition - 10
- No Greater Love (I) - 10.0/10
- Road to Eternity (II) - 9.5/10
- A Soldier's Prayer (III) - 10.0/10

32. The Collector - 7.0/10.0

33. Postman Blues - 7.5/10

Don't think I'm going to be able to reach that 100 video mark

 

[afternoon delight]

500 Days of Summer (2009)
Bullshit. Watching this was like having a finger forced down yr throat and being on the verge of vomiting for an hour and a half. It succeeds as nothing but an experiment to make a pastiche of every lame indie movie flourish of the past 10 years. Nothing about it is original. Go to the cinema to watch a parody of Bergman? That was funny in Masculin Feminin. The younger sister offering life advice? Funny in Bottle Rocket. For something that's supposed to be relatable, nothing is grounded in reality. The characters are made out of cardboard. It's a movie for 14-year-olds who can't wait to be indie when they grow up. Who the hell cries at the end of the Graduate? Making mixtapes... jeez. Worst movie of last year.

What I wanted to say, except better.

 

[harSon]

What I wanted to say, except better.

Brandnew just shed a single tear

Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)

6/10

Eh. I appreciate some of what Jarmusch does here, but I simply did not care about anything that was happening. It was suspended in a strange place between real and surreal, and the mixture really did nothing for me. Depp was pretty good, of course, and I marked out hard for Robert Mitchum; the scene with Billy Bob Thornton and those guys was also pretty funny. The soundtrack worked for some of it, but by the end, I was kind of tired of it. I also do not know that much about William Blake the poet, so a lot of the symbolism and references flew over my head. Thus far, of Jarmusch's filmography, I have seen Ghost Dog, Broken Flowers, and Dead Man. I have heard him talked up as being one of the great modern filmmakers, but of everything that I have seen thus far, I have found little that is 'for me', so to speak. I still have most of his major work left, though, so I'm sure there's some gold left for me to discover.

Watch Down by Law next and if you don't enjoy that, simply stop watching his filmography because I doubt you're going to enjoy the rest.

 

[Wes]

Watched An Education and Up In The Air the other day. Very disappointed with both after all the hype. Maybe the shared theme they had is just one that doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Ramma2]

Watched Goonies last night on Watch Instantly since my disc of They Call Me Trinity from Netflix was broke in the mail!

Love Goonies, loved it back in the day and still love it now. Hey you guyyyys!

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Recent watches:

Stagecoach - I can see Ford emerging as a favorite director for me. For a long time I largely ignored American westerns in favor of their Italian counterparts due to the dubious notion that American westerns were all too moralistic and hokey. Now I can see my tastes turning towards these American epics. I loved pretty much everything about this film. I was well aware of the significance of this film going in, but I was particularly taken aback by the excitement of the big chase sequence. I'm not really an action guy, so I was impressed by how gripping this scene was for me. - 9.5/10

Broken Flowers - I wanted to like this, but it was so meandering and uninteresting. A road movie that spends a large amount of time showing its protagonist's travels, but ultimately goes nowhere. After Lost in Translation, I had no desire to ever again see Murray's brand of "acting" where he stares blankly into the camera, but unfortunately he does quite a bit of that here. I was ambivalent to the package as a whole. - 5.5/10

Citizen Kane - Honestly, I have nothing to add to the conversation here. Truly timeless. - 10/10

The Triplets of Belleville - Enjoyed this quite a bit. One of the most unique and thematically complex animated features I've seen in quite some time. The final act is a bit weak, but the overall film is very strong. Oh, and I loved the dog. - 7.5/10

Paris, Texas - As much as I loved this film, I don't think I can truly appreciate it until a second viewing. A stark contrast to the heavy existential pontification of Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas is a much more understated affair. It's an absolutely gorgeous film, and I found the performances of Stanton and Kinski to be brilliance. This is a story that could have easily slipped into an abyss of sentimentality, but their restrained and believable performances hammer the entire affair home perfectly. - 9/10

 

[siddx]

Saw District 9 finally, pretty good movie, but some things annoyed me. If one dude could wreak that much havoc with alien weapons by himself, you'd think 2 million aliens with some weapons could make humanity their bitch.
Although I fully believe the day we encounter an alien race will be the day humanity starts getting along better as it finds a new face to hate and blame, I thought the sheer evilness of the humans in the movie was way overdone.
Lead character was also a massive putz who I couldn't stand.

Other than that it was enjoyable.


Also saw Ninja Warrior, loved it, my kind of movie.

 

[BotoxAgent]

saw the Collector, if you have to see a torture film....definitely this over Saw at least. I liked the concept.....but all the violence was a bit too much for me to handle.

 

[wRATH2x]

I just saw An American Werewolf In London

I enjoyed every minute of it, I loved the dream sequences. And that British chick could get it hard!

Too bad the sequel sucked.

 

[MMaRsu]

Saw District 9 finally, pretty good movie, but some things annoyed me. If one dude could wreak that much havoc with alien weapons by himself, you'd think 2 million aliens with some weapons could make humanity their bitch.
Although I fully believe the day we encounter an alien race will be the day humanity starts getting along better as it finds a new face to hate and blame, I thought the sheer evilness of the humans in the movie was way overdone.
Lead character was also a massive putz who I couldn't stand.

Other than that it was enjoyable.


Also saw Ninja Warrior, loved it, my kind of movie.

The aliens were stupid as fuck though, and there weren't that many weapons.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

500 Days of Summer (2009)
Bullshit. Watching this was like having a finger forced down yr throat and being on the verge of vomiting for an hour and a half. It succeeds as nothing but an experiment to make a pastiche of every lame indie movie flourish of the past 10 years. Nothing about it is original. Go to the cinema to watch a parody of Bergman? That was funny in Masculin Feminin. The younger sister offering life advice? Funny in Bottle Rocket. For something that's supposed to be relatable, nothing is grounded in reality. The characters are made out of cardboard. It's a movie for 14-year-olds who can't wait to be indie when they grow up. Who the hell cries at the end of the Graduate? Making mixtapes... jeez. Worst movie of last year.

And I thought I was the only one who felt this film was unwatchable. Well said.

 

[siddx]

The aliens were stupid as fuck though, and there weren't that many weapons.

I didn't get that sense from them though. Just a sense of savagery, but not sheer stupidity. Besides, even the dumbest people can shoot a gun. In fact it often tends to be the dumbest people who are shooting others.
The version I watched didn't have any subtitles for when the aliens were speaking though, is that normal?

 

[Enosh]

I didn't get that sense from them though. Just a sense of savagery, but not sheer stupidity. Besides, even the dumbest people can shoot a gun. In fact it often tends to be the dumbest people who are shooting others.
The version I watched didn't have any subtitles for when the aliens were speaking though, is that normal?

the aliens have a sort of caste system

those on earth were just worker drones not leaders, so while maybe they could make humanity their bitch they don't have the ambition or organization to do so