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[Bowflex]

Feels like my life outside of school and work is all netflix, all the time now. I will probably for real maybe take a break this time, I swear! And I'll try to keep these impressions short.

The Black Cauldron (1985) - mediocre, could hardly sit through it. Absolutely charmless; aside from the "dark" subject matter there's no reason not to watch the funnier Sword in the Stone or prettier Sleeping Beauty instead if you want your medieval fantasy fix in Disney film form.
36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) - IDK how to quantify this other than "good kung fu movie," although I tend to prefer mine a bit goofier. Looks amazing on blu-ray which is a big plus since so many kung fu films have only shitty, sub-sub-par dvd transfers available.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) - I ended up enjoying the jokes about hipsters more than videogame references and action scenes; Cera falls completely flat as Scott and I kept wishing side characters (Julie, Wallace, Scott's sister, Knives) would show up and be funny again whenever it focused on him. Will probably age terribly.
Danger: Diabolik (1968) - pretty boring for a candy-colored film about an Italian dude in a gimp suit stealing gold and blowing shit up. Did I mention how sexy (and almost-naked) Diabolik and his girlfriend are, though? Almost makes it worth watching. Almost.
Babe: Pig in the City (1998) - fantastically inventive and visually seamless - you don't stop for a second to think about how they trained the animals or CGI'd the mouths. I also enjoyed the turn to darker subject matter, because hey, life is not all sunshine, puppies and ice cream all the time.
Love Exposure (2008) - the acting and direction are generally good enough to sell it but, even at four hours long, it feels like they rush past key points of character development and ultimately I didn't buy the ending (or the central relationship generally) on either an emotional or logical level. Still, for a four hour movie with vaguely abhorrent subject matter, it's much better than it has any right to be.
Little Shop of Horrors (remake) (1986) - it's ok, too long, mediocre songs; the best part is a Bill Murray cameo (natch). Mostly this made me feel uncomfortable, and not in a good way.
Dhoom 2 (2006) - an enjoyable silly Bollywood film. The dropped plotlines and characters bothered me much more than the over-the-top ridiculousness.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) - this is a curio probably of interest primarily or possibly solely to animation nerds, being the first surviving animated feature that I know of, but I was really impressed at how effective and inventive it was considering how disappointing I tend to find most talked-up old films to be. Very stylish.
A Bucket of Blood (1959) - hella entertaining, ultra-quotable script with hilarious faux-beatnik dialogue, comical murder, a quick 60 minute runtime, made in 5 days on a 50k budget: all make for a surprisingly great Roger Corman movie which is definitely worth watching.
Krull (1983) - on an "objective" level I can see that this movie is a mediocre 80s fantasy adventure with a touch of sci-fi, but actually, I really enjoyed it and had no trouble sitting through it. The few visual flourishes - a giant spider, the alien creatures, the design of "the beast" - are underutilized but fabulous when they do show up. I think the main appeal here is that it makes me nostalgic for the days when effects were all practical and, even when they looked a bit cheap or corny, had a real weight to them which is more or less impossible to replicate with CG.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) - beautiful, engaging, poetic. This is structured ambitiously but never in a confusing way, filmed in 3 very different styles to great effect, and accompanied by a Phillip Glass soundtrack which, like all of his film scores, is not really memorable outside the film but wonderfully propulsive and powerful within it. Looooooved it, and i was actually quite upset that I couldn't watch it in one sitting.
Undertow (2004) - meh, not really memorable, doesn't work either as filmic poetry or as a straight thriller. I regretted spending money to rent this from the local video store and I sort of resent the comparisons to Terrence Malick, because I fucking love Malick films.

Return to Oz (1985) - excellent creature design which is creepy as fuck to this day. Very few kids films carry on in the grand tradition of being bloody terrifying these days, which is a big part of why I love Coraline so much.
Toy Story 2 (1999) - awesome
Mortal Kombat (1995) - ...awesome, sucks that the second movie is so awful since the first is about as good as it could possibly be for a movie based on a terrible fighting game series :-/
The Dark Crystal (1982) - excellent creature design, great puppetry, a world teeming with life in every corner. Love it, holds up really well if you can handle teh muppets.
The Warriors (1979) - awesome
Starship Troopers (1997) - awesome, introduced me to a great series of columns at The Onion AV Club about cult movies 'n stuff.

Mishima's great, but I can't believe you didn't get harder on Love Exposure. Was one of my favorites of the year. I found the absurdist nature of the film to negate any plot or character development issues.

 

[FnordChan]

Regarding Rubber:

I really wish he had cut that intro out, it really soured me on the rest of the film because he a) undercuts this weird idea of things just happening in movies with his references to fact based films and b) doesn't make sense really as people actually die outside of his stage play or whatever.

Yeah, I didn't really care for the intro either. It was a lot of set up to say, "Hey, we're doing something really stylized and self-aware here", when I didn't want or need that caveat at all. I can accept weird shit just happening, especially when I'm sitting down to watch a movie about a killer tire, and I think I would have liked the movie a lot more if it had just gone balls out insane with the tire and not tried to go all meta with the framing sequence.

i enjoyed because after watching horror movies all weekend at this thing, it was just nice to see a bunch of heads explode. and the last scene with the police office and the actress trying to trick the tire is pretty funny.

I don't want to be too harsh on Rubber, because it had some great moments and it's hard to argue with exploding heads. I enjoyed it when it was being goofy and having fun with the whole idea, I just bounced hard off the "people standing around in the desert providing oblique commentary about being spectators" portion of the film. I felt like I was watching performance art at Burning Man, and not in a good way.

nevermore was pretty awesome this year.

What were some of your favorite flicks at Nevermore this year? I could only be there on Sunday and I wound up mostly watching the older movies. I'd never seen Friday the 13th (which I found to be very nostalgic) or Darkman (which is so 1990 it hurts, but was a lot of fun), and I really wanted to catch Silence of the Lambs on the big screen. There were a fair number of other films at Nevermore I was interested in, but I'm going to have to catch them on video.

FnordChan

 

[afternoon delight]

Get Low: When the pacing would start to slow down, the movie would reveal another tasty tidbit which advanced the story. Bill Murray and Robert Duvall helped make the film quite enjoyable. B+

Can't wait to see this- how was Spacek?

 

[swoon]

What were some of your favorite flicks at Nevermore this year? I could only be there on Sunday and I wound up mostly watching the older movies. I'd never seen Friday the 13th (which I found to be very nostalgic) or Darkman (which is so 1990 it hurts, but was a lot of fun), and I really wanted to catch Silence of the Lambs on the big screen. There were a fair number of other films at Nevermore I was interested in, but I'm going to have to catch them on video.

FnordChan

Friday the 13th was a lot of fun and we watched it with our friends who hadn't seen it before which is always a good time. One of the people in particular is very critical of slasher films in particular, but was won over by this one.

I was let down by Rare Exports and Dark Souls, though I think both had really good elements, but lacked solid climax or the ability to give-in to their campiness.

Black Death and Rubber were my favorites I thought they did a better job programming this year than previous and didn't preface any of the movies I saw with local shorts which is nice of them.

The fundraising event beforehand kinda stole the show though. Showing The Thing and Aliens is kinda starting off the show with a show stopper.

OT: but did you get out to Rolling Thunder as part of Cinema Overdrive this year? That's a hard act to follow, love love that film and it was a pleasure to finally see it on the big screen.

 

[afternoon delight]

OT: but did you get out to Rolling Thunder as part of Cinema Overdrive this year? That's a hard act to follow, love love that film and it was a pleasure to finally see it on the big screen.

YOU WERE ALLOWED TO VIEW THIS IN A THEATER? How was the print? The audience? The sound?

Oh my. My VHS tape is all but destroyed at this point. Any recommendations on home release

Spoiler

or VCDs of perhaps better quality?

Edit: and I would swoon (lol) to watch F13th on the big screen. I'd even kill to see the uncut footage remastered in hi-def.

 

[.la1n]

I Saw The Devil - Pretty awesome korean revenge flick. Had two of my favorite korean male actors going head to head so I was probably biased. Not as good as A Bittersweet Life or Oldboy but it's still up there.

 

[LProtag]

I finally watched Citizen Kane recently. I was a little nervous going in, just because of the whole "greatest movie ever" line that it always gets.

I found it to be surprisingly easy to watch and just very easily accessible. Perhaps it's because Welles invented a lot of modern cinematic techniques with this movie; it felt very modern for something from 1941.

 

[FnordChan]

I was let down by Rare Exports and Dark Souls, though I think both had really good elements, but lacked solid climax or the ability to give-in to their campiness.

Ah, that's disappointing, as both of those were movies I was tentatively interested in.

Black Death and Rubber were my favorites I thought they did a better job programming this year than previous and didn't preface any of the movies I saw with local shorts which is nice of them.

Yeah, local independent horror films can be, shall we say, highly variable in quality. I agree that this year's programming seemed particularly strong.

The fundraising event beforehand kinda stole the show though. Showing The Thing and Aliens is kinda starting off the show with a show stopper.

I was out of town and wasn't able to make it to the fundraiser, but thankfully I'd seen both flicks on the big screen at previous Retro events, else I would have been incredibly bitter. You're right, though, that it's hard to follow-up that kind of a one-two punch.

OT: but did you get out to Rolling Thunder as part of Cinema Overdrive this year? That's a hard act to follow, love love that film and it was a pleasure to finally see it on the big screen.

Rolling Thunder had been on my to-watch list for ages and I absolutely enjoyed the hell out of it. That was an incredible flick and I'm very glad I got to see it on the big screen. I'm astonished that it's only available on DVD through as a burn-on-demand edition; for god's sake, it's written by Paul Schrader.

While we're talking Cinema Overdrive, I was completely blown away by The Telephone Book and I sincerely hope you had the chance to see it. It's not perfect, but I was literally agape during large swaths of that movie and when I wasn't busy being flabbergasted I was usually laughing my ass off.

Basically, Cinema Overdrive has been non-stop amazing since it started. And, coming up we have Savage Streets, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Assault on Precinct 13? God, I love those guys.

FnordChan

 

[SephCast]

Just watched The Fighter. Good movie, but couldn't get this out of my head:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/37753/saturday-night-live-mark-wahlberg-talks-to-animals

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Don't think the DVD is out until next month, but it is showing now at the theatres in this part of the world (NZ).

I just saw it at my local theater. And wow THIS is how you do a documentary. Well directed, straight to the point, interesting information that I didn't know about, explained everything step by step so the viewer can understand.

Great documentary.

EDIT - Also the guy has some huge balls. Been a while since I've seen a competent interviewer.

 

[FnordChan]

Regarding Rolling Thunder:

YOU WERE ALLOWED TO VIEW THIS IN A THEATER?

All hail Cinema Overdrive.

How was the print? The audience? The sound?

The print and sound were fine, the audience was into it, and the theater it was shown at has awesomely 70s carpeting on the walls. Also, while we're talking prints, they've got a limited edition poster available that you want to order.

Oh my. My VHS tape is all but destroyed at this point. Any recommendations on home release

I can't really be enthusiastic by manufactured-on-demand DVD releases, but it's your best bet at the moment.

Edit: and I would swoon (lol) to watch F13th on the big screen. I'd even kill to see the uncut footage remastered in hi-def.

The fine folks at the Carolina Theatre in Durham show retro horror movies all the time as part of their Retrofantasma series. This Friday: David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly and William Castle's Bug. You may want to consider moving to North Carolina.

FnordChan

 

[Johnlenham]

Thanks to ever said about Let Me In!
Horror (if you can call it that) is not really my thing but I really liked this, I think I liked just the boy and girl and how they interacted. Very much reccomended.

 

[BankaiZaraki]

I Am Number Four- It was decent for what it is. Has a good teen heartthrob in Pettyfer and enough action at the end of the movie to hold over the male audience. Solid B

 

[filmnoirdame]

Just watched this over the weekend (also posted in Netflix recommendation thread. It's stream-able if you're curious):

Though I anticipated it to be decent, I was actually shocked to find that this movie was even better than decent. It was EXCELLENT! To give you an idea of what to expect, the film is basically comprised of 4 short stories that take place in a small town on Halloween night. It has a similar feel to the classic "creepshow" and even starts like the spooky tales were pulled straight from the pages of a scary comic book. very cool! Anyway, all story lines were very well done. Each was creative, original and well written. Characters and story elements even interconnect, showing different perspectives to certain scenes and eventually even tying everything together.

I can't recommend this movie enough. If you're anything like me, this movie will end up in your yearly "watch on Halloween" movie list. But if you haven't seen it yet, why wait? WATCH IT!!!

Like I said above, if you have Netflix, it's stream-able! WOO!

Ah! I just saw that last night too! I was curious since it was in the 'critically acclaimed horror' genre and was really surprised by how good it was. The cinematography was excellent and I loved the twist with the girls' story. My bf loved the 'short bus rejects' story. Sorry if I took the liberty of making my own nicknames for the chapters. Good flick though.

 

[JLG-]

Ip Man - 8/10
'Bad ass' are the words that come to mind. Donnie Yen is amazing. Loved it.

 

[swoon]

While we're talking Cinema Overdrive, I was completely blown away by The Telephone Book and I sincerely hope you had the chance to see it. It's not perfect, but I was literally agape during large swaths of that movie and when I wasn't busy being flabbergasted I was usually laughing my ass off.

Basically, Cinema Overdrive has been non-stop amazing since it started. And, coming up we have Savage Streets, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Assault on Precinct 13? God, I love those guys.

FnordChan

I missed Telephone Book sadly, but I was able to track down a copy so I'm pretty excited about that. So stoked for the rest of the season. I wish one of the groups would track down some Giallo, I'm dying to see anything on 35mm.

YOU WERE ALLOWED TO VIEW THIS IN A THEATER? How was the print? The audience? The sound?

Oh my. My VHS tape is all but destroyed at this point. Any recommendations on home release

Spoiler

or VCDs of perhaps better quality?

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews53/rolling_thunder.htm

the dvd-r doesn't look too bad. the spanish dvd is a bit brighter and easy to track down.

 

[jakncoke]

52) Casablanca [1942] very good movie

53) Up in the air [2009] good movie

54) Eyes Wide Shut [1999] i liked it, working my way towards seeing all of Kubricks work

 

[FnordChan]

I missed Telephone Book sadly, but I was able to track down a copy so I'm pretty excited about that.

Sorry you missed their screening, but I'm glad you were able to find a copy. I'd recommend trying to watch it with a group, as I think it will probably play better with an audience.

So stoked for the rest of the season. I wish one of the groups would track down some Giallo, I'm dying to see anything on 35mm.

I'm right there with you on the giallo front. Retrofantasma screened several Argento flicks back in the day, but it's been quite a while since any giallos played in 35mm locally. Fingers are crossed. In a similar vein, I'd dearly love to see a poliziotteschi flick on the big screen. Oh, man, that would rule.

FnordChan

 

[Lafiel]

Dogtooth - Man what an unsettling film to sit through, but strangely entertaining in a dark comedic sense, one thing to note was some of the more unsettling scenes came from the dialogue and interactions instead of some of the more grotesque scenes in the film.

Spoiler

the cat killing scene was brutal though.;_;

.

Never Let Me Go - It really captured the melancholic tone of the novel so well, and the casting felt spot-on with how i imagined the characters to be. (<3 carey mulligan) but i was kinda disappointed in how it omitted a number of elements from the novel. (namely the purpose of the song) and the characters didn't feel fleshed out enough. Still i enjoyed it a lot, but it could have been so much more.

Hot fuzz - Pure awesomeness from start to finish. In some ways i think i enjoyed it more than shaun of the dead.

Thrist - Felt way to long at 2 hours, for some reason i couldn't wait for it to end. But they were still a number of awesome moments throughout, it's easily chan-wook's worst film by far though. (haven't seen I'm a cyborg but that's okay)

Atonement - So beautifully shot that it kept me engaged from start to finish. I feel the ending might have worked better in novel format then how it was executed here. But it was still nice in a bittersweet way.

Inglorious basterds - It really felt like QT did everything he attempted to do perfectly in this. The sense of tension throughout was so damn awesome, and christoph waltz oscar was well-deserved. Such a entertaining performance.

Moon - Not a "amazing" hard-science fiction film, but a good one regardless, with an excellent performance from sam rockwell and a great score from clint mansell. Also really liked that it remained consistent in terms of plot, and didn't resort to using standard "sci-fic' cliches.

 

[ymmv]

Highlight of this bunch of movies:

Charley Chase Collection
The silent era was a golden age for comedy. 80 years later most people still know names like Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. It's a pity not more people know who Charley Chase is. Just like Harold Lloyd Chase didn't rely on slapstick to make people laugh, his everyman persona specializes in embarrassing himself and gettinx mixed up in switched identities. The director of all of the one and two reelers on this DVD was Leo McCarey who later on put Laurel & Hardy together as a comedy team, directed the best Marx Brothers movies and made the classic "Make Way for Tomorrow" that inspired Ozu's equally classic "Tokyo Story"

The Crowd (1928)
I was most impressed by the first 30 minutes of King Vidor's classic "The Crowd"which was just perfect. There were a couple of *wonderful* shots (when the boy climbs those incredibly longs stairs to the room where his dead father lies, the shot of the office building and the hall with hundreds of accountants). One of the things I love about silent movies is how they give a glimpse of what life must have been in the twenties, and The Crowd was full of those moments. I felt transported in New York in 1928. This was what life was really like in the Jazz age.

The movie started to drag a bit in the middle (despite being shown at the wrong speed), suddenly there was that characteristic overacting that most people associate with silent movies, but when John Sims is ready to throw himself before an oncoming train and his little boy saves him with a simple display of unwavering trust in his father, the movie was perfect again. For some unknown reason the best silent movies can hit you harder because you're more invested in them with the absence of dialogue. The movie ends at the same high note with which it began: a shot of the Sims in a cinema filled with hundreds of people, all laughing uproariously. John who wanted to rise above the crowd, who thought his fate was different, is now part of the masses.

To Each His Own (1946)
Oliva de Haviland gave an Oscar winning performance in Mitchell Leisen's tearjerker "To Each His Own". It's a tale of an unwed mother who loses her baby to another family and follows her son from afar. Really, these movies shouldn't work anymore in the 21s century, but really they do. Olivia de Haviland shines in this picture, her anguish is so real that you'll get a huge lump in your throat at the end of the movie.

Night Train to Munich (1940)
This movie feels like a companion piece to Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes". It was written by the same screenwriters, it also has Charters and Caldicott for comedic relief and a big portion of the movie takes place on a train. It's a fun movie with the double crossing spies, Rex Harrision bluffing his way into Nazi headquarters and the climactic cable train shootout. If this movie had Alfred Hitchcock instead of Carol Reed as a director more people would remember it. (But it still got a Criterion release)

Honorable mentions for Daddy Long Legs, The Black Pirate, Tempest and Stella Dallas.

 

[ymmv]

More movies ....

Caged (1950)
I expected fifties exploitation sleaze, but this was actually a damn good prison movie that got Eleanor Parker an Academy Award nomination. 1951 was a good year for movies, she competed with Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard).

Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)
When Jules Dassin got blacklisted in Hollywood he moved to Europa and made this classic heist film. A major difference to Hollywood movies from the same time, is that he could film stuff that would never have gotten through the code.

Downtown Abbey (2010)
This is the kind of historical dramas British TV is rightfully famous for. Upstairs Downstairs set at around 1912, just before the first world war. The large cast is wonderful, the sets are absolutely gorgeous. The only downside is that the first season only has 7 episodes.

Honorable mentions: Kiss of Death, Thieves Like Us, Summer Wars, Adele Blanc-Sec (despite its flaws), Sherlock Holmes

 

[WorriedCitizen]

The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
Quite unique atmosphere but feels rather rough around the edges. Didn't enjoy it that much.

The Phenix City Story (1955)
Pretty good docu noir. The end was a bit anticlimactic. Would have prefered to see how the crime ring was put to an end. I was surprised afterwards when i read on wikipedia that the guy who is the shining hero in this film turned later out to be a KKK backed racist who used his political power against the civil rights movement.

Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Excellent detective story. Great noir.

I Walk Alone (1948)
Great cast (Burt Lancester, Kirk Douglas) but a pretty mediocre film.

The Blue Gardenia (1953)
Like so many Fritz Lang noirs pretty solid but not more. What kills the film is how predictable it is. You know from early on who the murder is and how it will end.

Spellbound (1945)
Rather dissapointing for a Hitchcock. Gregory Peck was too young for his role and the cinematography is rather unspectacular. The whole story was meh too.

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Good thriller. It's about two guys who get kidnapped by a psychotic criminal. Worth watching.

The Glass Key (1942)
Solid. Brian Donlevy and Veronica Lake made a good pairing in their films together.

Caught (1949)
Another solid noir. Would have been better had they casted a more attractive lead actress.

 

[Wanace]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: I shamelessly enjoyed this one. And I shamelessly fell in love with Knives. Haha.

Kick-Ass: Also enjoyed this one. But I was in the mood for mindless action flicks. And Nic Cage can always satisfy that urge.

 

[TruHero]

EXPENDABLES

eh....it's was alright. I love action movies, but this one was a letdown. I don't regret watching it, but I'll never watch it again.

 

[Marleyman]

On Deadly Ground - watched it last night baked out of my mind. I find the fact that Michael Caine is even in this movie, let alone a slick back haired villian, to be a very strange career choice. Seagal produces, wrote and directs this flick while breaking arms and saving the environment. Also, the scene at the end when Seagal gives a speech is unintentionally silly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B0np_o1VBg&playnext=1&list=PL7A56A8A1C692B295

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Did anybody see the new Bela Tarr movie at the Berlin Film Festival? If so, how was it?

 

[WorriedCitizen]

Haven't seen it but the premise sounds very interesting. I hope it's better than The Man from London.

 

[swoon]

I'm right there with you on the giallo front. Retrofantasma screened several Argento flicks back in the day, but it's been quite a while since any giallos played in 35mm locally. Fingers are crossed. In a similar vein, I'd dearly love to see a poliziotteschi flick on the big screen. Oh, man, that would rule.

FnordChan

I wonder what the state of poliziotteschi on 35mm with subtitles is. I know when i dipped my toe into that genre i quick ran into lots of fan dubbed/subtitled film and a lot of stuff didn't have subtitles or a dub track.

It would be dreamy though to see something like Violent Rome on film.

 

[FnordChan]

I wonder what the state of poliziotteschi on 35mm with subtitles is. I know when i dipped my toe into that genre i quick ran into lots of fan dubbed/subtitled film and a lot of stuff didn't have subtitles or a dub track.

I've wondered this myself and while I don't have any information either way I get the feeling that virtually everything in the genre was distributed dubbed for the export market when they were new. One exception does come to mind - I saw Mario Bava's Rabid Dogs (aka Kidnapped) at the Carolina ages ages ago, and apparently it was subtitled for festival distribution - but beyond that I'm guessing it's all dubbed, all the time. I'm fine with this, since with all the Western stars showing up in Italian genre flicks of the period someone's almost always dubbed one way or the other, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't do terrible, terrible things if it helped get subtitled restorations of Italian crime flicks up on the big screen.

It would be dreamy though to see something like Violent Rome on film.

Maurizio Merli rules so hard. I was recently watching Violent Naples and being reminded that both he and his amazing mustache demand to be seen on film. However, thanks to the awesome NoShame DVD, the poliziotteschi I'd most like to see theatrically is probably Almost Human/Milano Odia, if only to see Tomas Milian ooze slime in glorious 35mm.

While we're on the subject, I'm completely stoked for the upcoming Fernando di Leo Crime Collection box set from Raro Video's first round of US DVD releases. Apparently Rulers of the City is pretty goofy and not so hot (even if it does star Jack Palance), but I've heard nothing but praise for the trilogy of Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, and The Boss. I can't wait.

FnordChan

 

[Zozobra]

Ok, so I returned to Enter the Void to finish it off and yes, I'm glad I did.

Visually, this movie is really quite something. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'd actually want to own it on BR, because while it really is a work of art, I found the dialogue, story, characters and acting to be totally mediocre and it really detracted from the whole experience - so much so that I'm unsure if I'd ever actually want to sit down and watch it again. It's weird, I've never been so conflicted about a movie before.

 

[Empty]

Never Let Me Go

There's some beautiful photography in this film and the adorable Carey Mulligan is excellent again. The whole period piece style human drama with the backdrop of an eerie science fiction setting worked well for me, with the latter never dominating the story or the characters with musing on the ethical dilemma around it, but just sitting there to help in capturing the moving idea of these tragic characters walking towards a terrible fate that you just want them to avoid, but know they can't as their upbringing won't let them. Some show not tell issues crop up with the voiceover which doesn't work nearly as well as the journal in the film, the director could treat his audience with a bit more intelligence at times, and the music is overbearing. However the central direction of the movie about the characters and their feelings for eachother as well as the overall melancholic mood is well captured.

 

[Timber]

Youth of the Beast (1963)
Damn. This is what crime/action movies should be like. Love the hurried pacing and editing and the story is consistently engaging with cool twists and the guy is badass and the violence is thrilling and the whole movie is thrilling. Last scene when the guy

Spoiler

gets the woman to say the villain's mother was a whore

I was like AWW YEAH.

Faust (1926)
The silent era should have gone on for much longer. Faust testifies to that, as well as stuff like Metropolis and Intolerance. All those voluptuous visuals disappeared just like that. Only talkies I can think of whose visuals equal that of the silents are those by Jean Cocteau. Anyway I've never read anything by Goethe and that's a damn shame. Saw Faust performed once as a play but it was a high school musical that I've forgotten now. It's a great movie for sure, but I can't help but feel some things went lost in translation here. Especially during the middle part where it all kinda descends into farcical comedy. That's something more silents suffer from TBH.

Sherman's March: A Mediation to the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (1986)
Had to put the whole title because it's so cool. It's tempting to say that this is one of those documentaries that work because the people in it are so brilliant, but that kinda undersells it. It does help a lot, though. Not sure if all the themes connect in a satisfying way, but since the movie and McElwee seem to feel the same way, perhaps that's for the better. The rambling, searching quality is key. Really quotable as well.

Artists and Models (1955)
Amusing? Annoying? Who knows. Something about Jerry Lewis' clowning is just so excruciating to me. But in between the annoying bits are some good gags, and then suddenly the plot goes totally off the rails, which is fun. And I do like it when Dean Martin sings.

Brand Upon the Brain (2006)
Talk about silent visual wizardry. Love the delirium and dementia in Maddin's films, and memory being something blurry and out of focus. Love the intertitles. He puts all the formal stuff to great use.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Saw this earlier tonight so I haven't had ample time to fully process it. It left me in a very good mood. Something about his films is very comforting. I think it's the gentleness of the humour. The monk waking up and checking his cellphone to see what time it is. A lot of that stuff in Syndromes as well, those cheeky scenes where traditional and modern culture coexist and I'm never quite sure if it's all harmonious or if they're squaring off a bit. I guess it's not as simple as that. But I like those scenes very much. Or the ominous spirit from the poster sitting down to chat with the living. Boonmee putting his hand on his wife's leg. It remains very tranquil and peaceful even when it alludes to sinister things.

 

[MetalAlien]

Holy God, Speed Racer is on TV right now. It's nearly unwatchable. I know there is a cult following for this movie but man - not my thing at all!

Oh and Trick R Treat is fucking awesome! First time I saw the trailer on youtube I was hooked. It is a damn shame that movie never got a theatrical release.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

EXPENDABLES

eh....it's was alright. I love action movies, but this one was a letdown. I don't regret watching it, but I'll never watch it again.

I wasn't a fan either. Thought it kind of sucked. And I'm someone who loves the hell out of the last Rambo movie.

 

[MadraptorMan]

Saw Troll Hunters. Besides some glaring plot holes it was great!

 

[chaostrophy]

The RAF were badasses fighting for a good cause. Love them.

 

[DR3AM]

highly recommended

 

[Calcaneus]

Watched two movies in the past week and enjoyed them both for very different reasons.

Bullet in the Head - After seeing this, its probably my second favorite John Woo movie (after Hard Boiled). Not the most grounded or subdued movie, but I still really got behind the characters and felt for them when shit went down. The action is good too, if a little inappropriate given the setting at times. Really fast paced, a lot of stuff happens in 2 hours, which works except for one area.

Spoiler

I thought Waise Lee's character could have had a smoother transition between "loyal friend" to "cold-hearted bastard who could give a shit if his friends lived or died".

But overall, loved it.

Chungking Express - This is basically the complete opposite of Bullet in the Head. I was interested in seeing this for a long time, and finally got around to it. I started out kinda meh on it, but definitely enjoyed it more as it went along. I guess its one of those movies that you don't realize how much you liked until you are done with it. Because I couldn't do anything but read up on it after seeing it, and I already want to re watch it.

 

[cantona222]

GAMER
I didn't like the movie. cheap action and cheesy story.

 

[Fallout-NL]

It's not that bad.. It's just 'there'. If you call that a bad movie I'm sure you haven't seen many movies.

Not saying I liked it, but it was just 'ok'.

Sorry to get back to you on this a couple of weeks later, but no, the guy is right: 88 minutes is a terrible film. The kind of film only your parents in law could take home from that video rental place in the mall. Ugh.

 

[WorriedCitizen]

The RAF were badasses fighting for a good cause. Love them.

Tell that to the families of the people they murdered...

 

[Fallout-NL]

Eastern Promises is more than "worth a watch" in fact it's wholly superior to that mediocre film.

Yes, sometimes I tend to understate my recommendations. It's fucking great.

On the other hand, 'A History of Violence' definitely isn't mediocre. It feels a little unnatural at times (dialogue mainly), but it's still awesome.

 

[swoon]

I've wondered this myself and while I don't have any information either way I get the feeling that virtually everything in the genre was distributed dubbed for the export market when they were new. One exception does come to mind - I saw Mario Bava's Rabid Dogs (aka Kidnapped) at the Carolina ages ages ago, and apparently it was subtitled for festival distribution - but beyond that I'm guessing it's all dubbed, all the time. I'm fine with this, since with all the Western stars showing up in Italian genre flicks of the period someone's almost always dubbed one way or the other, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't do terrible, terrible things if it helped get subtitled restorations of Italian crime flicks up on the big screen.

Yea even with Italian movies that have a dubbed track and a subtitles track I normally pick the subtitles though normally that means the french and english speaking actors have some awful dub going on. its a tough choice either way.

Maurizio Merli rules so hard. I was recently watching Violent Naples and being reminded that both he and his amazing mustache demand to be seen on film. However, thanks to the awesome NoShame DVD, the poliziotteschi I'd most like to see theatrically is probably Almost Human/Milano Odia, if only to see Tomas Milian ooze slime in glorious 35mm.

While we're on the subject, I'm completely stoked for the upcoming Fernando di Leo Crime Collection box set from Raro Video's first round of US DVD releases. Apparently Rulers of the City is pretty goofy and not so hot (even if it does star Jack Palance), but I've heard nothing but praise for the trilogy of Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, and The Boss. I can't wait.

FnordChan

I've only seen Il Boss out of those and it was totally awesome. Pretty excited about that set now!

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Bob Clark, 1972)

Overly tame but very entertaining piece of genre. The acting was very stilted and over-the-top from almost everybody (which may work on some sort of meta level, given that all of the characters are theatre people, but it doesn't really work on the immediate, narrative level), but the make-up of the zombies was exceedingly well-done and the actual happenings of the film are pretty creepy. It's also refreshing to see a film where

Spoiler

the zombies do everybody in, but the little Romero flourish of people fucking other people over is retained. The cinematography was also quite nice.

If you're looking for an entertaining bit of B-movie entertainment and ever wondered what else the Christmas Story, Black Christmas, and Porky's guy did, this is worthwhile.

Edit: And I rewatched The Bicycle Thief in class today; it's one of the only films that can still make me bawl like a baby.

 

[ymmv]

The RAF were badasses fighting for a good cause. Love them.

Baader-Meinhof fanboy? Terrorism defense force?

 

[DesertEater]

probably one of the best animation films I've seen.

 

[Nappuccino]

Yes, sometimes I tend to understate my recommendations. It's fucking great.

On the other hand, 'A History of Violence' definitely isn't mediocre. It feels a little unnatural at times (dialogue mainly), but it's still awesome.

Really, its the ending of AHoV that ruins it for me... it goes from being rather dark and realistic to something comedic and silly.

 

[Dice]

Got an Amazon Prime trial and it's letting me stream some movies. I decided to watch Chocolate. I'm not huge on Thai but it would be better than this horrible English dub. Little girl just literally iced some guy, tho. Cool.

More:

Spoiler

-OMG she just hung this guy by his foot on a meat hook.
-These gangsters are mean.
-Well this is new, the tranny squad camping out to kill people.
-I like how she has to hit them again and again, even after they are down. Somewhat almost halfway realistic about how much damage a little girl could actually do.
-Hahaha the gang has an autistic fighter kid, too? you've gotta be kidding me.
-This Thai gang trying to out-katana the Yakuza's head man. Don't think that's gonna work out for ya, bros.
-Head gangster can't even let the husband have her dead body? Talk about posessive.
-Checkered-bandanna man for resilient gangster of the year award.
-Awesome multi-level fight scene at the end.

 

[Fjordson]

After watching all of Paranoia Agent (and loving it) last month, I had to check out more of Satoshi Kon's work. I really, really enjoyed it. It's a very interesting look on fame and what it is to be a celebrity. It also loves to blur the line between fantasy and reality just like Paranoia Agent.

Probably going to watch Millenium Actress or Paprika next, but I want to get to all of Kon's stuff eventually. It's incredibly sad that he passed away last year. And at 46! So young in this day and age

Chungking Express - This is basically the complete opposite of Bullet in the Head. I was interested in seeing this for a long time, and finally got around to it. I started out kinda meh on it, but definitely enjoyed it more as it went along. I guess its one of those movies that you don't realize how much you liked until you are done with it. Because I couldn't do anything but read up on it after seeing it, and I already want to re watch it.

I love this movie dearly. That's totally true about not realizing how good it is until you can sit back and reflect on it a bit. Since you enjoyed it, I'd recommend Fallen Angels. I believe Kar-wai intended on making it the third story of Chungking, but it ended up basically being a separate sequel.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Faster: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Taking names, kicking-ass, chewing bubble-gum. Pretty much in that order. B+ to A-

I thought the movie was alright. Totally didn't need the hitman shit though. Should have gone more in-depth into the dudes histories or the prison stuff.

Whats the deal with the tattoo also?