Support NeoGAF

[Night_Trekker]

Finally watched Inland Empire last night. Uh... wow.

I don't know that I can say much about IE, except that it would be a big mistake to watch it without first watching basically everything else Lynch has made (even Twin Peaks, especially Mulholland Dr.). It's like he's been building towards IE his entire career. It was frustrating at points, but I'm glad I watched it.

I hope Lynch goes back on his promise never to use film again. The digital video worked for the film and I'd like to see him use it again, but nothing is like film. I also hope he uses an actual script next time, as interesting as IE was to experience.

Anyway, I guess I'm moving on either the Coens or Paul Thomas Anderson next.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Been renting semi-random monster movies lately. Two of the last few were killer giant-crocodile flicks. Not all killer crocodile movies are created equal.

Rogue | The Australian one. Sam Worthington as a redneck was pretty good. Fun stuff, lots of idiots get eaten, though the ending battle is dumb. 8/10

Lake Placid | More hammy than scary; goes for goofy fun and ends up stupid through most of the movie. Though the one cop dude that hates the annoying researcher was a hoot if for no reason than I could relate so much. 4/10

 

[FoxMcCloudDS]

Got my ticket to alice in wonderland! going tomorrow.

Also just saw the crazies in theaters. I liked it a lot, would strongly recommend to anyone who likes bloody good movies.

 

[Alphahawk]

The film was not ABOUT the story, though. The story in the movie is nothing special, really. The movie is about the wedding, which is why it's titled "Rachel Getting Married" instead of something referencing the Anne Hathaway character. That's why there are long, world-building scenes such as the rehearsal dinner; by showing what the wedding is like, you get a better sense for the effect that Anne Hathaway's character is having on the proceedings. In that way, she becomes a force of nature as much as a character. That the wedding itself is so wonderful is icing on the cake.

And yeah, I mean the shaky cam. It made the movie feel very... personal. It wasn't necessarily realistic, but you were given the sense that you were really at that wedding.
It also serves the structure of the film. If you were actually observing this wedding, you wouldn't see only the 'plot points' having to do with Kym's character; you would see EVERYTHING and get snippets of plot mixed in with everything else.

I think it's possible to get across the atmosphere without using sacrificing the viewers attention span, I'll agree that the film was very atmospheric and that's one of it's strenghts, but I don't think the scenes had to be as long as they did. For instance we see 5 speakers at the rehersal dinner before we even get to the dinner itself, just showing two or three would of sufficed.

Again it's a good movie but it's also a 2 hour movie that should of been 90 minutes...

 

[brandonh83]

Just got back from Alice in Wonderland. More like Brandon in Pain. Holy fuck. But, I don't have a swell history with Tim Burton so it's none too surprising.

 

[Ducks]

I saw The Hurt Locker, it was good. I think it did a good job portraying the confusion of war, not knowing civilian from foe. Also it did a great job of putting the viewer on the edge of their seat.

I may see The Crazies this weekend : D

 

[FoxMcCloudDS]

I saw The Hurt Locker, it was good. I think it did a good job portraying the confusion of war, not knowing civilian from foe. Also it did a great job of putting the viewer on the edge of their seat.

I may see The Crazies this weekend : D

Go to it! it's fucking great!

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I think it's possible to get across the atmosphere without using sacrificing the viewers attention span, I'll agree that the film was very atmospheric and that's one of it's strenghts, but I don't think the scenes had to be as long as they did. For instance we see 5 speakers at the rehersal dinner before we even get to the dinner itself, just showing two or three would of sufficed.

Again it's a good movie but it's also a 2 hour movie that should of been 90 minutes...

I'll just have to disagree with you, then. I thought every frame of that film was necessary. There were a bunch of speakers, yeah, but they were all engaging and they all ontributed something to the world of the film.

 

[Maklershed]

Just watched Law Abiding Citizen last night. It finally broke my streak of movies I give up on after 20 minutes. I really dug it. I was rooting for the "bad guy" the whole time.

 

[jarosh]

shutter island

scorsese, an ensemble of terrific actors, stunning and clever cinematography and bold editing elevate shutter island into something that is more than just the sum of its (admittedly sometimes rather cliched and trite) parts and genre conventions.

it is certainly not a flawless movie and among the most prominent and immediately apparent issues is the gimmicky plot itself and its eventual reliance on tired twists and lots of tedious dialogue/monologue heavy exposition. in fact, during the third act the movie seems to forget it's a movie for a good 20 minutes or so and instead turns into some sort of stage play with (admittedly great) actors seemingly reading pages from a book. and they're all very thorough in explaining something that should have been clear after the first 15 minutes to any moviegoer who wasn't born yesterday.

shutter island's twist is completely predictable and the script doesn't shy away from dropping a great many WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE not-so-subtle hints in its first act either. it's a shame, because the twist wouldn't be such a big deal if the movie didn't MAKE such a big deal out of it. also, if you have seen the various trailers, then you pretty much know everything there is to know already. yes, once again, the trailers give away practically the whole plot, including at least part of the twist.

the script, in a lesser director's hands, probably would have turned into a complete disaster. it's a fascinating what-if scenario turned reality. what if scorsese filmed a b-grade horror thrilller script? it shouldn't have happened, but the result is still fascinating and totally worth watching. it's gripping, full of great performances and exceptionally well made. it succeeds in one thing in particular: exploring the depths of a character's backstory that should have little profoundity on paper, but somehow translates marvelously on screen; the true highlight of the movie are the flashback and dream sequences. they're gorgeously filmed, intense and very effective. that last one especially was tough to watch and (at least to me) quite emotionally upsetting.

i also loved its odd, menacing, extremely dynamic soundtrack (compiled entirely from existing orchestral pieces).

shutter island seems to be a composite of many pieces that don't quite seem to fit together or don't even belong into the same puzzle. somehow they were forced to fit. it's not a masterpiece. far from it. but it's so damn interesting and it is very much worth watching at least once, maybe just for what an anomaly it is...

 

[Fantastical]

Not completely amazing, but very entertaining. I'm a sucker for movies with connected characters, and these are very much so all connected together. I really enjoyed it, and I was never bored. Some of the acting by some of the characters can be pretty bad as well.

Also, I'm pretty sure the timing wouldn't make sense in some of the scenario.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

10/10

I have watched this film before, but I was too tired the first time to give the movie the attention that it deserves. This is often cited as one of the best films of all time, and that citation is completely merited. I can't really add anything new about this movie; I will say that I teared up slightly at Michael reassuring his father that he's safe during the hospital scene.

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

8/10

With a movie as hyped as Casablanca, there are two possibilities: it will somehow be even better than you have heard, or it will be disappointing. Examples of the former include The Godfather and Citizen Kane, both of which manage to be even better than you would think they could be. This film, however, does not live up to its popularity, in my opinion. Granted, it has a lot of things going for it. Bogey was an amazing actor, and watching him do anything on the camera is an absolute treat. The close-up on Ingrid Bergman's face during the song (you know the one I mean) is probably the greatest of all time. It has Peter Lorre, which is gold for any movie. And, of course, the screenplay is fantastic in its ability to command shifts between comic quips and more serious fare. Ultimately, though, the film fell a little bit flat for me. I never got a palpable sense of the world that this film inhabited, and I found that its structure, while nice and brisk, did little for me in terms of delivering a satisfying payoff. It's not a bad film, mind; it is entertaining as hell. I'm glad that I watched it because it is such an important part of film history, but I won't be coming back to it very often (though Ebert says in his Great Movies review of it that it gets better with each viewing, so I'm looking forward to seeing if that is true).

The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974

9.5/10

THIS was new for me. I've seen Part 1, but Part II is something that I just haven't gotten to in the past. Like its predecessor, it's a great film. However, upon first viewing, it feels very obviously inferior to me. I could list a few things that make me feel that way (the primary thing being the film's slightly less tight structure), but ultimately, I think that there's a certain atmosphere that permeates the entirety of the first film that is lost in this one. The film makes up for that in a lot of other ways (particularly in the great performances from Pacino and DeNiro), but I think what makes the first movie so special is that sense of Sicilian dignity that underlies it, an intangible trait that, for me, is not as present in this film.

Having said that, this movie takes on a life of its own when you watch the first film earlier in the same day, as I did. I think that the second movie does not stand on its own as a film as well as the first, but taken as a direct continuation, it is simply marvelous. The character of Michael undergoes an almost complete change from the first film, and it's completely fascinating to watch. In addition, watching both films together makes the parallels and differences between Michael and Vito all the more pronounced, and both characters are enriched by that understanding. While they were made separately, it is as though both films are meant to exist together. While I have said that I don't think Part II is as good as Part I, it is a worthy sequel, which is, given the near-perfect quality of the first film, as high a compliment as I can give.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

I watched Groundhog Day last night. It was on sale for $7.50 at wal-mart and I felt that it was worth it for nostalgia alone. As it turns out, the film is still very good in my eyes. I thought that the message of living each day to the fullest was very well expressed without ever needing to have a character say some sort of inspirational quote. A few hammy jokes persisted, but I was surprised at the overall wit of the script. And Bill Murray did considerably well with his character. Overall I'd say 9/10.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Hatchet (Adam Green, 2006). Pretty shitty horror - stupid plot, really weak acting (even for C-rate horror standards), cringe-worthy puns, etc.. But there's a goldmine of possible gif's in this movie :lol One character gets her head ripped in two horizontally.

 

[RedShift]

I don't know why I've never been in this thread before...

The Hurt Locker
Not sure it lived up to the hype it's getting in the run up to the Oscars, but the film definately managed to keep a good balance between action sequences and character development.

Up in the Air
Really enjoyed it. I found Clooney's character very relatable, and the ending managed to feel fresh and realistic.

Inglourious Basterds (sp?)
I didn't feel the love for this film quite as much as most of GAF, but it was still very enjoyable. Landa's character was one of the most affably evil villians I've seen for a while and every scene he was in was brilliant. I found the characters of the Basterds less interesting though.

Up
What a nice film. It's everything you'd expect from Pixar, though the film's opening is some of the saddest stuff in a Disney film. It rivalled Mufasa's death for me.

The Crazies
It's your run of the mill action thriller, done pretty well. The movie does what it pledges to, keep you on the edge of your seat and make you genuinely jump again and again. The plot is pretty straightforward and the characters are nothing special, but the suspense is very well crafted.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

I am surprised I hadn't seen this one before. After enjoying Terry O'Quinn in Lost so much I decided to watch the 1987 Stepfather. It was a really enjoyable thriller with very little down-time and runs at a nice 90mins long. O'Quinn almost seems made for the role, and is excellent. I really enjoyed this one.

 

[Erico]

Just saw Moon, and holy crap what an amazing movie. My mind is still blown at how good it was. Holy crap.

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

Just got done with this.

As I recently watched Chaplin, another biopic depicting the troubled life of a famous comedian, I can't help but compare the two, and overall I think I preferred this movie, but I still had some problems.
First off, Geoffrey Rush is amazing in this movie. He IS Peter Sellers, especially in the Clouseau and Strangelove scenes. It's really amazing seeing someone else completely embody these characters that we're so accustomed to from films which are decades old. As it should be quite clear, I really love Dr. Strangelove, and seeing Stanley Kubrick (Tucci) seated in his director chair, glaring ahead, as Sellers goes through the Dmitri routine was really exciting. It was somewhat of a relief to see more focus on Sellers's career instead of his love life (Which there was still a great deal of) after Chaplin. But I have to take issue with the direction. Firstly, portions of the movie feel like they were written for a stage, rather than a film. Especially in Sellers's narrative scenes where speaks as different people in the story. I could practically imagine being seated in a crowded theater during these scenes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it kind of took me out of the story.
But the main problem is pretty simple. Peter Sellers is a despicable person (Or at least according to this movie). It's a pretty common goal for biopics to dissect the main character and examine why they did what they did. I don't feel this movie achieved that. I mean, he's breaking his son's toys in a fit of rage, he's cheating on his wife, he's psychologically abusive to his children, and the list goes on. The film doesn't really explain why he does all of this. There's some mentions of him not having a true personality, or trying desperately to become a star to please his mother, but none of that really excuses his actions.
I actually kind of enjoyed the movie, but the main character is just so unlikeable. I don't know much about the real Peter Sellers, but it would be rather disappointing is he was like this.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

So I just tried to watch Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) and had to turn it off about a third of the way through it. It's visually very beautiful, but it was pretty much like watching paint dry.

Edit: Maybe I'm just not in the right mood. I'll try again in the future.

 

[harSon]

Staring my March marathon, it's probably not going to be as ambitious as last month considering I'm pretty much recovered from my surgery. I watched these over the last two days:

1. Staten Island (2009) - 6.5 out of 10
Fairly interesting film. It's one of those multiple point of view films in which the character's plots are loosely tied together. It had it's strengths and weaknesses. I felt the first character's story was uninteresting and oddly cheesy considering the characters profession (Mob boss), and Vincent D'Onofrio portrayal of the character was easily the weakest portion of the film. The second and third character (one of which was played by Ethan Hawke) were significantly better and tied together relatively well. It's certainly not the best film of this type but it's certainly worth a watch.

2. The Untouchables (1987) - 7.0 out of 10
Surprisingly enough, I had never seen The Untouchables, unfortunately, I found to be extremely disappointing. I was expecting a lot more from a movie consisting of Brian De Palma, David Mamet and Ennio Morricone. I can't quite explain it but the film came off as too "movie like" if that makes any sense. The first 30-40 minutes of the film are much to light hearted considering the subject matter of the film. While the soundtrack was good, I don't think it synced well with what was happening on screen. And I wasn't to thrilled with De Niro's portrayal of Capone. The latter half of the film was significantly better than the first but not enough to bring up the film as a whole.

3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - 10 out of 10
A real simple tale of the greed of men. The film was tense and Bogart's performance was masterful. I loved it, easily one of my favorite films of all time.

4. The Departed (2006) - 10 out of 10
I've seen this film several times before but I had an itching to watch it after seeing it on
FX a week or two ago. I seem to enjoy it more and more with each viewing. I personally enjoyed Infernal Affairs, but The Departed managed to do what few remakes have, and that's to completely surpass the original. I absolutely love this film, it's cleverly written, well acted and impressively shot. It's easily one of the best films of the decade, and depending on my mood, I wouldn't be surprised if it were to sneak its way into my top 20. I consider it to be on par with the Scorcesse's best.

5. The Graduate (1967) - 9.5 out of 10

6. Harry Brown (2009) - 7.5 out of 10
It's pretty much Gran Torino, minus the character relationships and a more offensive strategy by the protagonist. I guess Death Wish would be a more apt comparison. It starts off a bit slow and some of the plot is a improbable, but it's an enjoyable film and worth a viewing.

7. Maltese Falcon (1941) - 10 out of 10

8. Dances with Wolves (1990) - 9.5 out of 10

9. Raising Arizona (1987) - 8.5 out of 10
One of the few Coen films I had yet to see. It's in the middle of the pack as far as Coen's more comedic films go, I'd place it behind The Big Lebowski and O' Brother Where Art Thou, and ahead of everything else. Was fairly standard in comparison to the brother's other films of this type. Nicolas Cage was great in it.

10. Dead Mans Shoes (2004)- 8.5 out of 10

11. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) - 9.0 out of 10
Too bad James Dean had to die so young, could have had an amazing career, but then again, he was contemplating retirement from acting according to Dennis Hopper.

12. Black Sheep (2006) - 6.5 out of 10

 

[phillipgessert]

Where the Wild Things Are was shrill and whiny.

 

[hateradio]

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien 3

I was going to make a thread about this and/or about how 80's cinematography has to be the lowest quality looking out of all the decades. It's just blurry, and has low contrast for some reason. Was everything filmed on tape at that time? :lol

 

[Snuggles]

So I watched 2012 last night. It was moranic, just as expected but I have to admit it was a pretty fun movie to watch. The special effects were impressive and it looked good on blue ray. The writing and acting were bad enough to be funny and the sheer ridiculousness of it all made it an ideal movie to watch and poke fun at with friends. My only major complaint was that it was way too long, it should have been 90 minutes instead of 2 hours and 40 minutes. If you don't take movies to seriously I'd recommend you give it a try.
3 Snuggles out of 5.

 

[afternoon delight]

Jazz on a Summer's Day: A documentary without narration, really - the music defines the shots. Jazz at the time and footage of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. If you like music whatsoever, watch it. Netflix wins because it's out of print evidently.

 

[Decado]

6. Harry Brown (2009) - 7.5 out of 10
It's pretty much Gran Torino, minus the character relationships and a more offensive strategy by the protagonist. I guess Death Wish would be a more apt comparison. It starts off a bit slow and some of the plot is a improbable, but it's an enjoyable film and worth a viewing.

Holy crap. Caine in a staring roll again? I'm definitely going to see this (though I thought Gran Torino was only "OK").

If it wasn't for your post I doubt I'd have ever found it. Thanks.

 

[Guzim]

I watched Ponyo, and I loved every second of it. Such an amazing film.

I also watched Black Dynamite, and it was really funny. It captured the blaxploitation genre perfectly.

 

[ColonelColon]

Law Abiding Citizen: 4/10
I can't overstate the implausibility of this movie's plot. spoilers:

Spoiler

The entire movie is predicated on Clide's mysterious ability to wreak havoc while contained in a jail cell. Unfortunately, the justification for this detail is totally senseless. How the hell could he have dug tunnels into the prison without anyone noticing? Even worse, he frequently left, carried out his sinister plans, then returned through these tunnels. Despite obviously being involved with the myriad of grisly deaths, no one thinks it would be wise to place him under surveillance.

I usually don't find myself questioning the logic behind the story of a film, but this blatantly made no sense whatsoever.

 

[Rabid Wolverine]

I am surprised I hadn't seen this one before. After enjoying Terry O'Quinn in Lost so much I decided to watch the 1987 Stepfather. It was a really enjoyable thriller with very little down-time and runs at a nice 90mins long. O'Quinn almost seems made for the role, and is excellent. I really enjoyed this one.

Excellent movie.... blows the remake away. See the sequel, its a tad down from the original but enjoyable.

Getting a Blu-Ray release soon, definitly picking it up.

 

[Boogie9IGN]

Just saw LA Confidential for the first time a few nights ago 9/10

Hurt Locker was a 5/10 though :|

 

[y2dvd]

Amazing movie. 9/10

I might be bias because I was a huge wrestling fan but this movie feels like it really does take you through the life of the average wrestler. Rouke was great. Dude was literally pumped for this movie.

A few things I didn't like.

Spoiler

-The way things ended with his daughter. Guess I wanted a happy ending between the two.
-When Randy stormed out of the store after quitting. Awkward scene to me.
-When Pam quit her job and tracked down Randy. It was just a tad bit cheesy.

 

[Danne-Danger]

Just saw Moon, and holy crap what an amazing movie. My mind is still blown at how good it was. Holy crap.

Allow me to send a chill down your spine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCpttsZiys

Just remembered how good it was.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hey guys, despite my growing addiction to Deadly Premonition, I've managed to watch some films recently:

Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wonderfully charming and a hell of a lot of fun. I always appreciate it when a family film chooses not to insult the intelligence of its viewers. The best Anderson offering in many years, and Baumbach's best contribution to cinema I've seen yet. - 8/10

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring - Found myself enjoying this one quite a bit early on, but its narrative really seemed to lose steam as it progressed. The ending is about as lazy and contrived as one could conceive. And what was with the score in this film? So odd and out of place at times. - 6/10

Red River - Loved the dynamic between Wayne and Clift. This was an awesome role for Wayne-- playing an absolute murderous asshole of a man fits him well. The ending is a point of contention for many when it comes to Red River, but I actually kind of loved its absurdity. Although it may be a bit of a cop out, I think it's an awesome twist on the standard macho western tropes. - 8.5/10

Scarface - The fact that this film was released in 1932 blows my god damn mind. This is a magnificent production all-around-- crackling dialogue, great action, and brisk pacing. Although some of it is a tad hokey, the overall production still feels amazingly fresh even here today, almost 80 years later. - 8.5/10

Vampyr - A flawed masterpiece. The narrative is a bit thin, and it's a bit too heavily reliant on intertitles for a film with actual sound, but this is still a fantastic genre film. Vampyr is most noted for its strong use of lighting and shadows that overwhelm the viewer with dread. One of the things that stands out to me about this film is how natural the performances of its actors feel (all amateur actors, by the way), lending a heightened feeling of believability amidst the stream of nightmarish visuals. - 8.5/10

 

[~Kinggi~]

^^ holy fuck, surprise of the year right here. All i knew about this movie was that it was a dark sci fi flick involving horror and space. I went in with pretty much no knowledge of the plot. Boy is it great discovering great movies outta left field.

Wonderfully shot, incredibly tense, somewhat original and thought provoking. A constant mystery with a decent payoff, as opposed to some obscure philosophical bullshit that in my opinion is the easy way out for many movies.

Anyway, if you like sci fi and horror, go watch this, NOW.

It is a direct mixing of The Descent, Event Horizon, Eden Log, and a little Sunshine thrown in.

Plus, its got fucking Dennis Quaid in it man, Dennis Quaid.

I give it 5/5 stars.

 

[SapientWolf]

shutter island

scorsese, an ensemble of terrific actors, stunning and clever cinematography and bold editing elevate shutter island into something that is more than just the sum of its (admittedly sometimes rather cliched and trite) parts and genre conventions.

it is certainly not a flawless movie and among the most prominent and immediately apparent issues is the gimmicky plot itself and its eventual reliance on tired twists and lots of tedious dialogue/monologue heavy exposition. in fact, during the third act the movie seems to forget it's a movie for a good 20 minutes or so and instead turns into some sort of stage play with (admittedly great) actors seemingly reading pages from a book. and they're all very thorough in explaining something that should have been clear after the first 15 minutes to any moviegoer who wasn't born yesterday.

shutter island's twist is completely predictable and the script doesn't shy away from dropping a great many WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE not-so-subtle hints in its first act either. it's a shame, because the twist wouldn't be such a big deal if the movie didn't MAKE such a big deal out of it. also, if you have seen the various trailers, then you pretty much know everything there is to know already. yes, once again, the trailers give away practically the whole plot, including at least part of the twist.

the script, in a lesser director's hands, probably would have turned into a complete disaster. it's a fascinating what-if scenario turned reality. what if scorsese filmed a b-grade horror thrilller script? it shouldn't have happened, but the result is still fascinating and totally worth watching. it's gripping, full of great performances and exceptionally well made. it succeeds in one thing in particular: exploring the depths of a character's backstory that should have little profoundity on paper, but somehow translates marvelously on screen; the true highlight of the movie are the flashback and dream sequences. they're gorgeously filmed, intense and very effective. that last one especially was tough to watch and (at least to me) quite emotionally upsetting.

i also loved its odd, menacing, extremely dynamic soundtrack (compiled entirely from existing orchestral pieces).

shutter island seems to be a composite of many pieces that don't quite seem to fit together or don't even belong into the same puzzle. somehow they were forced to fit. it's not a masterpiece. far from it. but it's so damn interesting and it is very much worth watching at least once, maybe just for what an anomaly it is...

I didn't predict "the twist" because I didn't know it had one. I didn't even see a preview for the film. I think I should skip them more often.

 

[Danne-Danger]

*Pandorum*
^^ holy fuck, surprise of the year right here. All i knew about this movie was that it was a dark sci fi flick involving horror and space. I went in with pretty much no knowledge of the plot. Boy is it great discovering great movies outta left field.

Wonderfully shot, incredibly tense, somewhat original and thought provoking. A constant mystery with a decent payoff, as opposed to some obscure philosophical bullshit that in my opinion is the easy way out for many movies.

Anyway, if you like sci fi and horror, go watch this, NOW.

It is a direct mixing of The Descent, Event Horizon, Eden Log, and a little Sunshine thrown in.

Plus, its got fucking Dennis Quaid in it man, Dennis Quaid.

I give it 5/5 stars.

Very promising start (and very reminiscent of Eden Log) but god damn the kung-fu shit (and action in general) was horrible. Had to fast-forward through most of the ending.

 

[Borgnine]

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
10/10

The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
9.5/10

Are you going watch part III? I just recently did (also a huge fan of the first 2, I like part II more than part I btw), and I would recommend it. It's definitely the weakest of the 3, but if you go in with the right mindset I think you can enjoy it. I tried to watch it years ago but turned it off a third of the way through. Sofia Copolla is just so completely terrible in it I just couldn't take it anymore. But it turns out in the grand scheme of things she's not really in that many scenes after all, so I was able to get past her. Everything else though is actually pretty good, it looks and feels like a Godfather film, even though it was 16 years later. And it was nice to see a proper conclusion to the story.

 

[Major Williams]

Are you going watch part III? I just recently did (also a huge fan of the first 2, I like part II more than part I btw), and I would recommend it. It's definitely the weakest of the 3, but if you go in with the right mindset I think you can enjoy it. I tried to watch it years ago but turned it off a third of the way through. Sofia Copolla is just so completely terrible in it I just couldn't take it anymore. But it turns out in the grand scheme of things she's not really in that many scenes after all, so I was able to get past her. Everything else though is actually pretty good, it looks and feels like a Godfather film, even though it was 16 years later. And it was nice to see a proper conclusion to the story.

Still haven't watched the Godfather series yet. Can't bring myself to it simply because I don't like gangster movies. Not the most compelling to me at all.

On a side note, my fiance and I watched Monsters vs Aliens this weekend, and it is a fun movie. Seth Rogan made that movie 10 times more funnier than it should have been. The only problem I had was her choice to stay as a monster. Most females wouldn't want that, maybe a dude, but not a female IMO.

 

[Wanace]

Alice in Wonderland - Loved the 3D (my first time seeing a movie in 3D, didn't catch Avatar yet). Didn't really like the movie, but I can't say I enjoy Tim Burton films very much, aside from Big Fish.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

The Station Agent - 4/5

Really liked it. Characters are developed well and are emotionally consistent. The lead was excellent.


Surrogates - 2/5

Oh dear. Interesting subject-matter undergoes preternatural gang rape by people who must've thought I Robot was good. The entire thing felt phoned in.


Eden Lake - 3/5

Nothing particularly bad about the movie's production or acting. It's just that it didn't get me to care. People should just go watch Haneke's Funny Games instead.

 

[Snuggles]

So I watched Precious and Up in the Air. Up in the Air was nice, it was charming and enjoyable all the way through but I wouldn't consider it among the best pics of the year. I wasn't too impressed by Precious, aside from some good acting it just felt like a glorified Lifetime movie. The over the top stuff that was supposed to be sad was more funny than anything. I guess I just don't get all the clamor for it.
Up in the Air - 4 Snuggles out of 5
Precious - 2 Snuggles out of 5

 

[afternoon delight]

Eden Lake - 3/5

Nothing particularly bad about the movie's production or acting. It's just that it didn't get me to care. People should just go watch Haneke's Funny Games instead.

Word. I think it got a lot of hype in this thread a while ago, and it was most definitely a rental-only title. The apathy for the characters is exactly what I felt as well. Nothing grabbed me and by the time the

Spoiler

kid's lit on fire, or killed, etc

I could have cared less.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

seven samurai - from kurosawa (i think) 4/5

well thats 3 1/2 hours of screaming dudes, good movie, i noticed one thing...
could it be that one of the samurai (the one that is no real samurai) is the archetype of every manga/anime character to come? how he moves, how he talks, scratches his head... and that was in the 50s ... ???
its like a char. from one piece ...

last king of scottland 1/5

because of this movie i decided that whenever a movie pulls a "we need tension... lets have the main character fall in love with the wife of that guy able and willing to kill him"
i`m going to stop watching, or walk out of the cinema...

if this is your last resort to make me care - fuck of ... this deus ex machina of "hollywood tension" is getting old

 

[Timber]

Hey guys, despite my growing addiction to Deadly Premonition...

i hate you. it would be a crime against everything decent if this doesn't get a PAL release

could it be that one of the samurai (the one that is no real samurai) is the archetype of every manga/anime character to come? how he moves, how he talks, scratches his head... and that was in the 50s ... ???

i don't know jack about anime and manga, but this may very well be the case, because Seven Samurai set the mold and established archetypes for many, many things.

here's what i've seen the past week:

Spring, Summer & various other seasons (2003)
i agree with Strangelove on this one; didn't do much for me at all. the imagery is nice but that can't be said about the rest of the movie. i'm usually a sucker for blatant symbolism because it makes me feel smart, but it was taken to an unbearable extreme here.

Summer with Monika (1953)
early Bergman. adapted from a quintessentially European novel which, although I haven't read it, rang very familiar because these kinds of books are a dime a dozen over here. at times i was getting flashbacks of having to read dutch literature in high school. still, the presentation was excellent and the characters worth observing. it never reaches the heights of the movies he made in the following years, but a nice foundation is being laid here.

The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976)
only my second Eastwood western after Unforgiven. Leone was his teacher but this very much follows the tradition of Ford. many of the secondary characters seemed to come straight out of the Ford lexicon. nothing about this is particularly original, but it doesn't really need to be as it's basically an amalgam of everything that makes westerns awesome. there really must be only a handful of westerns that aren't about revenge in some way or other.

The Freshman (1925)
i'm not very familiar with Harold Lloyd. the only other movie of his i've seen is Safety First, and this hardly compares. there're some good jokes but they're spread too thin, and some of them drag on for much too long. his suit falling apart during a party is funny for 5 minutes, not so much for 20. but i am getting a bit too negative here. it's an enjoyable movie, but Safety Last is just so great that i couldn't help but be disappointed.

Code 46 (2003)
probably the most serene sci-fi movie i've ever seen; it feels almost like i dreamed the whole thing up. it reminded me of godard's alphaville, another great dystopian movie, in the way the special effects are sparse, and that lighting and sound are used to establish a mood that makes the present seem futuristic. it presents the future in a negative way, but doesn't do so as hysterically paranoid as most dystopian fiction. it presents some interesting ideas: genetic manipulation, global village used to facilitate social control/repression... nothing too profound, but the ideas never get the better of the intimate story that lies at the movie's heart. samantha morton is just preternaturally talented and tim robbins was great as well.

Orphée (1950)
damn. cocteau must have been a hell of a polymath, considering that directing wasn't his primary occupation yet he managed to do things with the medium no one else did. Orphée takes some of the brilliant surrealism from Blood of a Poet and works it into a remarkably spellbinding narrative. one thing i love about both movies is how cocteau equates the artistic process with life itself. writing about Orphée i find myself at a loss for words. there are so many ideas and concepts to describe and i feel i've only discovered half of them, and i only grasped half of the meaning of the ones i did find. will watch it again soon.

Dolls (2002)
damn. kitano sets out to make the saddest movie ever, does a hell of an admirable job. a haunting tableau about love, loss and abandonment. like Orphée it takes such a strong hold of the senses and the emotions that i need to see it again to understand it better. i read that kitano claims this to be his most violent movie, which is funny because Scorsese said the same thing about The Age of Innocence, another minor masterpiece.

Conte d'été (A Summer's Tale) (1996)
damn! this is close to perfect. i'm a Rohmer neophyte, this being my second of his movies after Love/Chloe in the Afternoon, but i don't think i'm overstepping my boundaries when i say that he really understood people. at the very least he understood the subset of people that i fall under, because i see so much of myself in his lead characters. it's like anthropology on celluloid. Summer's Tale really isn't about much else than a dude on vacation trying to make up his mind which of 3 girls he likes best, and there's very little drama or any sort of action or even plot, but man i was enraptured for every second.

edit: forgot a few movies :/

 

[Mifune]

High and Low

Kurosawa's police procedural from 1963, and it hasn't aged a day. Kid gets kidnapped and we watch the authorities scramble to get him back. Beautifully restrained and composed, although a bit familiar. But from that first shot of

Spoiler

the kidnapper walking through the town to his frankly pathetic apartment

, it becomes a different, richer movie. Like most of Kurosawa's movies, it delivers insights about the haves and have-nots which still resonate today. It's a deeply unsettling film that I can't quite shake. And although it might be strange to see a contemporary Kurosawa film, it is still unmistakably a Kurosawa film.

 

[nilbog21]

high and low is so good

the ending is O_O

 

[Mifune]

high and low is so good

the ending is O_O

Isn't it though.

Spoiler

One of the bleakest and most emotionally brutal endings I've seen in a while. The shutter closes and we know these two characters can't possibly understand each other, these two classes can never live in harmony. Potent stuff.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Today, I watched:

Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

This movie is damn good and damn pretty. I think that it maybe drags just a little bit, but it's an enthralling enough piece of work that it manages to hold the attention anyway. The character of Hidetora is deliciously over-the-top, as fits a movie told in such broad mythological and archetypal strokes, and yet, at the same time, there is a certain humanity to him that is hard to pin down. I kind of agree with Ebert's assessment (which I think is the assessment of others as well, though I'm not read enough to know for sure) that Kurosawa took the character very personally. I think it's interesting that the title translates to 'revolt' and to 'chaos', depending on the context. Myself, I think that I like 'chaos' better; the movie is a story of a kingdom that has found relative peace and its slow descent back into anarchy and violence, as is the way of nature. The copy that I watched was unbelievably shitty (one of the worst DVD transfers I've ever seen); I need to watch a better version of this to get a full idea of its visual beauty, but as an adaptation of Shakespeare, it works pretty well.

Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)

A good time at the movies. It's not one of the greatest movies of all time, but for a horror movie (which is not a genre that I generally like), it's pretty good. Sissy Spacek did a lot of interesting work as a young actress, and while she and Piper Laurie are both over-the-top in this, they manage to make their performances work in the context of the film (though I think Laurie may chew it just a little bit too much). This movie is all about the last 25 minutes or so, though, and boy do they deliver. De Palma manages to shoot a chaotic scene of death and destruction with a sure hand that lets you see every part of the action very clearly while still giving a taste of the confusion of the situation. The movie is a little bit too blatant with its symbolism (though it's somewhat tongue-in-cheek about it), but it does what it sets out to do. I also see now that the recent movie Teeth is basically a modern interpretation of the concept of this movie.

Also, last night I watched (500) Days of Summer, and I think that you were too hard on it, Timber. Sure, there's a few cringeworthy moments and some Manic Pixie Dream Girl fetishizing, but if you go into the movie with the expectation that you will get a cute, quirky indie romantic comedy, the movie manages to deliver on that. Granted, I think people took their love of the movie too far (Oscar nomination? Really?), but it's a solid enough movie on its own terms.

Edit: Not that I think that there's anything inherently wrong with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl in cinema.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

The Freshman (1925)
i'm not very familiar with Harold Lloyd. the only other movie of his i've seen is Safety First, and this hardly compares. there're some good jokes but they're spread too thin,

That's an issue in a fair number of Lloyd's feature-length silents (don't get me started on how weak the talkies are). One of the more notable exceptions, imo, is the Kid Brother, which does have some lengthier one-note jokes, yet is an absolute delight from start to end. It's probably my favorite of his.

Quite a few of the shorter films are definitely worth watching, so don't let the Freshman deter you there.

 

[jakncoke]

No internet for like a week has got me to a speed in where i might actually reach 100 this month.

5) 2012 7.0

6) Half Light 6.0

7) Van Helsing 8.0

8) Wrong Turn 7.0

9) Wrong Turn 3 7.0

10) Law Abiding Citizen 9.0

11) Quarantine 5.0

12) Radioland Murders 8.0

13) The Davinci Code 7.0

14) Angels and Demons 7.0

15) Nights in Rodathe 4.0

16) Frozen River 8.0

17) Bedtime Stories 6.0

18) Youngblood 8.0

19) My Best Friends Girl 7.0

20) Right to Die 8.0

21) Last Voyage 5.0

22) 100 Feet 8.0

23) Without a reasonable doubt 8.0

24) Proximty 6.0

25) Night of the Living Dead(1990 version) 8.0

26) The Bookies 7.0

27) The Good The Bad The Ugly 10.0

28) The Great Debaters 8.0

29) A Couples Retreat 4.0

30) Jersey Girl 6.0

31) A Guy thing 7.0

 

[Timber]

That's an issue in a fair number of Lloyd's feature-length silents (don't get me started on how weak the talkies are). One of the more notable exceptions, imo, is the Kid Brother, which does have some lengthier one-note jokes, yet is an absolute delight from start to end. It's probably my favorite of his.

Quite a few of the shorter films are definitely worth watching, so don't let the Freshman deter you there.

Much appreciated; I'll see if I can track down The Kid Brother and the shorts. I'm thinking that perhaps I made a mistake in seeing Safety Last (not First, heh) before everything else, but if any of his other stuff reaches even half that level of greatness then I'll gladly watch it. One of the things I liked most about Safety Last, other than the jaw-dropping Keatonesque finale, is that it was the earliest example (that I know of) of the type of "comedy of awkwardness" that seems to be very popular nowadays. I was hoping Freshman to contain more scenes like the one in Safety Last where Lloyd pretends to be the manager to impress his girlfriend.

Also, last night I watched (500) Days of Summer, and I think that you were too hard on it, Timber. Sure, there's a few cringeworthy moments and some Manic Pixie Dream Girl fetishizing, but if you go into the movie with the expectation that you will get a cute, quirky indie romantic comedy, the movie manages to deliver on that. Granted, I think people took their love of the movie too far (Oscar nomination? Really?), but it's a solid enough movie on its own terms.

Edit: Not that I think that there's anything inherently wrong with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl in cinema.

This is only tangentially related to your post, because I don't feel like specifically discussing 500 Days much in fear of popping a blood vessel (all right, slight exaggeration), but I've been wondering why I hate movies like Juno, Garden State and 500 Days so much and love everything Wes Anderson has done. I think it's because with Anderson, the quirkiness isn't as forced as with the aforementioned movies. For example, Anderson utilizes pop music, but never in a manner of "Look, the main character likes the same things you do!". He doesn't have to namedrop; he lets the songs - and his movies - speak for themselves. The dude from 500 Days drunkenly singing Train in Vain is pandering; Bill Murray going on a rampage shooting pirates set to Search & Destroy is awesome. With Anderson all these things seem... well, not exactly effortless, but they seem to come more natural to him. His imitators just try way, way too hard to capture the spirit of our generation or whatever.

As for MPDG, I think filmmakers should've closed that book after Maude from Harold and Maude. Everything after her just seems so conventional and uninspired.