I watched a snippet of Dawn of the Dead a few weeks ago, and I think it was during the birthing scene when the old woman figures out what's going on and both she and Omar Epps unload into each other. The only thing that was going through my mind during that scene was "wow, Zack Snyder sure wants us to notice those expended shell casings."
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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| June 2013
- Thread starter TheKaeptain
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Anton Sugar
Member
Yeah, you can see snippets of his "style" in Dawn of the Dead.
Messofanego
Banned
Man of Steel
You'll believe a man can ruin a good Superman with absolutely fucking awful camerawork.
I just wanted a good action movie
You'll believe a man can ruin a good Superman with absolutely fucking awful camerawork.
I just wanted a good action movie
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
A Boy and His Dog comes to mind. It's a funny one. What about Dead Man's Letters?
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
How's The Road?
Time Of The Wolf
Wiki has a list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction
Discotheque
Banned
Stoker Aesthetically gorgeous movie failed by a hollow plot. It's a shame because I was intrigued at the start, but my expectations deflated quickly when the story unfolded in an unsurprising way. Some lovely transitions here and there, but some of the flashback felt unnecessary. 3/5
Discotheque
Banned
nooooo not beyond thunderdome. i didn't even want another hero after that shit.
kurisu_1974
Banned
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
The former's sick, the latter's about sick people. I'd go with the Bertolucci for kicks.
lol. Post apocalyptic nuclear wasteland or 20th century Latvia, WHO CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE!?
I've seen some movies last week:
Drive: 9
The place beyond the pines: 9
Only god forgives: 6.5
Argo: 7.5
The hangover 3: 6.5
The place beyond the pines made me wanna watch Drive again, such an awesome movie, great soundtrack as well.
The place beyond was really different than I expected but turned out great.
Only god forgives was hard to watch but strangely interesting.
Argo was not that special though the fact that it was based on a real story made it really compelling.
The Hangover was really different from it's predecessors but funny nontheless.
Drive: 9
The place beyond the pines: 9
Only god forgives: 6.5
Argo: 7.5
The hangover 3: 6.5
The place beyond the pines made me wanna watch Drive again, such an awesome movie, great soundtrack as well.
The place beyond was really different than I expected but turned out great.
Only god forgives was hard to watch but strangely interesting.
Argo was not that special though the fact that it was based on a real story made it really compelling.
The Hangover was really different from it's predecessors but funny nontheless.
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
Messofanego
Banned
As someone who hasn't read it, still pretty miserable.
Anton Sugar
Member
I loved the book and saw the movie--there was definitely something lacking. I don't really know what; maybe it's just the fact that translating beautiful and terrifying poetic prose doesn't really work all the time.
Naturally, that didn't apply to No Country for Old Men, which shares a similar style to The Road. I need to rewatch The Road, I just remember leaving the theatre with a sense of "eh". Not bad, at all, but lacking.
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
There was definitely more that it was lacking and a few things I didn't like about it, but I haven't seen it since '09, so I know I'm forgetting details. Most of what I remember is that the book made the apocalypse seem like the darkest, bleakest, most depressingly hopeless atmosphere I had ever encountered in any medium, as I was used to more fun PA settings like Fallout and A Boy and His Dog, etc. It was a case of "Damn, I don't ever ever want to live through this" for the former, and "man, the apocalypse is fun!" for the latter two. The movie didn't make me feel that way. I should probably rewatch it soon as well, refresh my memory.
No Country for Old Men is the direct opposite for me: loved the movie, but I just couldn't get into the book no matter how hard I tried.
near
Gold Member
Knowing how Chan-wook Park normally goes about unfolding he's stories I feel he was limited to what he could express in Stoker being he's first English language film, that being said he also mentioned in an interview that Stoker isn't really a story that revolves around much dialogue. The story takes place in a confined space, watching it a second time I ended up appreciating the characters and it just felt like a dark gothic fairytale. I quite love it for what it's worth. Just thought I'd share my opinion since I watched it again yesterday.
Discotheque
Banned
what about my winnipeg. y'all been to that city? y'all even heard of it?
don't go
don't go
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
Saw Before Midnight last night. I really enjoyed it, though not nearly as much as the first two as they seemed to have resonated with me a lot more. I also wasn't too fond of the ending to Midnight. When Celine told Jessie
I thought the movie was going to end there, but it didn't, and the following scene wasn't all the great I felt. If it had ended there, I felt it would have been a much more impactful ending if
the credits suddenly rolled and that was it. I would have left the theater thinking,
As is, I felt like there was a little too much closure. Everything else I enjoyed, even the supporting cast.
she didn't think she still loved him and walked out the door,
when the camera was focused on the closed door
"Holy Shit! Did they just break up?!?!"
Thug Waffle
Member
I had the same feeling.
On one hand, that would have devastated me since I invested so much into these characters. On the other, that would have been a damn daring move and, as you said, more impactful. I can't imagine how many people would rage if it ended like that, though.
Just finished Magnolia by PTA. Wow. How does he routinely get these kinds of performances out of people?
Kilgore Trout
Member
It was the same with Werckmeister Harmonies. Small Hungarian town, seems to be pre-WWII at least if not earlier; apocalyptic scenes occur and then at the end
there's a helicopter, completely altering the time period to something much later.
I think your idea has actually MORE resolution than the ending.
We really don't know where Jesse and Celine will go from here. They're getting along at the very end, but some serious shit was said and they both have issues, so we don't know if they'll ultimately stay together or end up breaking up in the long run. They're not a perfect couple but their problems may not (or may) be enough to split them up. Who can tell?
That was my take on it, as well.
It left with me a bittersweet feeling by the end of it; sure, they started smiling and laughing again, but for how much longer? With all the dirty laundry they decided to air out in the hotel room, especially Jesse's ambiguous statement about his infidelity, it's definitely up in the air as to how committed they are to each other now. Ending it at the hotel door closing after Celine's line would have been a hell of a way to end it, but it was a smarter play to leave it open-ended, I think.
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
Yeah, I guess you're right. I still think it would have been more impactful though, and the whole will they stay together is pretty much a question I ask with every film about a couple. I guess I was just looking for an ending with more oomph, like in Sunset, which had the perfect ending, more or less.
I wonder if Linklater and co. were afraid of a backlash had that been the ending, so they added the bit at the end to avoid it. It certainly would have taken balls to end it like that, but really, isn't that what independent film is, or rather was, about?
Just finished Eastern Promises. I enjoyed A History of Violence more. Whereas I felt AHoV could have added maybe 30 minutes and fleshed the story out a bit more, EP did that, but I kept waiting for the shit to hit the fan, but it never did. There was the
bath house
Nikoloi is a cop scene outside of the hospital.
Next up is either El Topo, 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (2nd attempt, couldn't get into it a few years ago), or The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (which version, Film-GAF?). And of course I still need to watch Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day, and HaHaHa.
It's crazy. I feel like he and Aronofsky are the two current American directors right now who can get great performances out of anybody.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
The Road. I liked it. I wasn't moved (or emotionally invested) and I wasn't a big fan of the ending either (and some other small stuff), but I really liked the look. The performances were very good too. 7/10
Thug Waffle
Member
I'd throw Tarantino in with that crew, but he writes such incredible dialogue that it could simply make up for actors' shortcomings. All three are solid writer/directors. Jarmusch might be a good fit as well. But in general, Aronofsky and Anderson definitely seem to get the most out of the talent they recruit and it really makes me wish I could sit in on rehearsals, table readings, or observe on set just to see how they communicate.
I was thinking the same exact thing.
That might spoil some moods in the short term, but years from now, I think it could only add to the film's legacy. People might still be upset that it was "all for nothing," but would that really have been the case? And we would have no way of knowing whether or not they resolved that fight, so it would always be a lingering possibility and a topic of debate for fans of the film.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I felt The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runnerhad to get that off my DVR. It's pretty good, an early flick for Richardson, but I don't like how it strays from the central metaphor of Collin running to reconcile his own thoughts about living in the borstal. Richardson soon veers into describing, to minute detail, the heist Collin and his friend pull off in the middle of the night (and this film already assumes that young men just like to go around stealing cars, which someone wouldn't guess if they didn't a thing or two about England at that time). While this is exciting, it's very relevant to developing Collin's psychology and backstory, which, before the heist stuff, is told in a more fragmented way befitting the story. That's my chief complaint, along with the musical direction being spotty and the ending a bit rushed in its conception. ***/**
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
Night and Day. I definitely wasn't into this one. It wasn't bad or anything, it just meandered along for two and a half hours and seemed pointless overall.
Regarding your spoiler, it was a
Regarding your spoiler, it was a
dream.
... what?
near
Gold Member
Watched V/H/S 2 last night, it wasn't scary per say but knowing that they mixed potentially real scenarios with fiction in the 5 or so videos shown was the intimidating part. Because most modern horror's are far from horrific, I'll give this a 3.5/5 for trying but I'll never watch this again.
Anton Sugar
Member
HaHaHa
Framed by B&W photographs of two friends (Munkyung and Jung-shik) meeting and reminiscing on summer experiences, we see their experiences in a town that they both visited, although they weren't aware of how intertwined their own stories are/were.
Both characters share a lot of Hong's recurring themes: young men stuck in a state of adolescence via sexual hunger, alcohol, and emotional immaturity. I did like getting more into the motivations and thoughts of Hong's female characters, which maybe gives a little more insight into what he's exploring: the fickleness of modern society.
Dishonesty is a large part in HaHaHa, not just through the characters' tales, but how they tell the tales. Earlier on, one of the narrators questions the other's facts in a particular story. This plants enough of a seed in your mind to make you doubt a lot of what you see, such as Munkyung's amazing prowess in bed with his new kinda girlfriend when they are both drunk, right after she says that drunk sex is always bad.
Of course, this dishonesty is present in their stories themselves, with characters lying, cheating, and using one another for superficial reasons. One of my favorite scenes is where Jung-shik is basically outsmarted (and manipulated, to some extent) by his mistress when she says, if he loves her, then he should be with her, and he just has no way to respond. Of course, it isn't that easy, but in a way, it should be; Jung-shik is too much of a coward to follow through with his feelings. By the time the story ends, Jung-shik has reconciled everything with his mistress and their new life, and Munkyung might even have a new wife that wants to run away with him! Even though we never actually see Munkyung and Jung-shik talking to each other, I could see them, each wanting to believe their experiences had been better than what reality actually produced.
The cinematography is his usual: minimal and unapologetic, bordering on ugly.
This one started with an interesting premise that was largely inconsequential. The intertwining of stories ends up not serving much of a purpose. You occasionally get glimpses into the "other side" of the stories, as Munkyung and Jung-shik unknowingly cross paths, but other than a few fun uses of this, I didn't really see why it was relevant that these two things happen in the same place, other than to point out the coincidence. I got a little tired of this device after it became evident that nothing would come of it. Maybe the idea was to show how each character was so close to knowing the truth about the other's experiences, but because they never made the connection, they were free to invent their own stories.
This is my least favorite of Hong's films. It is a mash of a lot of Hong's traits but the execution didn't quite work for me. I didn't dislike it, but just found myself unaffected and, honestly, a little bored. What I like most about Hong is how the structure of the narrative can be just as informative as the narrative itself; this is present here, but it didn't quite click for me.
5/10
Framed by B&W photographs of two friends (Munkyung and Jung-shik) meeting and reminiscing on summer experiences, we see their experiences in a town that they both visited, although they weren't aware of how intertwined their own stories are/were.
Both characters share a lot of Hong's recurring themes: young men stuck in a state of adolescence via sexual hunger, alcohol, and emotional immaturity. I did like getting more into the motivations and thoughts of Hong's female characters, which maybe gives a little more insight into what he's exploring: the fickleness of modern society.
Dishonesty is a large part in HaHaHa, not just through the characters' tales, but how they tell the tales. Earlier on, one of the narrators questions the other's facts in a particular story. This plants enough of a seed in your mind to make you doubt a lot of what you see, such as Munkyung's amazing prowess in bed with his new kinda girlfriend when they are both drunk, right after she says that drunk sex is always bad.
Of course, this dishonesty is present in their stories themselves, with characters lying, cheating, and using one another for superficial reasons. One of my favorite scenes is where Jung-shik is basically outsmarted (and manipulated, to some extent) by his mistress when she says, if he loves her, then he should be with her, and he just has no way to respond. Of course, it isn't that easy, but in a way, it should be; Jung-shik is too much of a coward to follow through with his feelings. By the time the story ends, Jung-shik has reconciled everything with his mistress and their new life, and Munkyung might even have a new wife that wants to run away with him! Even though we never actually see Munkyung and Jung-shik talking to each other, I could see them, each wanting to believe their experiences had been better than what reality actually produced.
The cinematography is his usual: minimal and unapologetic, bordering on ugly.
This one started with an interesting premise that was largely inconsequential. The intertwining of stories ends up not serving much of a purpose. You occasionally get glimpses into the "other side" of the stories, as Munkyung and Jung-shik unknowingly cross paths, but other than a few fun uses of this, I didn't really see why it was relevant that these two things happen in the same place, other than to point out the coincidence. I got a little tired of this device after it became evident that nothing would come of it. Maybe the idea was to show how each character was so close to knowing the truth about the other's experiences, but because they never made the connection, they were free to invent their own stories.
This is my least favorite of Hong's films. It is a mash of a lot of Hong's traits but the execution didn't quite work for me. I didn't dislike it, but just found myself unaffected and, honestly, a little bored. What I like most about Hong is how the structure of the narrative can be just as informative as the narrative itself; this is present here, but it didn't quite click for me.
5/10
Il conformista I had seen movies from great italian directors like Antonioni, Fellini and De Sica, but never anything from Bertoclucci. In that regard, I was taken by surprise by this movie's form and fast pace. The cinematography was unbelievable, perfectly framed shots, from POV, to handheld, to close-up, to extra long shots. I was amazed by the variation. Also, the final shot of this movie definitely belongs in the thread of greatest final shots.
The movie handles major themes like sexuality, religion and politics, but most of all of self-deception. Loved much of the dialogue, especially the exchanges between Clerici and his blind friend.
It's quite dense and packed with meaning, so I'll have to watch it again to get every nuance. The film also works as a political thriller, so it's enjoyable in that way too if one doesn't feel like analyzing the shit out of it.
Recommended by me. Check it out!
4.9/5
The shot being a reference to Plato's allegory of the cave discussed earlier in the film.
It's quite dense and packed with meaning, so I'll have to watch it again to get every nuance. The film also works as a political thriller, so it's enjoyable in that way too if one doesn't feel like analyzing the shit out of it.
Recommended by me. Check it out!
4.9/5
Your friend is wrong, but Cape Fear (1991) is actually hilarious if you pretend its a sequel to Taxi Driver.
Best logline ever.
-Stranger-
Junior Member
Django Unchained
Very enjoyable film, Tarantino's latest work is a success.
4/5
Very enjoyable film, Tarantino's latest work is a success.
4/5
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
rip icarus.
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