What is the last movie you saw? and rate it.

[MorpheusSandman]

The World (2004; Zhangke Jia) - 9/10

A wonderful "slice-of-life" film about a young couple working at an amusement park in Beijing whose theme is the great landmarks of the world. Superficially, not much happens in terms of plot or drama. Jia, like many Asian filmmakers, prefers distant observation to up-close dramatization, objective long-takes to dynamic editing. Most scenes are shot in single takes that can run well over 1 minute with the camera far enough back so that we not only observe the characters but their environment. This creates a sense of detachment, and it's the source of why many claim these types of films are boring. However, it also creates a rhythm that can be utterly hypnotic. The sense of time and space a viewer gets with this approach allows them to view the characters symbolically within the environment, and time enough to contemplate what's being shown. This has rarely been more important than in a film like this that juxtaposes the superficial, idealized wonderment of "the world" at the theme park, with the sociological destitution of China's suffering people around the edge of the frames. The ending is remarkable; Jonathan Rosenbaum told Ebert that he's seen the film 5 times and still doesn't get the ending. I like what Ebert said about it, that it's a film whose story is about a story that never has a chance to get started.

I watched Winter’s Bone last night; it’s a great film. Jenifer Lawrence’s performance was brilliant throughout the movie. 8/10

I reviewed this film a while back for Cinelogue: http://www.cinelogue.com/reviews/winter-s-bone2 I agree about Jennifer Lawrence, but there was still a certain something missing from that film that kept it from being a favorite of mine that year.

[Snowqueen]

I reviewed this film a while back for Cinelogue: http://www.cinelogue.com/reviews/winter-s-bone2 I agree about Jennifer Lawrence, but there was still a certain something missing from that film that kept it from being a favorite of mine that year.

I’ve read your detailed review of Winter’s Bone and really liked it. I also love that scene, where Tearsdrop encounters the sheriff. Thanks for sharing.

[farnoosh]

The lucky one. 5/10

[MorpheusSandman]

The Kingdom (1994-1997; Lars Von Trier) 9.0/10

This is such a tough one to rate... For its scanty 8 episodes The Kingdom is as brilliant as anything that's ever been on TV, a strange mix of ER, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks, but much like Twin Peaks, The Kingdom ends on a cliffhanger without a third and final season. There really are no words to express just how frustrating this is, because with a proper ending, this could've very well been Trier's masterpiece and one of the ten best TV dramas ever. As is, it's still utterly compelling and brilliant, but ultimately disappointing to an almost devastating degree. One can praise the series on every conceivable level, from the well-written, original characters to the bold choices made in the shooting and editing to the utter originality of many of its twists and turns, including a gigantic half-demon, half-human, ultimately benevolent baby that looks like a love-child of David Cronenberg and the baby from Lynch's Eraserhead. The image of that head being born is permanently seared into my memory. Oh, and did I mention the series is funny as hell? Damn, such a shame it couldn't be finished.

[islandclimber]

Morpheus, what do you think is the best TV drama? I've always considered Krzysztof Kielowski's Dekalog to be at another level from anything else made for that medium. Vladimir Bortko's adaptations of The Idiot and Master and Margarita for tv were fantastic as well.

[MorpheusSandman]

If we count Dekalog, then I agree wholeheartedly. Kieslowski is one of my 10 favorite directors ever, and that's likely his masterpiece. I consider it a great film series as much as a great TV series. When I think of TV I tend to think of serial dramas more so than mini-series like Dekalog, though. As far as those goes, I'd probably have to go with Twin Peaks, followed by The Sopranos and The Wire. The Kingdom is right there, though it's another one I consider as cinematic as, err, televisiony. Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz deserves a mention, as well.

[islandclimber]

I suppose Dekalog could be compared to overly long films like Bela Tarr's Satantango and then would not really qualify for the TV series category. The same thing with Bortko's adaptations. Berlin Alexanderplaetz completely slipped my mind, another brilliant work. So, I suppose in eliminating all those. Twin Peaks would probably lead for me.

[MorpheusSandman]

Really, the only thing that differentiates TV and film is the format, and both have a great deal of variation. Satantango is classified as a film, even though it's longer than many single seasons of a TV show. Dekalog can be considered TV, since it aired on TV, or film if taken as a collection of 10 short films with a related subject. I don't put too much stock in such classifications, but my general rule of thumb is that TV is episodic and serial, film is non-episodic, and mini-series (and works like Dekalog, Berlin Alexanderplatz, etc.) are hybrids.

[Emil Miller]

I reviewed this film some time ago and watched it again yesterday. It's among my top ten films on account of its stupendous acting and characterization.
Arthur Kennedy gives the performance of a lifetime and Kirk Douglas is also at his best. Much criticism has been levied at Gertrude Lawrence's performance but, as the anguished single mother of crippled Jane Wyman and her brother Arthur Kennedy, trapped in a run-down St Louis apartment, she is both irritating (as the script requires) and at the same time pitiful. Wyman is superb as the crippled Laura Wingfield and heartbreakingly shy and withdrawn on account of her disability. When her brother invites a workmate home, it seems as though all the longed for hopes of the mother for a 'gentleman caller' who might take up with Laura, have been realised. The workmate ( Kirk Douglas), who believes in self-improvement, takes pity on the girl and teaches her to be more self-confident and in that one evening changes her perception of herself so that she becomes less reclusive and more outward looking. Then he reveals that he is engaged to be married to someone called Betty but Laura, although disappointed, knows that he has changed her forever.
If I had been Kirk Douglas, I would have dropped Betty and married Laura like a shot.

[MorpheusSandman]

It Happened One Night (1934; Frank Capra) - 9.5/10

What can be said about this masterpiece except that it's perhaps the paradigmatic, archetypal romantic comedy, and certainly one of the best films to come out of Classic Hollywood? Claudette Colbert was reportedly paid double her salary ($50,000 out of the film's $325,000 budget) and remarked after filming that it was the worst film she's ever made... this was before the film swept the Oscars, with her winning best actress, Gable winning best actor, Capra winning best director, and the film winning best film. It's just one of those films where everything works: the comedy, the characters, the writing, the acting, the motivic gags. It's essentially perfect.

The Southerner (1946; Jean Renoir) - 8.5/10

Renoir considered this his best American film, and it's not difficult to understand why. It features his typically understated visual poetry that he reserved for the hardworking lower classes. While it lacks the satire of his masterpieces like The Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game, it makes up for it in its warm, meditative, elegiac tonality and delicate, almost ethereal camera. Perhaps the only negative are the unknown actors, that can't quite summon up the poignancy that Renoir tries to generate. Besides that, it's a fine film, and one of the best films made on its subject matter outside The Grapes of Wrath.

A Dry White Season (1989; Euzhan Palcy) – 4/10

A film whose heart is in the right place in its depiction of the horrors of apartheid in Africa and the ignorance of the privileged, bourgeoisie white classes, but whose execution boils down to amateurish propaganda.

Europa (1991; Lars Von Trier) – 9/10

Before Trier’s Dogme days, he was an unabashed stylist, almost to the point of baroque mannerism. Europa is his masterpiece of that style, which features more archaic classic film techniques—including the superb usage of back and front projection—than you can shake a stick at. This is one of those films whose cinematic, visual, aesthetic atmosphere trumps all other considerations. It’s a beautiful, haunting film, and really shows off Trier’s diversity given that he would make Breaking The Waves—a masterpiece in a completely different vein—just a few years later.

Cowards Bend the Knee (2003; Guy Maddin) – 7/10

Not Maddin’s best film, though it’s a fascinating exercise in silent film archaisms like his others, but earlier efforts like Arkangel and Careful are much better, not to mention the mini-masterpiece, The Heart of the World.

[Joreads]

I watched Winter’s Bone last night; it’s a great film. Jenifer Lawrence’s performance was brilliant throughout the movie. 8/10

It is an amazing movie and the novel is also great

[kaethe]

On a small side note has anyone seen Django? I saw it and loved it, but I would like to hear diverse opinions on it.

Sorry, I can´t give you a diverse opinion. Christoph Waltz at its best! So funny and clever, that movie. I so loved the opening scene with Dr. Schultz. "Guten Morgen, ihr armen Teufel!"
The bag scene has Monty Python niveau!

[YesNo]

Nobody walks: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1907731/

Score 1/10

Many of the scenes didn't make sense. The portrayal of sound effects didn't make sense. The scenes with the son didn't make sense. The "angry poem" the daughter wrote about the Italian tutor didn't make sense nor did his anger in response. She was basically a wretched student. I can see how the visitor's affairs with the husband and assistant might have the potential to make sense, but they ultimately didn't.

[MorpheusSandman]

All About My Mother (1999; Pedro Almodovar) - 8/10

As with all Almodovar, the film has visual flair to spare, but here it's set in a slightly more subdued and somber mood, and is all the more stronger for it. The characters are less caricatured than in his earlier work; they have a real humanity to them, which makes the films more melodramatic moments (and they are still rather too frequent) work better than in the past. I like how Almodovar acknowledges his influences, mainly A Streetcar Named Desire and All About Eve, which gives the films several more layers to work with. About the only negative is that the pacing is awkward in parts, especially the abruptness of many of the tragic moments, and the humor occasionally comes off as a bit forced. Ultimately, it's still a very moving film with some of the best characters conceived in cinema in the last 10+ years.

[Emil Miller]

Weird casting of top Hollywood actress Gene Tierney with Shakespearean actor Leo Genn in
this B/W British film with one of the worst scripts imaginable for a screenplay that is meant
to taken seriously. The story concerns a young girl student (Glynnis Johns) who has a crush on her
classics master and who disappears after a row with the teacher's wife, leading to small town
gossip that she may have committed suicide or that he might have murdered her.
All too obviously adapted from a play, there are a series of fraught scenes between the girl's parents
and the hapless teacher and similar scenes with the police and the school head before the girl
turns up, having run away to stay with a friend in London; thereby resuscitating the failed marriage
of the tutor and his American wife.

My film guide sums it up nicely: 'Preposterous domestic drama making much ado about nothing.'