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

[Mathor]

Last night saw Up In the Air with George Clooney. I enjoyed it alot, plus the soundtrack was good too. I wouldn't go to see it if you've recently been laid off...too close for comfort. Some of the opening scenes were of people that had been laid off and you can understand all the emotions that are involved.
George Clooney was as good as ever. His performance was a little more controlled, not as much banter as usual, but still he had some good moments.
Very well written. My husband and I also saw recently, A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Both of course were animated. We enjoyed them as well, but it was nice to see real people in a low key movie for a change.

All of those movies are pretty fantastic. And Up In The Air was my number 1 favorite movie of 2009.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I had been meaning to order and Gandhi for nearly a year previously to last week. I must say that I was pretty much impressed throughout the entire film, what a marvellous epic work! The DVD had lots of interesting extras on too (5 hours) which is always a bonus. I'd certainly recommend the film to anyone like me who hadn't seen this film before.

I think I am going to watch Kundun tonight, which is a story of the Dalai Lama's life by Martin Scorsese, it looks like it might be OK.

[Janine]

I had been meaning to order and Gandhi for nearly a year previously to last week. I must say that I was pretty much impressed throughout the entire film, what a marvellous epic work! The DVD had lots of interesting extras on too (5 hours) which is always a bonus. I'd certainly recommend the film to anyone like me who hadn't seen this film before.

I think I am going to watch Kundun tonight, which is a story of the Dalai Lama's life by Martin Scorsese, it looks like it might be OK.

Neely, I loved that movie when it was first released. I actually believe I saw that one in the theater. It was wonderful. The acting superb. Do you recall who directed it? I can't myself...failing old age memory.

I like Martin Scorsese. I was just going to list two films I saw recently; he commentated on the DVD for both of them. He's a big fan of The Archers.

Here's what I watched, these two Michael Powell movies:

A Matter of Life and Death (Stairway to Heaven; US original release)

I can't say enough for this wonderful old film. It's quite different than anything I have seen before; very clever cutting and innovative technigues for the time. I saw some clips on Youtube and it made me want to see the film in it's entirity. It has this surreal scene of a stairway (escalator) leading slowly up to heaven. The DVD was marvelous, in that it was fully retored and the print vibrant and beautiful. The reality scenes are shot in vivid technicolor and the ocean scenes are stunning. The dream sequence or heaven sequence is shot in lighter tons of gray, b/w, which creates a luminous quality. One other cool scene stands out to me, of a ceiling of circles, which from the angle shot, looks like ovals and are very surrealistic. These parts reminded me of the Dali sequence in "Spellbound'...some parts actually remind me of "The Wizzard of Oz". The acting is a little melodramatic at times; but within standards of the day. I liked all the acting and thought the casting excellent and the actors top-notch. It stars David Niven, Kim Hunter. The script is witty and more meaningful than one first perceives. There is more here than meets the eye on first viewing. The more I thought about the film and the concept, the more possibilities I came up with. The film is actually based on a true story, in which an airman abandons his burning plane with no parachute, falls into the sea; and survives the fall; which is truly amazing. I won't give away anymore. That part is the beginning and there a lot more to come. I would rate this film highly and applaud the film-makers for coming up, at the time, with something entirely original; or so I believe it to be.

The Age of Constent

This is a later Powell film and I thought I might not like it as much but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved it! It stars Helen Mirren in her very first film role...she was wonderful. It also stars James Mason, who I have always thought a very fine actor. I don't have time to write fully write up the storyline; but it's shot in Queensland, Australia and it's stunningly beautiful. I think part is shot on an island of the coastline...very secluded and natural. Cora (Mirren) is a young girl who lives with an achohlic and abusive grandmother; James Mason comes there to the area thinking it's totally unihabited; he's an artist and looking to renew his inspiration in painting. Cora is saving as much money as she can to get away from the island and Mason (Brad) is happy finally to find a deserted place away from civilization and the critical art community. Of course, quicky he discovers to his grief that he is far from alone in this remote area of the world. Of course you can guess the read; their paths keep crossing and Cora eventually models for him; he is very kind and sweet and truly wants to pay her and help her to he goal. Of course, Cora is quite beautiful in a natural way. She is not the picture-perfect beauty one sees in magazines of today. She's actually a little overweight in the hip, bottom, upper leg area of her body.

There is a lot of comedy in this film, which I didn't expect. Brad's little dog is adorable and so funny; one scene has him slipping back into his collar when Brad returns to his ramshackle shack on the beach...that dog deserved an Academy Award! Another scene that really cracked me up was when they arrived on the island in a small outboard motor boat and the dog looked completely thrilled on the journey; but once there, when the transporter pulls away from the dock, he is whimmering on the edge, like he's begging the guy not to leave him in this God-forsaken wilderness.

I would definitely see this film many times over. It was a lot of fun and very touching as well. Being an artist myself, I think I very much appreciated how Brad felt. I would say it's a rare old gem and worth watching many times over. The supporting cast are really zany and funny. Seems this remote location has a few too many residents for Brad's comfort zone.

I got this entire set on Amazon for a very reasonable price. It was released and offered recently; I treated myself to some movie sets for Christmas.

I love the films of Powell and Pressburger! "The Red Shoes" is one of my alltime favorite films. A side note: Scorcess has a collection of memorabilia from the production. I saw it on my DVD features and it is very impressive; he adores the film! Hey, he has good taste in films!

[LitNetIsGreat]

Neely, I loved that movie when it was first released. I actually believe I saw that one in the theater. It was wonderful. The acting superb. Do you recall who directed it? I can't myself...failing old age memory.

I like Martin Scorsese. I was just going to list two films I saw recently; he commentated on the DVD for both of them. He's a big fan of The Archers.

Yes Richard Attenborough. It was his obsession taking him 20 odd years to make. It almost took him to breaking point and bankruptcy, and although he won eight Oscars for it and gained worldwide recognition, he never made a penny out of the film himself.

Kundun was poor.

[Janine]

[QUOTE=Neely;826400]Yes Richard Attenborough. It was his obsession taking him 20 odd years to make. It almost took him to breaking point and bankruptcy, and although he won eight Oscars for it and gained worldwide recognition, he never made a penny out of the film himself.


That's interesting. I like background stories - 20 odd years is a long time to remain dedicated to one project - he had to be obsessed!


Kundun was poor.

Was just reading about this film on Wikipedia. You might like to check out what they said. Oddly enough, it was nominated for four Academy Awards: for Art Direction (Dante Ferretti, art direction and Francesca Lo Schiavo, set decoration), Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Costume Design, and Original Score (Philip Glass). I think I would still be interested to see it considering that..they said the cinematography was beautiful and the score great. I don't know if it won any. The plot sounds a bit familiar but I might be thinking of another film similar to this one.

[Janine]

Moving right along....

Tonight I watched:

Bringing Up Baby ~ Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant

It's a screwball comedy, a little slapstick at times; but very witty and funny, too. The script and key lines were great. I laughed out loud quite a bit. I really, really enjoyed this old film. I can't get over that I have never seen this one before. Grant and Hepburn had perfect chemistry. I was surprised how well Cary Grant pulled off the comedy; but then again, he really just played his role 'straight' and it was wonderful. I found him very attractive in this film. He played a absent-minded professor and his geeky glasses almost made him seem more appealing. I don't know how he prevented himself from not cracking up, in many of the scenes; he really make one laugh and never he cracked a smile. Katherine Hepburn was adorable in this film; with much more girlish charm in her zany character of the scatter-brained Susan, than she usually exhibits. The dog and the leopard were really entertaining, too, as were the crazy cast of character actors. If you haven't seen this film, it's a 'must-see'. It's a good time and I am sure I will watch it many times over and still enjoy it emensely. The new release of the DVD was beautifully restored - now I know why they called it the silver screen. You can't beat the luminisence of the b/w film during this period. Definitely a 10/10 in the comedy genre. Loved it!!!

[DanielBenoit]

Avatar - We walked out of the theater. Me, Emily and Zach. Ten degrees below zero. We got into the car. Five minutes later Zach and I discovered that we really had to pee, really bad. I had drank two large sodas in the theater, and so did Zach. Soon enough we were bouncing up and down like little kids. Zachs house was only a couple of minutes away, but it seemed like forever. We even considered pulling over and peeing on the side of the road. Yes, we had to go that bad. But then a car drove past and we got back in, afraid of a police car driving by.

Soon enough after enough unbearable anticipation and suffering we got to his house and we ran out.

This pretty much parralells my experience at Avatar. All of a sudden shocking, tedious and you can't wait to get out.

Let me tell you my anticipation. This seems pretty much to be one of the best reviewed film out now. Ebert put it on his best of the year list. Many people on here loved it. People were comparing it to Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. One detractor on this website, NickAdams, who had not seen the movie, but stated that he didn't care about the innovations in special effects, he cared more about innovations in narrative and character. I knew how he felt, being more thrilled by films like Werckmeister Harmonies than say 2012. But after all I heard, I thought of him being a bit close-minded, for if one treats Star Wars as a profound art film, then it will come out as a superficial mess with a fortune-cookie philosohy. But if you treat it for what it is, and that is a purely entertaining Saturday night-matinee, then you get one of the greatest films of all time.

Avatar is not one of them. It is no Star Wars nor is it no Lord of the Rings. People seem to have a habit of overreating to James Cameron's films, and whilst watching it I thought what a mediocre director Cameron was in comparison to Peter Jackson. Neither really make profound films nor a either anywhere close to the likes of Stanley Kubrick, but Jackson applies special effects in such a masterful way, that I was thinking about The Lord of the Rings the whole time I was watching this movie.

Take a simple example. In The Lord of the Rings Jackson uses the beating of the Ring-Wraiths wings as a hallucinatory and atmospheric dread. The theater becomes silent as the stereo blurts out the minimalistic pounding draining out eveything. When you think about it it's quite poetic. Now despite my youthful passion for the films when they first came out over seven years ago, I now consider The Lord of the Rings to be despite its landmark influence on special effects, I no longer see it as a great film. But Avatar is not even a good film and is infinitley more tedious than even a second of the nine hours of the three LOTR films.

What's even more insulting is that the special effects at times, or rather most of the time, are so obviously. .. . .special effects. CGI today is used so indulgently that it all seems all too cartoonish. LOTR, before the CGI explosion, used it to an extent in which is was supposed to convince you that it was reality. For every second I saw Gollum, I was utterly convinced that he was real and that Mordor was a real place. The texture of monsters like Shelob seemed so realistic that I was truly freaked out. Here, there are some rather beautiful images, but everything looks like a special effect and are utterly unconvincing. The whole time I was thinking "oh look how well done these special effects are" and not "wow I hope the blue aliens survive". See. I cared so little about this films world and characters that I even forgot what those creatures are called. This has got to be one of the most passive movie going experiences I have ever had. So much was happening on-screen, but I was completely shut-off, it was as if a great distance existed between me and the screen.

That said, somewhere under here lies the film so many critics were talking about. The avatar thing is fascinating and the way it is gone about is enthralling. The romance between one of the creatures and the main character is charming and rather beautiful, and Zoe Salanda's performance as the films herorine (all animated mind you) is quite convincing and rather good. But all of this, all of the wonders done with the special effects and story (despite the weak dialouge and screenplay) are put to no good use with James Cameron's arrogant, indulgent and awful direction which has no skill or respect for aesthetic effect or even special effects themselves. He just throws this well-done CGI at you and puts no life or feeling into it. There was not one second of the film in which I felt like I had entered the films world. Not one. My mind was in the theater the whole time.

Now of course James Cameron's going to get nominated for Best Director and his film may even get a Best Picture nomination, as well as nine others, just like with Titanic, because Hollywood is always immedietly impressed with a special effects film that is halfway better than something like Transformers. Sitting through Avatar is nowhere near the pain and torture of sitting through Transformers, but at least everyone else in the theater thinks so. Avatar is bound to be named by the general public as one of the greatest films of all time just as much as they did with Titanic and LOTR. Though that may be, fifty years from now, Citizen Kane will still stand tall. 4/10

[wessexgirl]

Gummo - Some may say that director Harmony Korine is unfair and condecending towards his characters, presenting them as dumb, racist white trash, and while the extremity of this film may create a convincing argument for that (for its content is not gracious or subtle) it is too shallow an interpretation in this otherwise haunting and hypnotically strange and disturbing film.

Yes before viewing this I had heard all about the films contnet; the cat-drowning scene, the depictions of racism, the extremely odd logic of the film, which consists of a series of surreal vignettes concerning a small Ohio town which had been hit by a tornado.

At the begining we are presented with many explicitly disturbing things, not least one of them being the drowning of a cat by two teenagers, then them going to the grocery store to sell it. One of the teens narrates and talks about his friend "some say he's evil". At this point we certainly agree, knowing very well that most serial killers began with killing cats. But they don't kill for enjoyment, or at least partly. Their hunt is in a sense a strange and offbeat means of survival, it's Korine's modern twist on the hunter-gatherer culture. What the grocery store does with the cats I don't know and probably don't want to know, but that doesn't matter. The point is that they are killing cats, but why is it so much more disturbing than if they were killing bears or wolves.

There are many deep and simple snapshots just like this throughout this exploration through this hic town in mid-western America. Take one in which a girl figures out she has AIDS. She goes to a doctor and learns that she's going to have to have her breasts surgically removed. She despairs over the fact that she won't be able to get a boyfriend after that because "boys are like that". Which raises an uncomfortable and yet deeply troubling question: Do we as a society place all the value of a women in her breasts? If so, what is she to men when she no longer has them? The answer is deeply troubling.

This film is a masterpiece of poetic and despairing moments concerning suicide, murder, Satanism, sexuality, death, old age, racism and blue-collar culture. Korine makes a masterful use of different film mediums to convey his visual poetry, which is effective at all times with haunting voice-over narration by the two teenagers. Just take the opening sequence in which one of them describes the tornado that hit. To hear his voice and the things he says so simply is chilling.

This is a troubled and deeply disturbing film whose style and subject matter will immedietly turn off many people. Those who cherish experimental art cinema know who they are and will seek out this film, if you are still watching Twilight, you may not be ready for this film just yet. It has a beautiful pace and is masterfully directed by the young Korine and hardly ever fails at what it does (except at the more light-hearted comedic parts). And despite its disturbing images, it does have heart and moments of tenderness you are shocked to find. There is a beautiful scene in which one of the teenagers pays to have sex with a prostitute. She turns out to be a weirdly motherly and innocent girl who looks like she walked out of a cartoon from the 50's. Instead of having sex the two talk and she mothers him in an odd and tender way. When I say this film has heart, I mean it is embedded under all of the despair and suffering of this horror, just like at the heart of every human being. 9/10

I'd never heard of this film Daniel until this :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibs1akHKzU0

Harry Hill is hilarious :lol:.

[LitNetIsGreat]

That's interesting. I like background stories - 20 odd years is a long time to remain dedicated to one project - he had to be obsessed!

Well it was an on and off project, largely dictated by funding issues. In his own words he did make a lot of "crap" in order that he could help fund his one real project - though he was certainly obsessed.

[DanielBenoit]

Avatar - 10/10 - I wasn't looking forward to this movie. I mainly saw this to prove how good it WASNT. No amount of bias can bring this visual triumph down. And no, it's not because the visual triumph is such a spectacle, it's because it is paired with a story that is surprisingly amazing.

This movie does everything you would dislike in a movie. It's filled to the brim with special effects, it's about 75 percent animation, the last 1/3 of the movie is one long action sequence. These are things which one could normally safely say ruin just about any movie. James Cameron proves that he is the exception to the rule. So much intricacy is put on developing the story, that by the time the action rolls around, you're praising god that it's there. This movie is the 'Ben-Hur' or 'Jaws' of our era. This film does things with motion that I did not know were possible. Okay, James Cameron, after months of thinking this was a TERRIBLE concept for a film (with a story that from the trailer seems pretty wishy-washy) you've proven me wrong. I should have expected this.


EDIT: One other point. This is the only movie I've ever seen in 3d where the 3d enriched the experienced. I have been adamant that 3D ruins the viewing experience, that it is distracting, that it really has no place in cinema (and 99.999999 of the time I'm right). To this and all points, Cameron, Touche.


I am just so confused. I seriously feel like I've seen a differrent movie from everybody else. Everybody's saying how absorbed they were and how it didn't seem all that long, for me, my God was I passive throughout the whole thing, and man did it seem like five hours. Another problem was that I was almost entirely indifferent to the entire film. It was certainly a million times better than pieces of crap like Transformers, but I was just utterly indifferent the whole time.

Believe me, I wasn't expecting an art film. I came into the theater in the Saturday night-matinee mindset. I was ready for some kick-*** action and special effects, and was ready to forgive all of the expect cliches one is bound to find in a action movie. But James Cameron to me just used all of his effects to no good use by just putting them up there on screen. As I've mentioned before in my review, maybe it's best to parallell the scenes with the flying Ring-Wraiths or when those big elephants come in LOTR with any of the battle seqeunces and you'll see that Peter Jackson is the superior director. Also, take another example from Star Wars; there was an utter excitment in hearing and seeing those lightsabers come out before a dual. It was perfect and enthralling. Avatar had no effects that enthralled me in any way as those other two films.

Sorry if I keep on writing about Avatar, but I am very troubled by this film.

[Jozanny]

Well, I have been asking Netflix to take me back, and this morning I watched Midnight Cowboy straight through for the first time, and then went and bought the novel so that I could contemplate the bleakness of the human condition even more. Three stars. I'd rate it higher but thought the flashbacks were not fully integrated into what motivated Joe Buck into his flights of doomed aspiration.

Even for its release date, however, I don't see why it was rated X even 40 years ago. The hard core sexual activity is heavily suggested, but never shown.

The story hit me hard though, and I have been awhile trying to talk myself out of feeling that most of us wind up like Ratso and Buck, or I might, at any rate.

[Idril]

I've seen it before but The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was on Comedy Central last night and since I greatly enjoyed the first viewing, I thought I would take in a second. I do love Wes Anderson's odd sense of humour. This isn't his best outing but I really did find it charming and the music...the acoustic David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese...was the icing on the cake.

[bluevictim]

I've seen it before but The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was on Comedy Central last night and since I greatly enjoyed the first viewing, I thought I would take in a second. I do love Wes Anderson's odd sense of humour. This isn't his best outing but I really did find it charming and the music...the acoustic David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese...was the icing on the cake.I think The Life Aquatic had some of the most outlandish scenes in Wes Anderson's movies. For example, the unforgettable pirate scenes (when Zissou gets them off his ship and when they go rescue Hennessey and the bond stooge from the pirates) were crazy, hilarious, clever, and thrilling. I think it's the only Wes Anderson movie where a major character dies. Life Aquatic and Royal Tenenbaums were my two favorite Wes Anderson movies, but I really like them all. Have you seen Fantastic Mr.Fox? I loved it, and I think that's saying a lot because my expectations were pretty high.

[DanielBenoit]

Gates of Heaven - What a sad, poetic and strangely off-beat and funny movie. A documentary about more than just pet cemetaries, it's going to take more than one viewing for me to dig this one up. Cinema at its finest. 10/10

[DanielBenoit]

I'd never heard of this film Daniel until this :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibs1akHKzU0

Harry Hill is hilarious :lol:.

Hmm, while I mildly appretiated the humour, I didn't care for his treatment of the films content. He treats the film as if it's some kind of snuff film made by a lunatic or as if it's just some meaningless MadTV sketch. While the chair wrestling scene as well as some others are supposed to be funny in an absurd way, there are many scenes of great insight that this comedian seems to treat as jokes. Yes it's a weird and disturbing film, and yes everything he mentioned about the film is in it, but he treats it like something it's not. Besides, nobody in that audience were going to see it anyway.

[Idril]

I think The Life Aquatic had some of the most outlandish scenes in Wes Anderson's movies. For example, the unforgettable pirate scenes (when Zissou gets them off his ship and when they go rescue Hennessey and the bond stooge from the pirates) were crazy, hilarious, clever, and thrilling. I think it's the only Wes Anderson movie where a major character dies. Life Aquatic and Royal Tenenbaums were my two favorite Wes Anderson movies, but I really like them all. Have you seen Fantastic Mr.Fox? I loved it, and I think that's saying a lot because my expectations were pretty high.

I haven't seen it yet but I think it's the only Wes Anderson movie I haven't seen. I've read some glowing reviews of the movie so I should get over the whole animated movie thing and just watch it. The pirate scenes were something else. I loved that Hennessey was shot in the chest at close range but yet within minutes is running around simply holding his bloody chest like it was nothing but a flesh wound. :lol: I love Willem Dafoe in that movie, such a different role for him.

[Mathor]

It's official, The Fantastic Mr Fox is my favorite Wes Anderson film. After many watches, this is the most wonderous of his films (all of which are pretty equally wonderous). This movie rewards repeated viewings to fully comprehend, kind of like all Wes Anderson films. The funny thing is the plot is almost nonsensical, but it doesn't really matter. Every bit of humor in this movie is far more intelligent than I knew humor could be. This movie is better than Up in my opinion (though arguable Up is just as good in other ways). When I saw Up I knew I had seen a good movie, though ignored some of the moreso cliche childish things, knowing I had just seen an animated movie directed towards a younger audience. The Fantastic Mr Fox, however, feels right at home.

[DanielBenoit]

It's official, The Fantastic Mr Fox is my favorite Wes Anderson film. After many watches, this is the most wonderous of his films (all of which are pretty equally wonderous). This movie rewards repeated viewings to fully comprehend, kind of like all Wes Anderson films. The funny thing is the plot is almost nonsensical, but it doesn't really matter. Every bit of humor in this movie is far more intelligent than I knew humor could be. This movie is better than Up in my opinion (though arguable Up is just as good in other ways). When I saw Up I knew I had seen a good movie, though ignored some of the moreso cliche childish things, knowing I had just seen an animated movie directed towards a younger audience. The Fantastic Mr Fox, however, feels right at home.

Hmmm, I have a special trust for films that get better on repeated viewings, and while I very much liked Fantastic Mr. Fox, I didn't find it to be one of the best of the year. Now thinking about it, I find those long shots and complex sets, as well as the wonderfully crude animation to be truly amazing and bravely unique. Maybe I should go back to see it. I need some revitalizing energy after the tedium of Avatar (I know I need to stop with the rotten apples).

[Mathor]

Hmmm, I have a special trust for films that get better on repeated viewings, and while I very much liked Fantastic Mr. Fox, I didn't find it to be one of the best of the year. Now thinking about it, I find those long shots and complex sets, as well as the wonderfully crude animation to be truly amazing and bravely unique. Maybe I should go back to see it. I need some revitalizing energy after the tedium of Avatar (I know I need to stop with the rotten apples).



yeah I remember talking about this movie with you about 3 or 4 months ago when i first saw it, and thinking it was alright (one of the better animated films, but not one of the best). After a couple more viewings I kind of feel silly for not enjoying it as much as I do now originally. Wes Anderson films are sort of like that, though. They give back what the viewer puts in. I can't think of any of his films that I didn't have completely lukewarm feelings for and then slowly warm up to realize the underlying brilliance.

On Avatar: Haha, I mean, I'm sure there's people out there who didn't like The Dark Knight either. It doesn't make much sense in my mind, but oh well. Don't worry, the only Oscars he will win for this film are technical awards that otherwise would've been won by Transformers 2. Avatar exists as a trump card to the mediocre special effects awards they would've had to give Transformers. Anything keeping the worst film of all time from winning awards is nothing short of a savior, no matter how you look at it. :lol:

On Peter Jackson: His newest film The Lovely Bones is one of my least favorite movies of the year

[wessexgirl]

Hmm, while I mildly appretiated the humour, I didn't care for his treatment of the films content. He treats the film as if it's some kind of snuff film made by a lunatic or as if it's just some meaningless MadTV sketch. While the chair wrestling scene as well as some others are supposed to be funny in an absurd way, there are many scenes of great insight that this comedian seems to treat as jokes. Yes it's a weird and disturbing film, and yes everything he mentioned about the film is in it, but he treats it like something it's not. Besides, nobody in that audience were going to see it anyway.

Er yes, that's the point......he is a comedian :lol:.

Of course no-one in the audience was going to see it....the whole joke was in reference to the film being unknown, and having its music chosen on the X Factor. Harry's whole programme is about sending up what's on tv, and is extremely popular over here, winning all sorts of awards. I don't see how anyone can get upset about him. He does a lot worse to the soaps.....:nod:

[NickAdams]

Avatar, Avatar, Avatar:

This is the kind of movie that makes me question what is cinema. For a long time I held the belief that cinema was a purely visual medium and that non-narrative (pure cinema) was the id and the borrowed elements were merely ego and super ego. I could never criticize the id accurately, because it would always come back to: "that's it's nature"; however, each borrowed element, mixed poorly, raises the question of its inclusion.

The motion capture is amazing and during the moments that it's not, overall, the authenticity of the Na'vi's teeth keeps the illusion. A nice bit of detail was Jake's legs.:thumbs_up The 3D, for the first thirty minutes or so, is extremely impressive; at it's best the depth created has an otherworldly dimension, at it's worst it looks like a shadow box (or one of those group magazine covers where everybody couldn't make it to the photo shoot at one time so they took pictures separately and photoshoped them together). There are some visual sequences that capture the energy and wonder naturally even though Cameron felt that he still needed a protagonist that has never been there before so we can be amazed through him. All of this would have been great, but the borrowed elements aren't mixed well and no matter how great a golden goblet looks, it can't make sewage taste any better.

So, what's borrowed? Everything that the passive moviegoer believes is essential to a good "flick". What's incorporated well? None of it. The characters are from the stock variety of Cameron's generation (more on that later), the story is of the going-native-noble-savage-great-White-hope variety (no offense intended), and the plot is of the there's-mulitple-chracters-so-if-nothing-is-"happening"-dramatically-to-one-we-can-focus-on-another-event-adventure variety.

Man did I enjoy this movie before the characters started to speak ... ok, there's a voice over narration from the opening shot ... so, I enjoyed this movie before Parker (Giovanni Ribisi) appeared on screen. That's not a criticism on his performance, but to the script. The exposition was ridiculous (Parker and Grace have been working together for how long? And he still has to explain the plot, I mean point, of the mission to the audience, I mean to her) and that "action" que was ... Parker-has-been-here-all-morning-so-lets-have-him-hitting-a-golf-ball-into-a-mug-to-say-something-about-his-chracter-but-we-won't-have-him-do-it-again-through-out-the-movie-but-right-before-Grace-walks-in-let's-have-him-speaking-on-my-mark-and-he-should-say-something-that-could-have-been-said-when-he-started-but-he's-only-saying-now-because-this-is-how-we-are-going-to-introduce-him. <-- that was the last one of those.:lol:

I can really go on forever, so one question of plot logic and then I'll close out.

If the military couldn't use computer imaging devices in the vortex, but as we saw in the final battle, audio transmissions were not effected ... WHY DIDN'T THEY DEVELOP SONAR FOR THEIR WORK ON THE PLANET?!

Avatar has been compared to many films, but let me tell you what it's not. It's not 2001. It's not Star Wars. "I di' naht hit her. I di' NAHT! Oh, hi Mark"

I'll tell you what it is ... can you guess ... nope, not that ... no, nothing to do with native ... give up?

It's Jurassic Park.:lol:

This is the "more on that later" section. Cameron, Spielberg, Lucas and others of the generation (don't even suggest Coppola) have this Joseph Campbell archetype addiction and have to litter their films with with stale figures that only Jeff Goldblum can overcome (others can overcome it, but are you doubting "The Gold"?!). I call these directors "The Awe Inspiring Generation" (Protagonist goes somewhere, or sees something new and they go slack jaw as big music play). At least Spielberg can go beyond the machine (you know what films I'm talking about).

Oh, and the score was uninspired.

If this was a segment of Fantasia, I would be giving it 10/10 ... but, it's "NAHT!":lol:

On a positive note: I found the networking concept very interesting and with the links between the creatures on the planet, it would be interesting to know how it evolved. I might have enjoyed it a lot more if Cameron would have explored Pandora like his past 3D documentaries.

[DanielBenoit]

Yay, great review Nick. The world doesn't seem so lonley now that there are two people on litnet who hate Avatar (though I can't really say I hated it).

You hit the nail in the head on every point and should really write more reviews when you get the chance. I 100% agree with you when you define the Blockbuster generation as Cameron, Lucas and Speilberg, and NOT Coppola, because I've seen Coppola listed far to many times with them when he has nothing in common with any of them. That said, Speilberg is obviously the best of the three and knows how to make a great audience-catcher/mainstream film (E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, etc.).

Also, I agree with you on the score. Most of the time I wouldn't bother with knit-picky details about the score in another type of film, but Avatar is a science-fiction action film and should have an insipered score to match the images. I'm sure I need not say any more about the score to Star Wars and LOTR and what it did for the films.

That coffee-cup-putting thing really bothered me as well. I love idiosyncratic characters, and if he had been doing that in most of the scenes he's in I would've loved it, but he does that for one scene, just to introduce his character and it's kind of insulting. Same goes for Grace's introduction. She smokes only a couple more times in the film, and unless nicotene is not addicting on Pandora, I would be suspecting her to be smoking in almost every scene she's in. Again, a minor detail, but after seeing as many movies as I have, you begin to pick up on the logic behind films and I feel a bit cheated when the only reason that character smokes is to show us at her introduction that she is a likeable *****.

[NickAdams]

Lol, thank you.

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I'll tell you what though: I have never been in a theater, with that many people and yet the only sound came from the screen.

I don't really like Apocalypse Now (blasphemy:lol:, but I've seen it only once and I've already put Do the Right Thing on my re-watch list).

I'm still stunned that Spielberg directed Munich.

Definitely: the scores for both Star Wars and LOTR are good enough to be on my Ipod.

:lol: @ likable *****.

I could knit-pick some more.:lol: I don't think the language worked at all, because I could tell the Ethnic background of each actor by the accent they spoke with, but maybe Cameron wanted a collective feel.

[NickAdams]

'Pride and Glory", based on the classic novel by Jane Austen … no, that's not right. Ok, I'm thinking of "Mad Dog and Glory", which makes more sense because Uma Thurman is in that one. This one was written by director Gavin O'Connor and Joe Carnahan. Yeah, I know "Narc" was good, but if you remember "Smokin' Aces" then you won't be surprised.

So, "Pride and Glory" is the story of Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) and his investigation … no, that's not right. It's about Ray's brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell)… no, no, that's not right either. Then it's definitely about Ray's brother Francis Tierney Jr. (Noah Emmerich), right? Oooooooh, it uses multiple characters to explore its themes of police corruption and family. Then it's similar to "Traffic", which used multiple characters (each having a different level of involvement) to explore the drug trade. But, "Pride and Glory" has a moor intimate feel. The characters relationships are not so far removed; it's more like "Zodiac" and it's exploration of the serial killer, so instead of Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) we have Ray who is our central character, but we still get private moments with the other characters he's connected … I'm going to stop there, because this movie isn't as good as either of the ones I mentioned.

This movie is about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the killing of four New York City Police Officers. We get a taste of the people connected, mostly working class officers and low-low-lower class Hispanic drug dealers, but there is a rule: only moments of sensationalism or sentimentality (there is an emotional breakdown scene that follows another). YOU FOLLOW IT OR YOU'RE OR BANNED.

There are quite a few officers in the Big Apple, but it doesn't matter: we need Ray Tierney to solve this case. Why? Because, we don't want to be BANNED. He has a scar and a past and this is discussed, in such an attempt to be subtle that it's not, in a bathroom.

Anything more would be a spoiler, but I'll add this: Ed Wood was more subtle in his themes. It's about family, really?

And Scorsese, there's a barroom fight that will make you blush … or just embarrassed.

[DanielBenoit]

I don't really like Apocalypse Now (blasphemy:lol:, but I've seen it only once and I've already put Do the Right Thing on my re-watch list).


Blasphemy is damn right :lol: Did you watch the Redux version? Watch the original. While the Redux version is good, the extra scenes are unnessicary and long.



'Pride and Glory", based on the classic novel by Jane Austen … no, that's not right. Ok, I'm thinking of "Mad Dog and Glory", which makes more sense because Uma Thurman is in that one. This one was written by director Gavin O'Connor and Joe Carnahan. Yeah, I know "Narc" was good, but if you remember "Smokin' Aces" then you won't be surprised.

So, "Pride and Glory" is the story of Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) and his investigation … no, that's not right. It's about Ray's brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell)… no, no, that's not right either. Then it's definitely about Ray's brother Francis Tierney Jr. (Noah Emmerich), right? Oooooooh, it uses multiple characters to explore its themes of police corruption and family. Then it's similar to "Traffic", which used multiple characters (each having a different level of involvement) to explore the drug trade. But, "Pride and Glory" has a moor intimate feel. The characters relationships are not so far removed; it's more like "Zodiac" and it's exploration of the serial killer, so instead of Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) we have Ray who is our central character, but we still get private moments with the other characters he's connected … I'm going to stop there, because this movie isn't as good as either of the ones I mentioned.

This movie is about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the killing of four New York City Police Officers. We get a taste of the people connected, mostly working class officers and low-low-lower class Hispanic drug dealers, but there is a rule: only moments of sensationalism or sentimentality (there is an emotional breakdown scene that follows another). YOU FOLLOW IT OR YOU'RE OR BANNED.

There are quite a few officers in the Big Apple, but it doesn't matter: we need Ray Tierney to solve this case. Why? Because, we don't want to be BANNED. He has a scar and a past and this is discussed, in such an attempt to be subtle that it's not, in a bathroom.

Anything more would be a spoiler, but I'll add this: Ed Wood was more subtle in his themes. It's about family, really?

And Scorsese, there's a barroom fight that will make you blush … or just embarrassed.

Lol, your reviews have an edge and I like em'.

[NickAdams]

Ah, you got me. I did watch the Redux. I'll give it another go.

Thanks again; I've had an extended goofy mood which forces me to make fun of stuff, lol.

[Mathor]

Lol, thank you.

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I'll tell you what though: I have never been in a theater, with that many people and yet the only sound came from the screen.

I don't really like Apocalypse Now (blasphemy:lol:, but I've seen it only once and I've already put Do the Right Thing on my re-watch list).

I'm still stunned that Spielberg directed Munich.

Definitely: the scores for both Star Wars and LOTR are good enough to be on my Ipod.

:lol: @ likable *****.

I could knit-pick some more.:lol: I don't think the language worked at all, because I could tell the Ethnic background of each actor by the accent they spoke with, but maybe Cameron wanted a collective feel.

How can you not like Spielberg? Munich was a great film, as were a huge bulk of his films.

And yeah, Redux in itself is the real blasphemy. When I first saw the redux version I wanted to blow my brains out. The Redux is a joke compared to the original. All of the extra scenes do nothing but ruin it. What does the sex with the playboy bunnies do to enforce ANYTHING?! But the original is easily in my top 5 favorite movies.

And, Do The Right thing is also probably in my top five favorite movies as well (or at least top ten) of all time. Spike Lee is a complete genius. Do The Right Thing takes a few viewings to fully comprehend, though. There is a lot going on in that movie, and I admit, I wasn't sure how to take it the first time I saw it, Do The Right Thing and Apocalypse Now are pretty similar in that respect. I tend to like movies that are a harder watch. I can enjoy a movie and get it immediately, and often times I do. The ones that stick with me, however, are the ones that I spent so many times running through my head, like a good Fellini work or Roman Polanski or something (2001 is an appropriate example as well).

[NikolaiI]

The Great Waltz, I give it a 10...

[DanielBenoit]

The Passion of Joan of Arc - My name is Daniel. My mother named me after Daniel in the Bible. I was raised Catholic, but I became an atheist when I was about thirteen and at fifteen became an agnostic. I don't pretend to know much, or even anything about the nature of the universe, and respond skeptically to meta-narratives.

That said, there are times of in which I reach high levels of consciousness and joy. Whether this arises out of a high level of aesthetic appretiation or something else I don't know, and kind of don't care.

The Passion of Joan of Arc gave me one of those experiences. It generated a religious experience in me. I walked out knowing that I had seen one of the greatest films of my life. Never before have I seen a finer or more moving performance on screen than Renee Jeanne Falconetti's portrayal of the French saint who dressed up as a man and led the French army into battle before being captured and put to death.

This film depicts her last hours as she is put to trial by the Church. She says that she is sent by God to save France, the priests of all people laugh and mock her.

Filmed entirely in close-ups, with not a single establishing shot, director Carl T. Dreyer creates a total atmosphere of intense faces, claustraphobically juxtaposed together. The rage and mockery of the inquisiters, the sadistic expressions of the guards, and of course the confused and frightful face of Joan.

I have never before seen a silent film in which the camera is more alive (with the exception of some of Murnau's work). But Dreyer goes not use the almost exclusive use of close-ups or medium shots, or panning shots, as exercises in style. There is not one shot in here done for pure effect. I felt the intensity and emotion of the film and was drawn in by the camera, and was never in a detached, passive state.

Oh I must come back Falcoetti's performance. That strange legend of the screen. This was her first film, and after this, she never did another. Too emotionally drained by Dreyer's direction who demanded take after take to bring forth that unncanny emotional supression in her face. Dreyer may have been cruel, but he has undoubtably placed her as one of the immortal legends of the cinema.

What a film this is! It forcibly draws you in from the very first shots, bombarding you with human faces, that you are utterly focused and drawn in. At times I could not believe that I was watching an actress play Joan of Arc, I truly believed that I was watching a film document from the Middle Ages, it was so raw and real.

Most silent films, even the greatest ones have a cause and need to have overacting. It is truly a neccissity, for how else can an actor communicate what he/she is saying except through there face? There have been only two exceptions to my mind: Buster Keaton, who with one adjustment of his facial expression could express a whole range of emotions. The other is Falcoetti, who though at times has to possess that silent age unsublty in order to express the terror within her; but at almost all times is truly able to make us weep with just a movement of her eyes. Those eyes are her. They are like a reflection of her soul. Whatever it was that got Falcoetti to act that well, she is uncanny all the same.

What makes this film the greatest religion film I have ever seen along with Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, is that there are no preachy moments in which we learn of Christ's teachings. We know them. We know what Christianity is too. But most of us never experience the phenomenon of faith, which is at the root of almost all religions.

In a sense, what it is that Joan believes could be easily changed to any religion with just the adjustment of some title cards. The point is not that she is a good Christian. But that her faith is a demonstration of a universal human phenomenon which transcends the mockery of reason. But again, as Dreyer demonstrates in the film, Joan's faith gives her no certainty of her knowledge of God, but instead gives her certainty of her duty towards God. Whether the ontological position of her faith is correct or not is irrelevant. Not only is it a teleological suspension of the ethical, as Kierkegaard would say, but a teleological suspencsion of the ontological. Joan represents absolute human faith beyond all human desire and selfishness.

But this does not make Joan a perfect saint. She too is human, and just as much as Scorsese's great The Last Temptation of Christ demonstrated, even the most godly of humans can be subject to doubt. And that is a powerful thing. If Christ too could for that moment, doubt himself upon crying out "God, why hast thou forsaken me?" then so can Joan, amongst all of the fear of being burnt at the stake. And while this message is not as powerful as it is in Scorsese's film, for Joan is not portrayed as a messiah, the way Christ is, it is no less a stunning film and performance, and a testament to the power of the human spirit. 10/10


Ivan the Terrible, Part I - What's funny about this film is that whilst watching it I was about certain that this must be either one of the greatest films I have ever seen, or one of the worst. This film must be experienced to understand this statement, but upon finishing it, the conclusion I came to was not of the former.

Sergi Eisenstein, that poet of visual cinema. Director of Battleship Potemkin and October, one of the greatest films of all time. Now, almost twenty years later in 1944, Eisenstein directs another political epic. Well, we know that Eisenstein is a master at portraying the collective political angst of a society, we also very well know that he is the master at going from one event to another, in a non-linear, and non-character based narrative. But Ivan the Terrible is more conventional in that sense, for it concerns the political life of one of Russia's greatest heros, Ivan the Terrible. I suppose not much is needed to be known except that he wanted to unite Russia into a single country in the sixteenth century.

Believe me, I really wanted to love this film. It is filled with powerful symbolism that pierces your subconscious, it is filled with many complex and haunting shots (not only that, but it is widely known as one of the most complex movies of all time, period), it possesses that kind of formalism that Eisenstein is so good at, and it also seems that the silent Russian director has transitioned very well to sound, showing his ability not only to find distinctive faces, but distinctive voices.

But, what is it that's bad about Ivan the Terrible? Well, everything listed above. I suppose the symbolic formalism of Eisenstein's silent masterpieces couldn't translate well to sound, for despite the fact that this is one of the most well-directed films I have ever seen, its unnatural formalism in the direction and acting is weird, tedious, but never uninteresting.

But that's the problem, I found the symbolism of the choreography of the characters and the use of objects to be fascinating (such as the repeated 'one eye' visual motif), but the characters to be dull and empty.

If this were one of Eisenstein's collective political epics, in which there is no main character, then it would be more forgivable, because the point would not be characterizatoin, but a collective charactarization of a society. But a great majority of this film takes place in the dreary halls of the tsar's castle. It does have a hero, who as a great historical figure, demands psychological depth.

Maybe Eisenstein's portrayal of Ivan does have great depth, but all is diminished with the akward overacting of Nikolay Cherkasov as the great tsar. My God, I have never seen a performance within the length of eighty minutes in which the character seems to melodramatically collapse, or look up to the heavens in artifical intensity, or preach about how he wants to save Russia. At first I saw his performance as an interesting, though extreme, version of formalism, but soon enough I was just tired of it all. Yes Eisenstein, I get the idea, you know how to use symbolism in a film more fluently than anyone else. But other than the camera, the film is so lifeless. I was dying to see a human being on camera.

I've heard of how Part II is superior to the first in that it explores the darker depths of Ivan besides that of his romantic sufferings for his country. But upon completing this film, I was all too tired out to face another eighty minutes of tedious formalism, even if it is done by Eisenstein. I was just yearning for some Cassavetes or Scorsese. 4/10

[NickAdams]

How can you not like Spielberg? Munich was a great film, as were a huge bulk of his films.

And yeah, Redux in itself is the real blasphemy. When I first saw the redux version I wanted to blow my brains out. The Redux is a joke compared to the original. All of the extra scenes do nothing but ruin it. What does the sex with the playboy bunnies do to enforce ANYTHING?! But the original is easily in my top 5 favorite movies.

And, Do The Right thing is also probably in my top five favorite movies as well (or at least top ten) of all time. Spike Lee is a complete genius. Do The Right Thing takes a few viewings to fully comprehend, though. There is a lot going on in that movie, and I admit, I wasn't sure how to take it the first time I saw it, Do The Right Thing and Apocalypse Now are pretty similar in that respect. I tend to like movies that are a harder watch. I can enjoy a movie and get it immediately, and often times I do. The ones that stick with me, however, are the ones that I spent so many times running through my head, like a good Fellini work or Roman Polanski or something (2001 is an appropriate example as well).

No, no, I think Munich is a great film and one of his best. I was surprised, because it was such a departure.

The Playboy didn't enforce anything, but some enjoyment.:lol:

What I didn't like about Do the Right Thing was it's similarity in style to plays like Pinero's and Tyler Perry's (I had to sit through one of those:rolleyes:) and it's not an originality thing, it's that I'm not a fan of the style. It's less Spike and more me.


The Passion of Joan of Arc ...
Ivan the Terrible, Part I

More films I have to watch!:redface:

[DanielBenoit]

More films I have to watch!:redface:

Well, you're probably better off watching Battleship Potemkin or October than Ivan the Terrible.

[NickAdams]

Flooding with Love for the Kid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFnVmzsGRXI)

That's right, the one man film/video adaptation of the novel "First Blood". Yeah, the one with Rambo.

Want to know a secret? It's good! There's genuine humor and humor at the expense of the production quality, but you should forget about that once the ball gets rolling.

I was lucky enough to attend a screening in which the director (in this case the director was also the cast and crew) gave an introduction and stuck around after the close for some Q and A. This offered two things before the screening. The first was the three rules that Zachary Oberzan followed during the production (more on that in ... like I know how long it will take you to read to that point:D) and the second was to see that he was a very competent guy (which means you can't write the film/video off because of perceived naïveté).

And now for something completely different ... ok, not completely different; here's the rules I mentioned earlier:

1. He had to be completely faithful to the novel (every scene and every word of dialogue had to be included)
2. Everything had to come from inside of his apartment.
3. He had to do it all himself.

I can feel the breathing of the Dogma 95 critics, but stay back! If you've seen only the "Italian Stallion" film and have not read the novel, then you won't understand how this works conceptually (There's more of a connection between Rambo and Sheriff Teasle whose not a villain in this. Rambo is a Vietnam Vet and Teasle is a Korean War Vet and they're connected, so it helps that it's the same actor).

There is way more going on in "Flooding with Love for the Kid" than "Rambo: First Blood".

I'm giving it a 9/10. I'm taking away a point, because Trautman is such a dull character.

I know, I know: it seems like a high rating, but the ingenuity is impressive. Yeah, that impressive.

[Madhuri]

Avatar - 5/10

I found it quite boring and I slept in the later part of the movie :p Special effects in the movie did nothing for me because the story was not good. I don't know why people are so crazy about this movie.

[NikolaiI]

Star Trek - 10/10

It was really, amazingly good. The best movie I've seen in a very long time if not ever. :p

and another movie I saw was Moon, I also give it a 10/10... it was also really amazing, though not so good as Star Trek... definitely not. But it was really a great Sci-Fi.

[DanielBenoit]

Avatar - 5/10

I found it quite boring and I slept in the later part of the movie :p Special effects in the movie did nothing for me because the story was not good. I don't know why people are so crazy about this movie.

Another sleeper :p I thought the friend I went with was the only one in the country who fell asleep during that film. Agree with you 100%. I am still trying to comprehend why it is so popular.

[DanielBenoit]

Synecdoche, New York - In some sense this film was not ready enough to be exposed to mainstream audiences and critics. Too many were expecting a narrative, or at least a hint that the films surrealities could be explained through dream-logic. Many found it impenatrable and tedoius. Those who said that I'm sure didn't see it a second time or a third. Yes, Synecdoche, New York is a film that does demand something from the audience, such as patience and something of an appretiation enough of it to watch it again to penetrate its mysteries.

This film does admittingly borrow a lot from experimental and absurdist theatre. Those who are familiar with it know what I'm talking about, those who aren't can't expect me to explain it very well. Objects and things are presented in abstract ways in order to present an idea, and absurd actions by characters are meant to represent sometimes a meta-cinematic idea.

This film is so full, that it is too full, and director-screenwriter Charlie Kauffman is aware of that and builds his film in all self-consciousness. He may just be the greatest cinematic writer of the human condition since Ingmar Bergman, even though both go about their ideas quite differently. Kauffman is a pure postmodern writer with a wide knowledge of postmodern theatrical and literary techniques.

Oh why am I going on in and on in lifeless theory? If you want to know how Kauffman goes about making this movie, watch it for yourself. But this film is no exercise in style, nor is it any sort of empty (but clever) examination of the endless reiterations of context. It is a film about life and its confusions, sufferings, loves and absurdities. What a sad sad film this is.

Years seem to pass by without us or the main character realizing it. He is a neurotic playright, Caden Cotard, played movingly by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in THE performance of his career, suffering from a mid-life crisis and trying to find some way in which he can develop some meaning and satisfaction into his life.

He decides to develop a massive theater-piece emcompassing the whole of every persons life, every detail, every meta-detail, every thought, every inch of the human condition. Caden searches for his lifes meta-narrative only to find deeper and deeper confusion, and in the end, discovering the meaningless meaning of his meaninglessness.

Women come in and out of his life, people disappear and fade away. Like a dream time is distorted and when his first wife says that she's going on a trip to Berlin with their daughter without him, and as he waits for a week, he soon realizes that it's been a year.

There is a deep deep tragedy of Caden's life, which is simply the tragedy of the human condition. There are so many stunning scenes in this film of raw emotion and despair, that to penetrate beneath the surface requires multiple viewings.

I have seen this film twice, and I still don't find it adequete enough to review it. Like all great films it cannot be described. It follows no formula (though as I said, it is greatly influenced by absurdist theatre) and no narrative. When you see it, think of this film as a poem of our entire lives. And how bland would a poem be if it was just words? 10/10

[Shalot]

The Lovely Bones

I got Movie gift cards for Christmas and today my husband and I used them to go see this movie. I read the book several years ago and I remember being kind of disappointed in the book. Maybe it just has something to do with who I was as a person at that time, but for some reason this story just wasn't reaching me. Perhaps I'll have to go back and re-read the book after having seen the movie.

When you die, what happens? What is the afterlife like? These questions have been on my mind during the past year and I've read different books about death this year and I saw some of what I've been reading about portrayed in this film.

Do the dead speak to us? Do they speak to us through images or sounds? Sometimes we just "know" things but where does that information come to us from? This movie touched on these themes.

Saoirse Ronan gave a nice performance. Now when I go back to re-read the book, I will probably have an image of her in my mind. I don't think I ever put a face on the character when I read the book the first time.

[Shalot]

Star Trek - 10/10

It was really, amazingly good. The best movie I've seen in a very long time if not ever. :p

and another movie I saw was Moon, I also give it a 10/10... it was also really amazing, though not so good as Star Trek... definitely not. But it was really a great Sci-Fi.

I agree about Star Trek...I never was a big Trekkie at all either but this was just an amazing film.

[DanielBenoit]

I didn't know where else to post this so:

Avatar wins at the Golden Globes :bawling:

James Cameron wins best director over Katherine Bigalow?

Sandra Bullock wins for a pretty good performance in an otherwise terrible movie, while Carey Mulligan from An Education and Gabourey Sidibe from Precious get nothing?

Also, how the hell is it that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs gets nominated, but not Ponyo? Beats me.

Golden Globes has proven once again that they are a joke.

[Mathor]

I didn't know where else to post this so:

Avatar wins at the Golden Globes :bawling:

James Cameron wins best director over Katherine Bigalow?

Sandra Bullock wins for a pretty good performance in an otherwise terrible movie, while Carey Mulligan from An Education and Gabourey Sidibe from Precious get nothing?

Also, how the hell is it that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs gets nominated, but not Ponyo? Beats me.

Golden Globes has proven once again that they are a joke.

yeah it's pretty much all crap.

but i saw Crazy Heart last night for the first time. And I'm so happy for Jeff Bridges and that the song "The Weary Kind" from that movie won best original song. Crazy Heart contained some really moving acting performances.

I think Oscars will do it better.

I don't want to jinx it, but I just have a hunch that this year the first ever best director award for a female will be given out at the oscars :)

Again, I already told you I liked Avatar, but it's NOT worthy of best picture or best director by far. Inglourious Basterds or Up In The Air or The Hurt Locker are so much more qualified for both of those positions.

[skib]

Just watched The Life of Brian. Still waiting for my ears to stop hurting so I can think about what the hell just happened.

[AimusSage]

Recently saw Sherlock Holmes, it was actually quite enjoyable.

Also, on Avatar, Yes the story is weak, but all else is just pretty much awesome, best picture isn't just about the story.... :)

James Cameron is a visionary, he managed to take cinema to a technical level not seen before on multiple occasions. That is also a part of cinema, he is a bit of a phenomena, he manages to appeal to people on a large scale. Having said all that, I'm not convinced he deserved to win either.

[manolia]

Just watched The Life of Brian. Still waiting for my ears to stop hurting so I can think about what the hell just happened.

Hehehehe I love that film!!

[DanielBenoit]

Also, on Avatar, Yes the story is weak, but all else is just pretty much awesome, best picture isn't just about the story.... :)

Yes, it is about the writing, the acting, the direction, etc. Avatar had none of that IMHO.



James Cameron is a visionary, he managed to take cinema to a technical level not seen before on multiple occasions. That is also a part of cinema, he is a bit of a phenomena, he manages to appeal to people on a large scale.

And a strange phenomena indeed, for I completely don't understand his wide-appeal.


Okay, I really need to stop my hate-Avatar campagin and just let the people who enjoyed it, enjoy it. :)

[Madhuri]

The focus of the movie was only special effects and nothing else, I guess.


Yes, it is about the writing, the acting, the direction, etc. Avatar had none of that IMHO.


I agree. :)

[Koa]

Oooh finally somewhere where I can vent!

Last week I was pretty much dragged to see Where The Wild Things Are.

Oh my god. I never, ever, ever saw anything that bad. It was like watching my brother and my dad fighting for fun, and trust me it's not a show you can stand for more than 10 seconds without feeling rage. Then it turned into watching children play. And I don't even like children. And the child in the movie was so annoying you don't even want to get me started on that. I felt insulted. I felt that whoever wrote that screenplay has been insulting human intelligence.

And yes I know it's from a book, which I had never heard about, and I sincerely hope it is better than this terribly awful screen adaptation.

It's been almost a week and it still enrages me :mad: :mad: :mad: :flare::flare::flare:

[DanielBenoit]

Oooh finally somewhere where I can vent!

Last week I was pretty much dragged to see Where The Wild Things Are.

Oh my god. I never, ever, ever saw anything that bad. It was like watching my brother and my dad fighting for fun, and trust me it's not a show you can stand for more than 10 seconds without feeling rage. Then it turned into watching children play. And I don't even like children. And the child in the movie was so annoying you don't even want to get me started on that. I felt insulted. I felt that whoever wrote that screenplay has been insulting human intelligence.

And yes I know it's from a book, which I had never heard about, and I sincerely hope it is better than this terribly awful screen adaptation.

It's been almost a week and it still enrages me :mad: :mad: :mad: :flare::flare::flare:


Omg are you serious? I found it to be the best film of 2009 and the fifth best film of the decade. If you were expecting a straight-forward plot, then I'm sorry. It's about the angst of childhood pitted against a world of despair. It is a beautiful and quite sad film. Oh how I wish to go back and see it again.

[The Comedian]

Saw the movie "Local Color" the other night. It was about a couple of artists: one old and angry, the other young and romantic. The young one wants the old one to teach him.

This movie is like the Karate Kid, only instead of doing karate, they're doing art.

It was a pretty good movie, as movies go. 7/10

[Koa]

Omg are you serious? I found it to be the best film of 2009 and the fifth best film of the decade.

I assume you enjoy watching kids play and would be delighted to enter an epic mock-fight with my 20-year-old brother...


If you were expecting a straight-forward plot, then I'm sorry.

Well I suppose I was hoping for some Disney-like thing, but the way it manage to exceed my already low expectations was spectacular. I considered leaving, I was with this guy I don't even know too well... some girls came in and left after about 10 minutes but they were in a group. I thought of taking a trip to the toilet but I would have never brought myself to come back.


It's about the angst of childhood pitted against a world of despair.

It might want to be that but all it does it showing an incredibly annoying child playing with equally annoying monsters, all with the best Hollywood accent (which I find hard to understand as my exposure to American English is minimal, where I'm from everything is dubbed and I don't watch that much American stuff)


It is a beautiful and quite sad film.

Beautiful, yeah, some images are well-shot. Sad yeah, the way I gave 90-odd minutes of my life to that. The guy I was with didn't even thank me (he knew I didn't really want to see that, damn me trying to be nice. Why didn't he go on his own...)


Oh how I wish to go back and see it again.

It STILL fills me with rage. I thought the previous film I had seen (Men who stare at goats) was as low as the art of cinema can get, but at least it was about adults and there were a couple of mildly funny jokes. I recommend you go to any playground where children play with each other, if they still do these days without Nintendos and such crap. Or watch Dragon Ball or some other cartoons where there's little more than fighting and screaming, I had the same feeling of irritation.

[DanielBenoit]

Okay, I don't want to sound patronizing because everyone has different tastes. I'm very happy that everybody kindly respected my opinion of Avatar, and just as they did, I respect yours. But as you have responded to me, I may as well respond back and present my opinion.


I assume you enjoy watching kids play and would be delighted to enter an epic mock-fight with my 20-year-old brother...


Please do not personalize this. I'm not saying this to appeal to elitism, but many critics loved this film (particuarly A.O. Scott) and they are certainly "adult" enough not to go out and start playing with each other in the sand. You seemed to have missed the point of the movie entirely.



Well I suppose I was hoping for some Disney-like thing, but the way it manage to exceed my already low expectations was spectacular. I considered leaving, I was with this guy I don't even know too well... some girls came in and left after about 10 minutes but they were in a group. I thought of taking a trip to the toilet but I would have never brought myself to come back.


Well what's wrong with Disney? I think when one realizes the difference between a film like Where the Wild Things Are and say Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, have they developed a rationality in their taste in movies.



It might want to be that but all it does it showing an incredibly annoying child playing with equally annoying monsters, all with the best Hollywood accent (which I find hard to understand as my exposure to American English is minimal, where I'm from everything is dubbed and I don't watch that much American stuff)

Well I hate Hollywood too, about 95% of the stuff it puts out each year is crap. But if you don't like movies and don't respect them as an art form, or even just a form of entertainment, then why watch them?



It STILL fills me with rage. I thought the previous film I had seen (Men who stare at goats) was as low as the art of cinema can get, but at least it was about adults and there were a couple of mildly funny jokes. I recommend you go to any playground where children play with each other, if they still do these days without Nintendos and such crap. Or watch Dragon Ball or some other cartoons where there's little more than fighting and screaming, I had the same feeling of irritation.

Again, like I said you seem to have completely missed the point of the film. Maybe those who look back on childhood innocence and angst in nostaliga will understand it better. All accusations of adversiting aside, if you want to understand the value that I found in the film, you may read my review here (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?b=9592).

And again, I respect your opinion and do not expect you to change it, I'm just giving you my very opposite opinion as well.

[NickAdams]

Book of Eli - 4/10
Observe and Report - :confused:



Oooh finally somewhere where I can vent!

Last week I was pretty much dragged to see Where The Wild Things Are.

Oh my god. I never, ever, ever saw anything that bad. It was like watching my brother and my dad fighting for fun, and trust me it's not a show you can stand for more than 10 seconds without feeling rage. Then it turned into watching children play. And I don't even like children. And the child in the movie was so annoying you don't even want to get me started on that. I felt insulted. I felt that whoever wrote that screenplay has been insulting human intelligence.

And yes I know it's from a book, which I had never heard about, and I sincerely hope it is better than this terribly awful screen adaptation.

It's been almost a week and it still enrages me :mad: :mad: :mad: :flare::flare::flare:

I wouldn't advise you to read the book then, because the film adaptation is the one with a plot.

[applepie]

The last movie I saw was Boondock Saints, All Saints Day.

I loved it, but then it was exactly what I was looking for in a sequel to The Boondock Saints. I would give it a 7 or 8 easy.

[DanielBenoit]

The Hurt Locker - I was writing a nice long review, but then I lost it. Damn. Either way, this is a great film, the Iraq War masterpiece, and Katherine Bigelow better win the best director award or else .. . . . . well, or ELSE. 10/10

Miller's Crossing - The Coens seem to be a divided bunch of fellas (no pun intended). They either make masterfully subtle and humorous films (Fargo, A Serious Man, Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men, though the latter isn't humorous) or they make big obnoxious, but extremely well made self-conscious comedy-dramas (Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?). The latter catagory is in my opinion not the real Coens, but merely a mainstream version of them. And while Miller's Crossing is extremely well made, has some pretty good acting and a great poetically vernacular script, it doesn't make the cut because of its lack of substance besides the fact that it is pretty much a hommage to gangser films. Now you can make a substancless pastiche film and make a masterpiece (Tarantino has done it on numerous occasions, such as Kill Bill), but your characters and script have to have some life in them, and we all know that almost nobody makes more lively dialouge and characters than Tarantino. And so do the Coens, well when they want to, but here, despite the fact that we are able to marvel at everything in the movie, we never become involved in it, and for the most part, don't care all that much. But there are some really great moments in here that make the film worth seeing. Once that is. 6/10

[DanielBenoit]

The Killers (short film) - Oh how Tarkovsky's student film adaptation of Hemningway's short story shames all of the other more recent student adaptations I've seen on youtube. Why? Why is it that every single film today, especially ones concerning gangsters have to have some kind of Tarantinoesque postmodern tone to it. The Killers is not a story about "wise guys" but about a man who has surrendered himself to death. Tarkovsky masterfully captures the sense of subtle tension in the cafe scenes, as well as the silent melancholy of the latter scenes. After watching all of those mediocre adaptations in which the student director for some reason finds it necissary to have a pop or rock or jazz soundtrack creeping under every scene obviously do not understand the story at all. One particular version, which was shot very well had a jazz soundtrack, and while I have a particular soft spot for jazz in films, this was utterly unnecissary. Yes, we know that the story was written and takes place in the 20's, but that doesn't mean that jazz has to be played in every single film that takes place during that time! Also, the overacting of most of the films are so artificial and disingenuious, as the actors are acting like actors acting like gangsters. Now I don't have a problem with self-referecial and self-conscious films, but these postmodernist tricks are inappropriate for a modernist story like The Killers.

And now at last to Tarkovsky's version. It is truly a blessing that Tarkovsky chose to have no soundtrack whatsoever, so that the melancholy silence of the story can seep in. What's fascinating is that Tarkovsky's film revealed to me some things I didn't notice in Hemingway's story; that silence is used in three different ways in the story for the three different scenes: the first as tension, the second as indifferent surrender and the third as melancholy.

The acting is suprisingly great, this being a student film one would usually expect for their to be at least a little overracting, even if it is directed by a master like Tarkovsky. But here the tone of the acting is at a pitch perfect level, everything is very subtle and casual, the gangsters aren't trying to be "cool", in fact here they appear as cold, indifferent and almost indistigushable induviduals who are just doing what they're told and a rather just going through what seems to be a daily process.

And then the scene between Nick Adams and Ole Anderson (which was in fact directed by Tarkovsy's friend), oh that is the gem of the film. I was almost shocked to see how well done and how well it conveyed the emotion and atmosphere of Hemingway's story. It's silence and melancholy is clear and vivid.

I've been working on a cinematic adaptation of The Killers for almost a week now, and I must say that after seeing Tarkovsky's version I am almost shamed. I sat there thinking "how can one surpass this?" 10/10

[Janine]

The Life and Death of Coloniel Blimp ~ Powell and Pressburger (The Archers)

Another amazing film from the creative British team. I am too tired to write up a very long review. If curious about the plot, please look up the synopsis and reviews on Amazon. Highly creative, melodramatic in a touching way, beautifully filmed, art direction incredible and stunningly beautiful; very fine cast, most notablably Roger Livesey (best performance of his career, role from youth to old man), Deborah Kerr (she plays a triple role), and the incredible actor, Anton Walbrook (I am a big fan of his work).

I have been wanting to see this film for a long time; I have to say I loved this film; I should add that it was a little confusing at first; but not too long into the film, I began to understand the opening flashback. A brilliant social commentary on war/military formality and also very witty.

I think the highlight of the film for me involved two scenes - one of the duel between the two main characters; the way it is shot is incredible and ahead of it's time. I kept thinking throughout the movie of scenes I have now seen used in more modern movies. Obviously, those film-makers have seen the Archer's films and their techniques. They really were ahead of their times! The scene entailed two figures dueling in a large empty gymnasium; the camera suddenly pans upward through the panned glass paneled roof/ceiling, until you are taken outside to view the full building and landscape (snow falling gently), very magical scene with the blue and the white snow, otherworldly looking and beautiful; took my breath away; so unexpected. This could have been from a Tim Burton film or other creative directors, I have seen in the past 10 yrs; it became apparent to me how much influence the Arhers had on modern cinema. My other favorite moment, is when Walbrook's character returns to apply for admittance into England, as a refuge. His speech, relaying his story of the loss of his two sons to Nazism and his wife to death is truly captivating and tragic, yet beautiful/poetic at the same time....amazing control and a wonderfully nuanced speech...I never once felt like he was acting at all, but rather stating a truth about his life in Nazi Germany. Here is a YT clip of that scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Dl_BtJKqk

I would rate this film a definite 10/10

It's quite unlike any other film I have seen before. I had to buy a region 2 PAL DVD; therefore, I watched it on my computer. The picture quality was pretty amazing for an old film. It's a true classic. I have been on a kick lately of the films of the Archers, who I greatly admire for their content and their artistic style.

[PistisSophia]

I saw "Crazy Heart" last weekend. Excellent acting and a plot that keeps the interest. Beau Bridges was terriffic, as was the rest of the cast. I hope that this film gets the honors it deserves come Oscar time.

I haven't seen anything really good in quite a long time, beside "Crazy Heart".

[DanielBenoit]

Jules et Jim - It's been about a month since I've seen this film so I don't have the right mindset for writing a full review, but it has stuck in my head for so long I must mention it. This is probaby the best through-the-years film I have ever seen, and certainly one of the most accurate and cynical portrayals of human relationships as three friends (Jules, Jim and Catherine) grow with eachother before and after WWI in France and Germany. This is Francis Truffant's finest film and the best of the French New Wave. An encyclopetic magnus opus of style and modern cinematic grammer. I will never forget this film and what it taught me. Please go see it. 10/10

Bande a Part - Another masterpiece from the French New Wave, but this time by the more free-floating and postmodern Jean-Luc Godard in another film about three 20-somethings in France. Greatly "hip" but also intelligent, artsy and existential. Pure Godard. One might notice the famous dance scene in here greatly influenced the dance scene in Pulp Ficiton (also, as a side-note, Tarantino named his production company after this film in a play on words "A Band Apart"). 10/10

[Shalot]

Sunshine Cleaning 8.5/10

I liked this movie because it's orignal. The story revolves around Rose, who is a single mom employed as a maid, and she needs to make more money to make ends meet. In high school, she had it made as captain of the cheerleading squad with her football star boyfriend, but life after school has not been so kind. The football star married someone else but he still sees her on the side, probably out of guilt since he seems to be her son's father. He suggests that she get into the crime scene clean-up business, since it's similar to what she does already and it pays more.

So, she and her relunctant younger sister played by Emily Blunt (who, like Rose, is having a hard time in life as well) get into the crime scene clean-up business together. The job is disgusting and yet somehow just perfect for these two girls who discovered their own mother dead in the tub after a suicide when they were little girls, and through this venture, they end up working through some of their dysfuntional behaviors.

[sprinks]

Sunshine Cleaning 8.5/10

I really wanted to watch that when it came out, but I haven't gotten to it yet!

I FINALLY watched Citizen Kane, it's the top of most 'greatest films ever' lists, or ranks highly on others, and I was curious for a long time, but it took me so long time to find it! (Eventually my boyfriend found it while we were in a bookshop :)) I had a very bad headache that day though, so I couldn't focus on it well, but from what I remember I'd give it about an 8 or a 9 out of 10. I'll have to watch it again before really being able to know.

I also watched The Shark Net which isn't a movie exactly but a 3 part tv series that was meant to originally be a film, based on the book of the same name by Robert Drewe. I was amazed that it actually stayed so true to the text! I rarely see that happen, but this time even most of the dialogue was word for word. I also really liked the way it was filmed, it was quite different and really interesting, so I'd definitely give it a 9.5/10 (it lost .5 because of some of the constant cutting between some shots that were mid shots then close up then mid shot gave me a headache, though it was effective.)

[atiguhya padma]

Precious 8/10

I am not that familiar with the controversy surrounding this film, but I do know that it is a great film, filled with the kind of realism that I am more accustomed to in European cinema. Precious is the victim of a blinkered society, whose escape route is originally through fantasy, but her fantasies give direction and enable her. She achieves despite the negative and selfish behaviour of those who are supposed to support her. She is not the romanticised, idealised achiever of some of Hollywood's less believable films, but rather a spirited, determined individual who cares about her future and the futures of others. I guess you would say she was something of a rough diamond. Anyway, recommended.

[Lumiere]

Deathtrap

10/10

The most thrilling of thrillers.

[Janine]

The Train ~ Burt Lancaster

This movie is fantastic! You can watch it here free and full screen; that is what I did last night. I enjoyed every minute of it. The filming is superb and the action is great. A true classic 10/10!!!

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1203372569/

[manolia]

I watched the white ribbon yesterday..what a great film! 10/10
I have watched three Haneke films by now and i like them all very much!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1149362/

[Mathor]

I watched the white ribbon yesterday..what a great film! 10/10
I have watched three Haneke films by now and i like them all very much!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1149362/

yeah, I think Cache might be the best of all of his films, but White Ribbon is a pretty close second.

It got nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography at the Oscars this morning.



Also, The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead the Oscars noms 9 to 9. Oscars has prepared for the greatest ex-husband and ex-wife showdown ever between Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron (Inglourious Basterds is in 3rd place with 8). I'd like to see The Hurt Locker win all of them, but I wouldn't be incredibly disappointed by a Basterds best picture win either. :p

EDIT: and i might add that the whole 10 nomination is sort of a big joke, as The Blind Side has absolutely no chance of winning anything, except Sandra Bullock who will probably win for Best Actress. The only films that have a chance are the ones that were also nominated for Best Director. But I have to say hurrah for Clint Eastwood being shut out this year, and i'm so happy that Up was able to become the only film other than Beauty and The Beast to win a best picture nom.

[DanielBenoit]

Also, The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead the Oscars noms 9 to 9. Oscars has prepared for the greatest ex-husband and ex-wife showdown ever between Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron (Inglourious Basterds is in 3rd place with 8). I'd like to see The Hurt Locker win all of them, but I wouldn't be incredibly disappointed by a Basterds best picture win either. :p

EDIT: and i might add that the whole 10 nomination is sort of a big joke, as The Blind Side has absolutely no chance of winning anything, except Sandra Bullock who will probably win for Best Actress. The only films that have a chance are the ones that were also nominated for Best Director. But I have to say hurrah for Clint Eastwood being shut out this year, and i'm so happy that Up was able to become the only film other than Beauty and The Beast to win a best picture nom.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing today as the nominations were announced. The 10 nominations thing is just a way for Hollywood to pat itself on the ***. Maybe I'm just saying this because of how mad I was because The Blind Side was nominated for best picture and not The White Ribbon. It's rather embarressing that in the year with a great film like Precious, there is a film with such superficial and old-fashioned views of African-Americans that the very fact that it's been nominated is insulting. I went to go see it with my family and I found it pitiful how my own dad was crying at some of the most superficial and corny parts, my God, can a movie get more manipulative? Idk, maybe people go for simplistic emotions and simplistic people and overused cliched lines like "I'm not changing his life, he's changing mine."

IMHO Where the Wild Things are was the best picture of the year, that said, I don't expect Oscar to give a children's film the award, especially one that was so controversial. But come on, that was a great film and should've been recognized in some way, maybe a screenplay nom or for special effects?

Either way, my vote is for The Hurt Locker, as well as for Katherine Bigelow winning the directing award (who is in fact James Cameron's ex-wife).

In the other catagories, I've heard enough good things about Jeff Bridges performance for him to win for Crazy Heart (though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Jeremy Renner win for his manic and complex performance in The Hurt Locker). For best actor in a supporting role, it's Christopher Waltz hands down. Same goes for Mo'Nique for best supporting actress. I really want to see Gabourey Sibide or Carey Mulligan win for best actress, but it's almost a certainty that Hollywood is going to screw good movies over Sandra Bullock's star-role. As for cinematograhy, I must admit that despite that I loved The White Ribbon's visuals, The Hurt Lockers crisp-clean camera work and detail was just too good to ignore. Film editing is another obvious one to The Hurt Locker, the quick-paced editing which just further contributed to the film being a supremely skilled work of art. For foriegn language film, The White Ribbon gets it hands down. I really hope that Avatar doesn't win for score, because it was so unorginal that it was practically unrecognizable. I really liked a lot of the simple folkish music in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, so I'll go for that. As for best adapted screenplay, I've heard that In the Loop was quite clever. Inglorious Basterds is my hands-down choice for original screenplay. Any year with a Tarantino script is a good one.

[Janine]

I'm sad, no one every notices that I post about a film and no one ever comments. I am beginning to think I am living on Mars or I am invisible.

[manolia]

yeah, I think Cache might be the best of all of his films, but White Ribbon is a pretty close second.

It got nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography at the Oscars this morning.



Also, The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead the Oscars noms 9 to 9. Oscars has prepared for the greatest ex-husband and ex-wife showdown ever between Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron (Inglourious Basterds is in 3rd place with 8). I'd like to see The Hurt Locker win all of them, but I wouldn't be incredibly disappointed by a Basterds best picture win either. :p

EDIT: and i might add that the whole 10 nomination is sort of a big joke, as The Blind Side has absolutely no chance of winning anything, except Sandra Bullock who will probably win for Best Actress. The only films that have a chance are the ones that were also nominated for Best Director. But I have to say hurrah for Clint Eastwood being shut out this year, and i'm so happy that Up was able to become the only film other than Beauty and The Beast to win a best picture nom.

Hmmm i have yet to watch cache. I will soon, now you mention it.
I guess i should check Hurt Locker as well. I'll have to wait a bit more for the theater release.

It's really hard to believe that Bullock is nominated for an oscar. She is bad imo.

Last film i watched was "Death proof". I give it a 9/10.

[atiguhya padma]

Fish Tank 9/10

By the director of Red Road, another great film. Life in the grim reality of a London housing estate. Hopeless, heartless at times, but filled with a verve and spirit that overcomes the loss of opportunity, the abandonment of dreams.

[Shalot]

I'm sad, no one every notices that I post about a film and no one ever comments. I am beginning to think I am living on Mars or I am invisible.

I feel the same way about my posts in this thread. Although I think sprinks may have commented on the last thing I watched. :)

[wlz]

Paranormal Activity. The film comes off more like paranoid stupidity. Repetitve dialogue, visually tedious and dull, bad camera work, lack-lustre storyline - if we pretend that it had one. It takes something like 40 - 45 minutes before anything actually happens and when it does it is simply nothing - then more repetitive dialogue cuts in. There's only one good scene throughout the entire film: the final scene. It was hailed as the film which scared America????????????? Any response to this??????????? I tried getting in touch with the creator, Oren Peli, because I was so disgusted with the outcome of the film. I still want my money back, *******! I know what went on there... you were a bored young **** of man with too much money made from your other real career and very little imagination of what to do with your life to come so you decided to make a ****ing crap film with your girlfriend for a laugh... well I'm not laughing you bum!!!!!!!! How dare you produce such ****e...
Supposedly he learned how to edit or make films from information acquired through research on the internet. It took him a year. GO TO COLLEGE YOU CHUMP!!!!!! I'm not letting this drop...
It was the biggest scam of the year so far.


Paranormal Activity. Rating: - minus 40.

[Scheherazade]

I re-watched "Kindergarden Cop" and had a little fun again.

6/10!

[wlz]

Just finished watching Paranormal Activity again...
ULTIMATE CRAP!!

[skib]

I re-watched "Kindergarden Cop" and had a little fun again.

6/10!

I love that movie! I haven't seen it in a while though.

Last movie I haven't seen a zillion times- Legion.
zero on every scale. Acting= mediocre at best
Plot= plot?
There's enough zombie movies out there. Someone thought they'd be original and make God the bad guy. Of course, Gabriel makes an appearance in all his bulletproof glory. That was the only good part of the movie- there wasn't any talking in it. I guess it was kind of scary. A little kid possessed by an angel starts chasing a pregnant girl around with a knife saying "Don't be scared. I just want to play with your baby."
zero point zero

[Janine]

I re-watched "Kindergarden Cop" and had a little fun again.

6/10!

Oh I love that movie. Good escapism. It's quite fun and sweet.


I feel the same way about my posts in this thread. Although I think sprinks may have commented on the last thing I watched. :)

So it's not just me...good to know I am not alone. I don't even recognise half the movies being discussed anymore. Are most of them foreign films?

[Dustin]

Zombieland - 7/10 overall, 10/10 as far as zombie comedies go

Zombieland was great for what it was... a silly zombie movie. Every once in a while, it is great to watch a movie without having to think at all... just be entertained by zombies being killed with banjos, garden shears, etc. I'm not a big fan of the so-called horror zombie movies, but I love me a good zombie comedy. I haven't laughed this much about zombies (killing or being killed) since Shaun of the Dead.

[Dixon]

The latest "Big Film EVent" for me was the new EMMA-Adaptation of JAne Austen´s novel by the BBC starring Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller. It is so great, funny, moving, entertaining. One of the best Period Dramas I have ever seen. (Well, and I have seen many.)

[Mathor]

Zombieland - 7/10 overall, 10/10 as far as zombie comedies go

Zombieland was great for what it was... a silly zombie movie. Every once in a while, it is great to watch a movie without having to think at all... just be entertained by zombies being killed with banjos, garden shears, etc. I'm not a big fan of the so-called horror zombie movies, but I love me a good zombie comedy. I haven't laughed this much about zombies (killing or being killed) since Shaun of the Dead.

I would've given it more than 7. I saw this over Thanksgiving with the male side of my family, and thought I would hate it, but found it to be one of the funniest movies I saw all year. Bill Murray makes that movie for me :)

[toni]

District 9

4/10 Being a person who's greatly interested in aliens, I thought I would have loved this film. The surprise was - I didn't. The conflict between aliens and humans were pointless and absurd. There were scenes that were supposed to be exciting and action-packed but I yawned through them. And this was a Peter Jackson film. Is there something wrong with me?

The Orphan

5/10 The actress who played the Orphan was enigmatic. The plot was enough to keep me hooked but overall, the film was forgettable.


On another note, I'm looking forward to watching Fight Club tomorrow evening.

[DanielBenoit]

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye!

A whole hour of lost footage has been found from Fritz Lang's science-fiction masterpiece Metropolis! Can be streamed live for one day only! Here's the information http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100211/COMMENTARY/100219992

This is something not to miss for all movielovers.

[Shalot]

The Orphan

5/10 The actress who played the Orphan was enigmatic. The plot was enough to keep me hooked but overall, the film was forgettable.


On another note, I'm looking forward to watching Fight Club tomorrow evening.

I saw the Orphan and there was something wrong with Esther. I probably won't forget that film. It was better than I thought it would be and most definitely disturbing. Not the best entertainment admittedly but it was okay.

[Drkshadow03]

I saw the Orphan and there was something wrong with Esther. I probably won't forget that film. It was better than I thought it would be and most definitely disturbing. Not the best entertainment admittedly but it was okay.

Heh. I thought Orphan was great. One of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time.

[toni]

I saw the Orphan and there was something wrong with Esther. I probably won't forget that film. It was better than I thought it would be and most definitely disturbing. Not the best entertainment admittedly but it was okay.

Esther was definitely disturbing and I liked how her history was presented in the latter part of the film. I was literally going :eek2: in one scene where she dressed up like an adult and tried to hit on her Dad. Haha, but, idk, some other scenes were a little cliched.



I'm sad, no one every notices that I post about a film and no one ever comments. I am beginning to think I am living on Mars or I am invisible.

Aww, I'm sorry if you feel that way, Janine. I swear that if one of the films you posted are somewhat familiar to me, then I won't hesitate to reply or strike a conversation.

[toni]

Fight Club 10/10 !!

Fight Club is such an insanely brilliant and darkly twisted film. Great plot and powerful performances by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Peppered with unforgettable dialogues, this film has a lot of subtexts and broadens your perspective on modern society. It's beyond anything I have ever seen.

"I'm breaking my attachment to physical power and possessions," Tyler whispered, "because only through destroying myself can I discover the greater power of my spirit."

[toni]

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

7/10

Originally a novel by Patrick Süskind, the film Perfume is about an olfactory genius, Grenouille who is obsessed in mixing and producing the best scent.
The only flaw I could probably note in the movie was the character development of Richis (played by Alan Rickman) and her daughter Laura. I felt that their connection was rather weak.
But aside from that, I found the movie to be poetic, subtly moving and visually powerful.

[Silverblue]

Saw the 1994 movie "Dreamlover" with James Spader, directed by Elia Kazan's son.

very good acting and good plot, you know what's bound to happen, but when it does, you're completely caught up in it. Would make a terrific play ! I'd recommand it if you like femme fatale movies.:smile5:

7/10

[Janine]

Aww, I'm sorry if you feel that way, Janine. I swear that if one of the films you posted are somewhat familiar to me, then I won't hesitate to reply or strike a conversation.

Ahhh...you are so sweet and considerate, toni. Maybe I watch movies that no one else watches. I guess I felt like complaining that day. I don't have acess to many of these older foreign films, so I felt I hadn't recognised anything being discussed for a long while. I am also behind the times; maybe I am getting out of date.:lol: A few years ago, I did see "Perfume" though....so what did you think of that ending? Interesting film; well done I thought...but would probably not watch it again...so I agree with your rating.

[Shalot]

Fight Club 10/10 !!

Fight Club is such an insanely brilliant and darkly twisted film. Great plot and powerful performances by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Peppered with unforgettable dialogues, this film has a lot of subtexts and broadens your perspective on modern society. It's beyond anything I have ever seen.

"I'm breaking my attachment to physical power and possessions," Tyler whispered, "because only through destroying myself can I discover the greater power of my spirit."

I remember watching this for the first time when it came out and I was blown away. It is brilliant. I love the quote you included with your post. When he uses the word "myself" is he referring to his ego and a false, empty identity that is tied to material possessions?

And, as an added bonus, Where is My Mind Played at the end. I love the Pixies.

[toni]

Ahhh...you are so sweet and considerate, toni. Maybe I watch movies that no one else watches. I guess I felt like complaining that day. I don't have acess to many of these older foreign films, so I felt I hadn't recognised anything being discussed for a long while. I am also behind the times; maybe I am getting out of date.:lol: A few years ago, I did see "Perfume" though....so what did you think of that ending? Interesting film; well done I thought...but would probably not watch it again...so I agree with your rating.

Ah, okay. Old, foreign films are indeed are a challenge to find, but if I had the choice, I'd prefer to watch them.
About Perfume, yes, wasn't it a very curious film! I personally thought the ending was magical and a little surreal. I mean, how could those villagers just consume his physical being to the point of disappearance? It was almost as if he evaporated. But I agree with you, it is well done and exquisite.
Perhaps we would enjoy the novel by Patrick Suskind better. :)


I love the quote you included with your post. When he uses the word "myself" is he referring to his ego and a false, empty identity that is tied to material possessions?

Yes, I believe so. Isolationism (specifically from material possessions) is one of the many themes in the film and Tyler believed that it is only when we isolate ourselves from it that we find out who we really are.



And, as an added bonus, Where is My Mind Played at the end. I love the Pixies.

I thought it was performed by Placebo in the film. Hmm..maybe it is an original by the Pixies. :confused:
But yeah, excellent song!

[Janine]

Yeah, toni, definitely a curious movie. The ending was pretty strange in my own opinion but it might have shocked people. I was not that shocked but then again it was unlike anything I had seen before. It definitely pushed the boundries.

hahah...I was cruising stations late tonight and came across this really corny old horror movie called "Donavan's Brain"....basically dr loses patient, but realises brain is still functioning so he removes it, against his better judgement, to study in the lab....the brain keeps growing and of course, eventually takes over the brain of the scientist dr by telepathy, who starts acting out commands from the deceased's brain....pretty corny stuff, but since it was a 60's B/W film, it was slightly entertaining and interesting to pick out old actors. Rating definitely a 4/10....haha

Please don't judge my movie taste by this film!

[Helga]

juno.... again, love it.... 8/10

[skib]

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

7/10

Originally a novel by Patrick Süskind, the film Perfume is about an olfactory genius, Grenouille who is obsessed in mixing and producing the best scent.
The only flaw I could probably note in the movie was the character development of Richis (played by Alan Rickman) and her daughter Laura. I felt that their connection was rather weak.
But aside from that, I found the movie to be poetic, subtly moving and visually powerful.

Ahhh! I love that movie! I would tend to agree with your assessment, but I think it deserves at least an 8. While the relationship was slightly weak, I don't think overall it detracted from the movie. What makes me chuckle is when Richis is monologuing Grenouille when they're dunking him. The delivery was fine, but the speech itself is a bit cheesy in my opinion.

[Idril]

The Emperor and the Assassin. I love Chinese movies, especially those that Gong Li stars in, I just love her. As usual, the visuals were stunning, the colors and textures are almost hypnotizing. The storyline was somewhat reminiscent of Hero...and was better done in Hero but it was still a very worthwhile film. 8/10

[Susu J]

I watched ‘Shutter Island’ last night and although I get slightly perplexed with many of Scorsese’s films I actually enjoyed it. It is very creative yet complicated in its storyline and in its technique but the detail is excellent because it sits very well with the plot of the story. Scorsese does a brilliant job in putting you into the shoes of the character because you begin to think like the protagonist, see what the protagonist is seeing and come to hate who the protagonist hates. It is a thinking film. I give it an 8/10.

[Janine]

Still in the Dark Ages here. I saw a number of old movies lately. Last night I watched the:

1932 version of "Midsummer Night's Dream" ~ Max Reinhardt's lavish production.

I really like this version a lot. It's b/w and truly the film shimmers with brilliance. The fairies are beautiful to watch. The early effects are pretty amazing. I especially loved the scene with Oberon leading and a billowing black fabric (his cloak), representing night clouds follows behind him encompassing all....that scene is truly awesome. The acting is quite good and very funny at times. The one main fairy is a famous figure who danced at the Ballet Russe. She is mesmerizing to watch; especially when she is conveyed to the heavens by a dark presence...her arms dance and as she goes further away the white hands blend into the stars....truly brilliant film-making. I think the sets were beautiful/elegant as well...the twisted columns in the Duke's palace are very beautiful and etheral...reminiscent of Maxfield Parish's work. Sure, the film is 'Hollywood', but somehow it's pulled off very well and it's a fun film to watch - very magical. Mickey Rooney as Puck is irritating at times; either you hate him or like him. I guess by now, I have just gotten used to his performance; I admit at first I was not sure if he was cast well for the part. I think since he was a hit on the stage with the role he overplayed it a bit for the screen...that is just my opinion. The comedy bits are pretty funny. James Cagney (who would think it?) plays Bottom and he is quite good at the role; I think more convincing than Kevin Kline. He was quite thin and rather handsome. Joe E. Brown is very funny...especially when he comes on stage dressed as Thisbie. The score is stunning, featuring Mendelssoh's Midsummer Night's Dream.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable movie if you just go with it and know it's from a different era of film-making. I can see where many directors have gotten ideas from this early film of 'trick photography as it was once known. If Reinhardt was alive today, I wonder what use he would have made of CGI. Now that would be interesting.

Definitely a classic for alltimes. 10/10

[byquist]

4 1/2 hr. "Che" as a revolutionary angel. Interesting character study of a team effort at overthrowing governments.

"Amreeka" a sweet lady and when she slips in the White Castle, it takes your heart away. Wait for that plot event; great film moment.

[millymichaelson]

The last movie I watched was District 9 and I absolutely loved it. I think it was a better overall movie than Avatar, because I really cared for the characters; brilliant and unique sci-fi, what could be better? 9/10

[toni]

Death Proof
7/10

The story is about a psycho stuntman Mike who stalks beautiful women then staging car-chases that leads to murder. The film was off to a weak start but got a lot more interesting as it progressed. It is definitely not one of Tarantino's finest, some scenes (girlie chats) could use some editing and the script wasn't very well-crafted. The climax of had to be the car-chase in the end; it had me at the edge of my seat.
Not my favorite of Tarantino but it was an enjoyable ride.
:)

[toni]

What makes me chuckle is when Richis is monologuing Grenouille when they're dunking him. The delivery was fine, but the speech itself is a bit cheesy in my opinion.

Oh yeah, I suddenly remembered that bit and think likewise. Alan Rickman and those corny lines were quite painful to watch. :shocked:

[DanielBenoit]

Death Proof
7/10

The story is about a psycho stuntman Mike who stalks beautiful women then staging car-chases that leads to murder. The film was off to a weak start but got a lot more interesting as it progressed. It is definitely not one of Tarantino's finest, some scenes (girlie chats) could use some editing and the script wasn't very well-crafted. The climax of had to be the car-chase in the end; it had me at the edge of my seat.
Not my favorite of Tarantino but it was an enjoyable ride.
:)

Hopefully my opinion of the film didn't bias you :p

Pulp Fiction! Pulp Fiction mademmoiselle!

[toni]

Hopefully my opinion of the film didn't bias you :p! Pulp Fiction! Pulp Fiction mademmoiselle!


Well, just a little biased. :p I was skeptical while watching it. I know, can't wait for Pulp Fiction!

[formality hater]

Sleepy Hollow
3/10

There was nothing new about it but was good for killing time.:)

[Shalot]

I saw Zombieland - it was much better than I thought it was going to be.

I also watched Sex Drive and Ms. March...these were my husband's choices. They were both pretty stupid.

[Silverblue]

"Dressed to kill" by B. de Palma.... not his best but there are some nice moments. :smile5:

[DanielBenoit]

The Birth of a Nation - Well, after a few weeks of being away from the silver screen, I decided to return for a brief period of time yesterday to re-watch D.W. Griffith's controversial and influencial epic masterpiece, The Birth of a Nation. It's somewhat funny what a great contradiction this movie is, for right up to the hour and thirty minute mark, the film is a masterpiece of its time and a powerful work of art, making the famous James Agee quote not too far-fethced: "[D.W. Griffith] achieved what no other known man has achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination and first eloquence of language; the birth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man." Oh how these words ring true in the esquisitley epic first half of this film, even with its racial undertones (which become extreme overtones in the second half). The first half of the film, taking place in the south before and during the Civil War in which two families from opposite sides befriend and fight each other in war. As almost any cinemaphile knows, this film was revolutionary in its filming techniques and along with Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, virtually defined film grammer. There are some moments of such mastery and such historicity, such as the infamous battlefield charge sequence, which, despite being filmed almost a century ago, is unlike anything I've ever seen. There is also a particular shot on the eve of the war in which many of the characters are in a dance hall, and the camera looms out from the middle of the floor into a great long dancing crane shot. To the average viewer this shot is nothing very special, but to one who knows the near-impossibility of a shot with that movement and held that long with those heavy primitive cameras, one cannot help but be left in awe.

Not only is the technique masterful, but one actually cares for the characters, and there is a sense of total epiphany when a wounded confederate soldier coincidentially meets the girl whom he's been in love with for so many years, and yet has only seen her picture.

All of this, all of this supreme work is thrown away exactly at the hour and a half mark in which the narrative turns to the Reconstruction era in which Griffith makes one of the most extreme perversions of history and paints the south as a landscape terrorized by newly freed slaves. At this point the tone of the film changes completely. From great and sophisticated historical epic, to close-to-unbearable racial slur in the style of a vile minstrel show. We go from supreme epic and historical events, such as the masterfully directed and edited re-visioning of the night Lincoln was killed, to a disguising anti-abolitionist vaudeville. The characters which I so cared for in the first part, I hate in the second for there racial intolerance, portrayed heroically by Griffith. More sickening than anything else, is that African Americans are portrayed as friendly helpless teddy bears when slaves, and yet turn into savage sexually-charged animals when free. The portrayals are almost sickening. I find it funny how Griffith didn't use a single black actor in the film, instead putting white actors in blackface, for what self-respecting African American would reduce himself to such a sick film?

The first time I saw this film, I was able to watch it all the way through. That may be because I was a little indifferent towards the first half, and then paradoxically was able to tolerate the second half. But on this viewing, after being so awed by the supreme art of the first half, it felt like a spit in the face to watch the sickeningly amateurish and dull second half, which admittingly did have some of the technical mastery the first half did, but whose content was so immature, so disguising, that it just seeped into the art of the film and lowered it down into a sick piece of white supremacy. Eventually, the sickening racism became so unbearable and made me feel so unclean, that I just had to turn it off for the sake of my stomach. This is the most racist film I have ever seen.

But what is The Birth of a Nation today? Was Griffith's choice in cutting the vile latter half of the film in its re-release a good idea? Well no, because the film is what it is, and to hide what is already in it is just an act of dishonesty. But what are we to make of a film like this today? Yes the first half alone ranks it among one of the greatest films ever made, but the second half tugs it down to a work of out-dated silent cinema. If the second half was the film on its own, I would gladly call it one of the worst films I had ever seen. But what of it? Battleship Potemkin and October are far more than bearable and are masterpieces I enjoy watching again and again, despite the fact that they are works of Soviet propiganda. Why are these films tolerable? Because of the way they are directed. Because of the fact that if we treat them as "movies" they become supreme and powerful works of art. But Griffith's film, for my tastes that is, is far too explicit in its bigotry to be bearable, it openly embraces racism and portrays the Klu-Klux-Klan as cinematic heros. The thing that divides the mastery of Griffith's film and Eisenstein's propaganda pieces is that the immorality of the work is so explicitly there, that it destroys any merits the films may have. Whilst watching Battleship Potemkin one isn't all that much aware that one is watching a film displaying the heroism of Leninism in so much as we are thinking "what a great and powerful film this is!" The Birth of a Nation brings itself down to the level of the ideas it expresses, and thus does not hide its sins. 5/10

[DanielBenoit]

Also, here's one of Godard's best films, a cinematic poem of post-WWII.

Short Film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h70BW5flKJ4)

[Pryderi Agni]

Ultraviolet: 8/10.

Milla Jovovich is superb, both as kick-*** assassin babe and as caring mother.

[manolia]

I watched "Shutter island" yesterday at the theater. Didn't like it much. I have seen this plot so many times. I also think it lacked atmosphere.
However there was some good acting.

[sixsmith]

I watched "Shutter island" yesterday at the theater. Didn't like it much. I have seen this plot so many times. I also think it lacked atmosphere.
However there was some good acting.

I disagree. Thought it was a very fine noir horror/thriller. 8/10.

[Jackiemaggio]

I saw "The Hurt Locker" yesterday, I thought it was really good actually. 8/10 I'd say.

[byquist]

"Bella" -- Rotten Tomatoes gives it 45% - insane. This is a really fine film -- only about 4-5 plots/themes; characters with real problems. Very subtle film, very sensitive. Apparently, RT reviewers show that they have lost the ability to feel anything.

[Mariner]

Hopefully my opinion of the film didn't bias you :p

Pulp Fiction! Pulp Fiction mademmoiselle!

My favorite movie! It's the best.


I just watched The Hangover. I saw it on the big screen but it was just as funny the second time around. Great story, great acting, just all-around funny, fresh, and original. I couldn't ask for a better comedy. 9/10

[DanielBenoit]

I just recently re-watched Casablanca for maybe the millionth time. Here's a review I posted a while back and one that I'm quite proud of.

Casablanca. Oh how those syllables seem to echo throughout the collective memory of film audiences. Its lines, phrases and characters have become virtually commonplace and this work of art is just as likely to settle into the collective unconscious of Western civilization just as Hamlet or The Sistine Chapel has. Let's admit it, this is one of the most popular movies of all time, so popular and so well loved, that it has become almost a cliche to call it the greatest film ever made. Every filmgoer who has seen it, loves it, and we all know that it is one of the three or four greatest films ever made, what's the point of even stating something that is common knowledge?

But Casablanca is more than just some great film. It's passion and love is unlike anything ever made in Hollywood, or anywhere for that matter, all thanks to the two immortal performances of two immortal actors, backed up by probably the finest cast of all time along with The Godfather and Citizen Kane. Every inch of this film is perfect.

I probably won't even bother with a synopsis because this film is like a piece of music that we've all heard and look upon with memory. It's like whistling the opening chords of Beethoven's 5th, it resonates inside every filmgoers head.

Now I could waste an entire review saying how great everything about it is, when I can just say what everyone else has said in a single sentence: This is a perfect film, perfect script, perfect acting, perfect atmosphere. Done.

There are just so many characters to love, down to the corrupt French police offical Captian Renault, who's probably the most lovable. His subtle bisexuality and amorality is so amusing that he seems to steal every non-serious scene in the movie. Bergmen and Bogart's performances are both great, and probably the greatest to ever be found in a Hollywood romance, or any film for that matter. Sam is the wonderfully charming piano player, who, despite his minor performance, made Casablanca what it was with the perfect pitch of jazzy music. Paul Henried as the heroic Victor Laszlo is probably the most stiff romantic hero of all time, but who's banality sets just the right tone so that his political heroism doesn't outshine the far more interesting and troubled Rick.

But what is it that draws us to it? Why is it so well loved? It is, in my opinion, along with Singing in the Rain, the greatest thing Hollywood has ever produced. Now of course Hollywood produced Citizen Kane and The Third Man, but those were films made by directors more free from the constraints of the studio system. They are works by their directors; Casablanca is not. It is a purely studio production if there ever was one, and it is an achievement on their part.

What I must say, upon many viewings from over the years, the explanaition of Casablanca's effect sinks in with time. The movie is about time and memory, and the love which seems to go along with it. Observe the nostaligc flashbacks of Paris and the end result; what we see is love, innocence and joy, pitted against the modern world, however can two lovers keep their innocence in a bloodstained world, seems to be what the film asks. Out of this comes Rick's despiar; nostaliga, apathy, memory. And yet, how beautiful it is, that through Paris to Casablanca, that we still hear Sam play "As Time Goes By", strumming the keys as if winding a clock. 10/10


Also, I just re-watched Persona for the third time and still feel as if I'm not worthy enough to review such a great and mysterious film. If anything it is a masterpiece of cryptic modernism in film. One of the all time greats, and Bergman's finest.

Speaking of Bergman (the Swedish director not the actress, lol), here's a review that I attempted to write when I first saw Cries and Whispers. It was just too hard for me to go on, because even words do injustice to the film and trivialize it.

However, I did finish it, but it is terribly unorganized and not one of my best at all:

Clocks tick away in a silent house in early morning. A women awakes in great pain. We can almost hear the sounds of her insides. She takes a glass of water and it harshly goes down.


Cries and Whispers - Taking place at the turn-of-the-century this film inhibits the most deepest, darkest and most intense array of human emotion between three sisters. Each one seems to have done little with their life, and have begun to loathe themselves for it. One of them is in the final stages of cancer, leading to the most painful death scene I have ever seen. We can hear sounds from her stomach, her breathing becomes intensely acute and her voice sounds animalistic and humanly unrecognizable. Ingmar Bergman presents death, in contrast to his most famous masterpiece The Seventh Seal, not in an abstract or theatrical way, but in a cruelly physical and naturalistic way. He presents it as the death of the body. The sister's inevidible death forces us to turn to the other two sisters, as well as the servant as they prepare the funeral.

Flashbacks are shown of the other two sister's life. The two flashbacks further present the extremes of human emotion and how these two women became who they are today. This film isn't a decent into despair, in so much as it is an atmosphere of despair, that is, these induviduals are already wounded in one way or another.

But in a film so filled with narcissism, cruelty and coldness from its characters, there is the greatest love to be found in the servant Ana, who has been treated as a sister and is the one who comes to the dying sister's side when she is screaming in pain and lays her next to her breast like a mother calming her sick child. Bergman films this like a Reinissance painter, so spiritually, so painfully. There is one particular shot in here of Ana holding the dying sister that is so powerful and so heartbreaking, that it is without a doubt one the best in all of cinema.

The two sisters don't know how to express emotion, and in a scene of the most deepest and stunning emotional intensity that the cinema has ever seen (you will know it when you see it, for it is beyond words) their most deepest personal insecurities and insticts all come out.

In the end, what Bergman presents in the final heartbreakingly beautiful scene, is that life is dark, short, tortuous, deceptive, indifferent and infinitley cruel. But there are those moments, just those little moments of joy, that make it all worth it. To quote Dostoyevsky; "My God, a whole moment of happiness! Is that too little for one man's life?"

[BienvenuJDC]

Knowing with Nicholas Cage
Rather disappointing...predictable ending.

4/10 (and I'm being generous)

[TheFifthElement]

District 9

10/10 - brilliant, brilliant movie.

[paradoxical]

Gran Torino - 9/10

Gripping storyline and great performance by Clint Eastwood.

[Hurricane]

Precious.
I'd give it nine-and-one-quarter impoverished teenagers out of ten.
The story itself isn't really that remarkable, in many ways it could have just been seeing how much crap this poor girl can take. Fortunately, they managed to inject a fair amount of humor ("My favorite color is fluorescent beige.") into the movie and made the title character not just something to pity, but to eventually learn to respect as she begins to figure out she shouldn't have to put up with it anymore and takes charge.
Also, the performances were great. Mo'nique bordered on almost too vicious, but managed to bring it together and managed to be much more complex. Definitely deserved the Oscar. Frankly, I'm really surprised Gabourey Sidibe didn't get anything because she was great, especially for someone with little to no acting experience. Hey, even Mariah Carey was good.

[Mariner]

It wasn't a "movie" but the Trail Blazer/Warriors game on TNT last night had some great drama. Amazing come-from-behind win by the Blazers. They almost fell victim to the Warriors' crazy offense. But they pulled it together and got the job done. 10/10

[Shalot]

Twilight - 4/10. It came on cable and I watched. I'm giving it a very generous 4/10. I understand that there are a lot of Twilight fans and I know there are a lot of Edward Cullen fans (that's his name, right?). But this movie was lame. It was 122 minutes of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart having pained looks on their faces. I'm not the first person to make that observation - I understand Saturday Night Live did a skit about this and I missed it and I do regret that. The only thing I did like was the cinematography - but I am a big fan of that style I guess so that's nothing. I'm sure the books must be better than the movies. I sure hope they are. There were lots of pretty-faced actors as well.

[wessexgirl]

Shutter Island 9/10. Very good, very atmospheric.

[NickAdams]

A lot, a lot, a lot. This is what I remember:

Mutual Appreciation: :thumbs_up (I really appreciated this film, pun not intended.)
Hot Rod: :thumbs_up (I've seen it three times in the last month)
Damnation: :thumbs_up (In Tarr I trust.)
Mister Lonely: :thumbs_up (I should've had more faith in Korine. I avoided this one, but the moments captured remind me why Harmony Korine is one of my favorite directors.)
The Room: :ack2: (The all-intentioned drama, that's enjoyed as a comedy, is one of the creepiest films I've ever did see.)
Venom and Eternity: :thumbs_up (I couldn't begin to express my admiration for this film <--- I guess that's a start.)

[Mathor]

The Ghost Writer - 10/10 - Roman Polanski is continuously proving to the world what a brilliant director he is. I know i'm speaking early, but I can't think of many valid reasons why he shouldn't win Best Director at next year's Oscars for this. Surrealism at its best, he borrows a lot from Hitchcock on this one.

That said - he still deserves to go to jail for the rest of his life. Being a complete artistic genius does not excuse one from crimes. It's kind of a shame, though, because his punishment will ultimately be more of a punishment for the world who will not get to enjoy such brilliant films any longer.

[Shalot]

Cadillac Records 9/10

This movie is about Chess Records and the musicians, such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Chuck Berry and Etta James, who made music there in the 40's and 50's. The film centers around producer Leonard Chess, who is the owner of Chess Records, and Muddy Waters who was the first musician to sign on with Chess. In the opening credits, I noticed two phrases: "Based On a True Story" and "Executive Producer: Beyonce Knowles." So, I gather that there may have been more to the story than what is given in this particular film, and that's okay for somoene like me who wasn't even around when the Rolling Stones started making music.

According to the movie, Muddy Waters (played by Jeffrey Wright) was working on a plantation when two men pulled up in a car and wanted to make a recording of folk music for the Library of Congress. So he got out his guitar and sang and when they played the recording back for him, he heard his singing and playing the way someone else would have for the first time, and made the decision to leave the plantation and go elsewhere to make music. To be frank, I was more impressed with the music that was played in the early part of the film. Maybe it's the music itself or maybe it's some combination of Jeffrey Wright's performance and the music, but whatever it is, I am now on an internet mission trying to find CD's of that style of blues music.

In the middle of the movie, Beyonce Knowles comes in as Etta James, and at that point, the movie seemed to be about Beyonce performing Etta James' music. The film stopped three times so that we could watch Beyonce Knowles sing an Etta James song wearing an Etta James wig. I like Beyonce, when she is being Beyonce. Her teary Etta James performances did nothing for me personally but then I realized that this is the year 2008 and Beyonce Knowles' appearance might be the bridge from the past to the present for some viewers who wouldn't be compelled to watch this movie otherwise.

[papayahed]

Knocked Up - It was a warm piece of poo.. The only reason I didn't turn it off was because I was at someone else's house and they like the movie. It seemed like every actor was a caricature. 4.5/10

[Shalot]

Knocked Up - It was a warm piece of poo.. The only reason I didn't turn it off was because I was at someone else's house and they like the movie. It seemed like every actor was a caricature. 4.5/10

Oh no, really? I liked it but I was all about Seth Rogen for a while so that might have something to do with it. I guess I like raunchy humor maybe. One of my favorite characters was Jodi - my college roomnmate was like that freshman year. She sounded exactly like her...when she said "Are you hungry?"

[Helga]

Sweeney Todd. I liked it, the songs were great and the music all together was really good... there was something missing from the plot I think, it needed something epic or, I don't know. Helena Bonham Carter was great and Johnny depp too like usual, and the young boy was so good... dark and disgusting, very Burtonian.... 7/10

[toni]

Casino by Martin Scorsese

Superbly acted film with excellent shots. Robert de Niro performed well, as did Joe Pesci but Sharon Stone takes the cake. This almost 4-hour crime-drama is worth sitting through as it takes you to the interesting, violent, yet sometimes overwhelming world of a Las Vegas casino run by a mafia.

The soundtrack of the film, with tracks from Rolling Stones, Devo, the Animals..etc is also ace. :thumbs_up
8/10

[BienvenuJDC]

Iron Man...now maybe a dozen times viewed
9/10 (hoping that the next one could be better)
Downy presents great wit as usual. The movie inspires my creative and inventive side. Plus it has good music...

[Lokasenna]

The Secret of Kells.

Last night I watched this rather surprise nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year's Oscars. It's a real shame it didn't win, because it is very obviously a work of great love and care.

It's an odd fairy tale set in the 9th Century, and it focuses on the creation of the famous Book of Kells, one of the great masterpieces of Insular art. Brendan, the main character, is a young monk at Kells, and the nephew of the Abbot. His uncle has become obsessed with fortifying the monastry against the ravages of the Viking northmen, and has everybody building walls around the place, while the master illuminator Aidan of Iona tries to promote the continued importance of the monastry's intellectual work. Brendan is caught between loyalty to his uncle, and an immense sense of wonder over the unfinished Book of Iona.

I won't spoil the story - it is simple but captivating. The art style is incredible, carrying the viewer in a dream-like fantasy from start to finish, and focuses with joy and affection on the beauty of the Insular art style.

This is an excellent film - I cannot recommend it enough!

[JuniperWoolf]

The Men Who Stare at Goats... 7/10

It was better than Avatar.

[Camerama]

Up. Visually spectacular. It is no "Not Another Teen Movie," however.

[toni]

The Men Who Stare at Goats... 7/10

It was better than Avatar.

I have the DVD of this film for months now but haven't had the chance to watch it yet. Your rating (7/10) is enticing though.


Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
7/10

I think I fell in love more with George Peppard and his character- the sensitive and bookish writer Paul Varjack than I was with Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn). But that may stem from the fact that I could identify with Holly's philosophy with not wanting to "belong to anyone" & “I’m like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don’t even belong to each other.” Paul refutes this argument, making me feel more pathetic than I already was by saying:

You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

Further reading of the wiki of this film told me of the controversy surrounding the character of Holly's Japanese neighbor Mr Yunioshi (Mickey Rooney), who portrays a stereotypical, loud, buck-toothed Asian. The Asian community back in the days were apparently offended and the director Blake Edwards was quoted saying "Looking back, I wish I had never done it...and I would give anything to be able to recast it, but it's there, and onward and upward." I was honestly surprised, reading about it. Mr. Yunioshi's antics in the film to me, were a bit theatrical but non-offensive.

Overall, I thought the film was slightly overrated. Just, slightly. Audrey Hepburn was charming as always, and the art direction was great and so was the Cat, I loved the Cat; that no-name slob. But something tells me the book by Truman Capote will be much better.

[DanielBenoit]

It Happened One Night - Oh what a joy it is to watch a film like this. One may argue that it is a fantasy and that it invented all of the cliches that we know in romantic-comedies today, I don't care. This film is so perfect, so perfectly written, so perfectly acted, so perfectly funny, that it becomes a fantastic hymn to love and life.

Sometimes I feel humilated as a critic, because sometimes some movies are so great that they're indescribable. This is Capra's best film, and undoubtably one of the greatest romantic-comedies ever made (in my opinion, the best) with one of the greatest scripts. Please see this with a loved one! 10/10

[JuniperWoolf]

Defiance - 10/10

I do not give out perfect ratings often. I won't go on about it, but I strongly reccomend it.

[papayahed]

It Happened One Night - Oh what a joy it is to watch a film like this. One may argue that it is a fantasy and that it invented all of the cliches that we know in romantic-comedies today, I don't care. This film is so perfect, so perfectly written, so perfectly acted, so perfectly funny, that it becomes a fantastic hymn to love and life.


One of my favorites.


Zombieland - How can a Zombie movie go wrong?? 8/10.

[Remarkable]

The Reader. I have ambiguous feelings about it. It was quite interesting as a storyline and I liked the psychological impact, but it was much more slow than it should have been and many of its conclusions were a bit rash or unjustified. Good movie, however. I would give it a 7/10.

[Hurricane]

Misery. 9.2/10. One of the few movies I've watched where I've been cringing and horrified nearly the entire time.

[Helga]

last night we finished a three weekend 'marathon' of sort watching all Star wars movies. I really do love'em. and I'm trying to teach my boy all about these movies, my favourite is Return of the jedi but they are of course all very entertaining....

when my son is a little bit older it will be a Star trek marathon

but all SW get 8-9 out of 10

[toni]

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves 10/10

I think I may have taken the "Princess for a weekend" theme too seriously. :lol:
I watched this tonight with my sisters and we were all charmed and nostalgic by the end of the film. So much memories. You can never go wrong with a Disney classic.

[manolia]

Zombieland - How can a Zombie movie go wrong?? 8/10.

How indeed?? I watched this one last night. Great!

[farnoosh]

Kate & Leopold-8/10

I saw it because my friend said so..but i really liked it..and leopold was such a funny duke!!! I loved it!

[LadyW]

Paranormal Activity 7/10
Parts of it were laughable I must say, but the ending managed to creep me out a little.
It's very well made considering it's done on a home video camera. The fact it all took place at night, mostly when they were asleep added to the fear.
:D

SawVI 6/10
Yes, I realise they've gradually become worse after the first two but:
i. I have a profoundly sick sense of humour
ii. I have a compulsion to watch them all
The opening scene was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen.

[Oniw17]

Zombieland- a rare 10/10

[Janine]

It Happened One Night - Oh what a joy it is to watch a film like this. One may argue that it is a fantasy and that it invented all of the cliches that we know in romantic-comedies today, I don't care. This film is so perfect, so perfectly written, so perfectly acted, so perfectly funny, that it becomes a fantastic hymn to love and life.

Sometimes I feel humilated as a critic, because sometimes some movies are so great that they're indescribable. This is Capra's best film, and undoubtably one of the greatest romantic-comedies ever made (in my opinion, the best) with one of the greatest scripts. Please see this with a loved one! 10/10

Love this movie; glad my library owns a copy. I have seen it many times now. I love Capri movies. He was a genius.

[toni]

Revolutionary Road (2008)
Set in 1950's suburban America, the film tells a story about a young, married couple (played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio) who decide to take a risk and leave a comfortable, settled, though routinely life in Connecticut to discover their passions and true selves in Paris.

However, problems arise when April (Winslet) learns that she is pregnant and Frank's (Di Caprio) sudden promotion in the firm forces them to reconsider their migration. This displeases April immensely, and at the height of her emotional breakdown, she attempts to abort the baby herself. An enraged Frank questions his wife's sanity at the same time confesses his own infidelities.

Kate Winslet & Leonardo Di Caprio give such outstanding performances in Revolutionary Road. Definitely one of the best / most emotional films I've seen in a long while. 10/10

[torturedsyntax]

Across the Universe is Julie Taymor's Beatles Music psychedelic masterpiece! My 19-yr-old turned me onto this movie. It has a cult following in his age group, but the people the movie is about- the children of the 60's- barely seem aware of it's existence. More's the pity!

[DanielBenoit]

The Godfather - Most overrated movie ever made. Most boring piece of crap I've ever seen. Marlon Brando is laughable. 0/10

[breathtest]

Revolutionary Road (2008)
Set in 1950's suburban America, the film tells a story about a young, married couple (played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio) who decide to take a risk and leave a comfortable, settled, though routinely life in Connecticut to discover their passions and true selves in Paris.

However, problems arise when April (Winslet) learns that she is pregnant and Frank's (Di Caprio) sudden promotion in the firm forces them to reconsider their migration. This displeases April immensely, and at the height of her emotional breakdown, she attempts to abort the baby herself. An enraged Frank questions his wife's sanity at the same time confesses his own infidelities.

Kate Winslet & Leonardo Di Caprio give such outstanding performances in Revolutionary Road. Definitely one of the best / most emotional films I've seen in a long while. 10/10


I also watched revolutionary road very recently and found the acting incredible. It must have been very difficult, particularly the scenes of intense animosity and frustration when they shout at each other. Great film. Would definitely recommend it

[Janine]

Band of Brothers ~ HBO miniseries. I loved it!

This review is from my review on Amazon:

Stunning production presented with great respect for humanity.

Band of Brothers (DVD) This is one of the best miniseries I have ever seen and experienced...you don't just see this film you take it in and experience each moment as it happens. I think it is now my alltime favorite war film. I can't see one thing I would have changed about this fine film. The performances were totally engrossing and the intense and varied action was so engaging; also suspenseful. One truly felt the chaois present in a battle and the subsequent 'thoughtful' moments were just stunning...they stopped me dead in my tracks; I still think and ponder on those profound/poignant moments in the film. Attention to detail was wonderful. Some key moments I don't want to reveal here, because I think this would spoil the film for others.

I borrowed this fine set from a friend and so far, within a two month period, I have watched the entire production (including extras) three times. I could easily watch it again many times over. Everytime I watched it, I felt more involved and more understanding and appreciative of the individual men who fought, against all odds, for our freedom in WWII. I was totally engaged with the characters and got to know them even better after my third veiwing. I am eternally grateful to all of these brave men, ones that lived to tell the story and ones who died in battle. Survivors suffered much and they had great fortitude. I would like to thank them all personally...everyone one of them were heros! Richard Winters, in real life, was much too modest, (in the documentary) when he said he was not a hero, to his grandson, but rather he served with a company of heros. He was exempletory in his leadership skills; he cared about his men and he no doubt, saved countless lives by his wise judgement. Damien Lewis did a fine job playing Dick Winters. The entire cast was well chosen and very believable as the characters they portrayed; all performances were extraordinary. I can't say enough about this film. It is well worth owning. The set is beautiful and very well done; worth the investment. Beautiful score as well. I heard the lyrics to the main theme recently on YT and they are amazing....very uplifting. I am considering buying the score. It fit the movie well. The way the film was presented looked very authentic and the cinamatography was well done. 10/10 for sure!

[Helga]

couples retreat, crap, hardly even funny

[Hurricane]

Navy Blue and Gold (1937): Best movie about the Naval Academy, ever, including both genuine good elements and unintentional humor. Fisticuffs! Football! Friendship! It also has Jimmy Stewart, an automatic bonus. The plot's a little cliche, but honestly it's just a great fun little movie and somehow manages to be more accurate to the Naval Academy (even that of 2010) than "Annapolis" (2006).
8.7/10

[MagicalSoul]

The last movie was Avatar, which was the first and last time I see this movie :P It was a very fantastic movie when you see this weird new world, but the plot wasn't my fav.

I've seen HP 6 for the fifth times now ^_^ enjoying it as always, not as much as the book though.

[Mathor]

I have the DVD of this film for months now but haven't had the chance to watch it yet. Your rating (7/10) is enticing though.


Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
7/10

I think I fell in love more with George Peppard and his character- the sensitive and bookish writer Paul Varjack than I was with Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn). But that may stem from the fact that I could identify with Holly's philosophy with not wanting to "belong to anyone" & “I’m like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don’t even belong to each other.” Paul refutes this argument, making me feel more pathetic than I already was by saying:

You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

Further reading of the wiki of this film told me of the controversy surrounding the character of Holly's Japanese neighbor Mr Yunioshi (Mickey Rooney), who portrays a stereotypical, loud, buck-toothed Asian. The Asian community back in the days were apparently offended and the director Blake Edwards was quoted saying "Looking back, I wish I had never done it...and I would give anything to be able to recast it, but it's there, and onward and upward." I was honestly surprised, reading about it. Mr. Yunioshi's antics in the film to me, were a bit theatrical but non-offensive.

Overall, I thought the film was slightly overrated. Just, slightly. Audrey Hepburn was charming as always, and the art direction was great and so was the Cat, I loved the Cat; that no-name slob. But something tells me the book by Truman Capote will be much better.

Overrated? How? The film is pretty perfect.

Revolutionary Road - 10/10 - I've written about this film many times, but I saw it again today. Amazing.

Leaves Of Grass - 9/10 - Good to see Edward Norton in a new movie. This film was great, but didn't really stick with me enough to be a 10/10.

[The Comedian]

Just saw the new Sherlock Holmes movies -- total crap. Insipid. Boring. 1/10

[Scheherazade]

"The Invention of Lying": 8/10 Kitkats.

Rather entertaining movie with an interesting theme (a world where nobody lies) and many famous names making appearances made this a worthwhile viewing for me.

[papayahed]

Just saw the new Sherlock Holmes movies -- total crap. Insipid. Boring. 1/10


Even with that cute Robert Downey Jr.???

[paradoxical]

Breach - 7/10

Got this DVD from the library. It's based on the Robert Hanssen security breach and is a pretty interesting look at the inner workings of the FBI.

[Pryderi Agni]

The Interpreter gets a solid 9.5/10 from me; it's about three of my favorite things: violence in Africa, interpreters and the UN.

[The Comedian]

Even with that cute Robert Downey Jr.???

:rolleyes: Yep even with that shirtless, crime-solving cutie at the lead. It's hard to make crap cute. ;)

[Scheherazade]

Just saw the new Sherlock Holmes movies -- total crap. Insipid. Boring. 1/10Say it ain't so...

I really enjoyed that movie. Would give it a 8/10.
Even with that cute Robert Downey Jr.??? Watched the movie?

If not, you *have to* :smilewinkgrin:

[papayahed]

Watched the movie?

If not, you *have to* :smilewinkgrin:

Not yet but it's on my netflix list.

[Haunted]

Not yet but it's on my netflix list.

You might want to take it off your list and get something that actually has a story.

[BienvenuJDC]

You might want to take it off your list and get something that actually has a story.

Is it not good? **expletive** I was looking forward to that...

[Haunted]

Is it not good? **expletive** I was looking forward to that...

now that I think about it, there was a 3-minute long story...


the new Sherlock Holmes — my rating 0.3/10

[BienvenuJDC]

The Watchmen....
and absolute waste of time, unless you want politically biased propaganda.

I didn't even finish watching it...

0/10

[NickAdams]

Beware of a Holy Whore directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. An easy 10/10!


The Watchmen....
and absolute waste of time, unless you want politically biased propaganda.

I didn't even finish watching it...

0/10

That's the best kind of propaganda. :D

I had issues with Watchmen, but enjoyed the theater experience for the most part. I haven't seen or thought of it since, much like The Dark Knight.

[DanielBenoit]

My Dinner With Andre - Undoubtedly one of the best films of the 80's. Independent and experimental filmmaking at the highest and most simple order. A two-hour conversation between two men; one being one of the most fascinating you could ever meet, another, an uncanny reflection of yourself. It's simply that. Two men have a conversation at a restaurant concerning the the theater, modern mysticism and the nature of life and death throughout the length of a two hour movie. It is an amazing achievement in its ability to not only hold our attention, but to actually put us into the conversation. My mind usually tends to wander off, even during great movies to even important things, such as the quality of the directing, the acting, the script. But with this film I was totally enveloped into it. It is minimalist filmmaking at its very best for it is able to flash back and forth between two talking-heads for two-hours and have us utterly entranced.

I haven't even gotten to the ideas described in the film, and my God there's so many of them and discussed so wonderfully and naturally, which do not exactly purpose to change your whole way of thinking about the world, but leave you moved in the way one would be when engaging in a long conversation with another person. It is utterly mesmerizing. Please, stop watching Transformers and take some time to think about your life and reality, this is an important film. 10/10

[qimissung]

The new Sherlock Holmes. It was OK. I just couldn't get too interested. 3/10

[Lynne50]

Alice in Wonderland (not in 3-D) Visually very interesting, but all the characters seemed so vaccuous. The Red Queen played by Helena Bonham Carter was the only one that had some spunk. The White Queen played by Anne Hathaway was in a complete stupor most of the time. She seemed fascinated with her hand, probably wondering what it was dangling from her wrist. I cannot begin to explain why anyone would want her leading a nation.
And can anyone explain why Tim Burton added a scene where Alice's brother-in-law was being unfaithful to his wife by kissing another girl? What was the point of that?

The two characters I liked the most, and they were both animated were the Cheshire cat and the Caterpillar. I think Alan Rickman did the voices for both.

My rating 5/10

[Aravona]

Alice in Wonderland (not in 3-D) Visually very interesting, but all the characters seemed so vaccuous. The Red Queen played by Helena Bonham Carter was the only one that had some spunk. The White Queen played by Anne Hathaway was in a complete stupor most of the time. She seemed fascinated with her hand, probably wondering what it was dangling from her wrist. I cannot begin to explain why anyone would want her leading a nation.
And can anyone explain why Tim Burton added a scene where Alice's brother-in-law was being unfaithful to his wife by kissing another girl? What was the point of that?

The two characters I liked the most, and they were both animated were the Cheshire cat and the Caterpillar. I think Alan Rickman did the voices for both.

My rating 5/10

I'd give it about a 6/10 for storyline etc, but the 3D... See it in 3D - I did and it definately went up to bout an 8/10 :D

[RobinHood3000]

I enjoyed the new Sherlock Holmes - I like mysteries, and it's hard to do a film mystery that's compelling more than once with an ensemble of potential villains, so I suspect that having the villain be apparent from the beginning was arguably one of the most sensible approaches to take. Granted, there are elements of predictability, but I feel the film gets points for being well-acted, well-researched, and well-scored (in my opinion). 8/10.

The actual last movie I saw in theatres was Date Night, with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. A legitimate way to kill some time - not a particularly unique movie, but not the mindless date drivel the title might suggest. It's closer to a screwball comedy than a chick flick. 5/10.

[The Comedian]

District 9 --

Really, really liked it 8/10. How did this movie not get more acclaim last year? Well, maybe it did; I'm so out of the loop with this stuff. But if you want a unique sci-fi story that is well worth your time, check out this movie.


The Watchmen....
and absolute waste of time, unless you want politically biased propaganda.

I didn't even finish watching it...

0/10

!!!!!! The novel is much better; it's even more political. :lol: But seriously, I can totally understand that someone going into Watchmen looking for a traditional superhero story (like Iron Man) would be disappointed. Watchmen is political, sexualized, polemic. . .yep.

[manolia]

The Battle of Algiers. 10/10

[DanielBenoit]

Fight Club - Rimbaud (litnet member, not writer lol) has been demanding that I watch this film forever. Now I have. Here's to you Rimbaud.

It is not very often that big-budget mainstream films are allowed or even dare to be as daring, stylish, violent and yes, outrageous as Fight Club. This film has influenced a whole decade of mainstream films. From Wanted to Secret Window to Saw, and yet it stands high above all of the rest of the copycats.

Fincher's style is extravigant, stylish and proudly show-off all of the money spent on the visual effects. And yet it works. Some of the images in this film have become semi-iconic and with good reason. Very few films in the 90's had as great an atmosphere as Fight Club. We open the film and there's an unnamed narrator who suffers from insomia, he's at work, the office mechanically moves around. And then on the screen for about half a second something flashes. It doesn't entirely matter what it is, but it tells the viewer that this is no ordinary film and that its level of subjectivity is to be great.

Hell just the begining premise would make a great film; the narrator, so detached from life and humanity that he cannot sleep, begins frequenting help-centers for people with diseases and pose as one of the many crying men with diseases like testicular cancer. These early scenes are cruelly and darkly funny. We see a man with giant breasts crying over the fact that he had his testicals cut off. This is terrible and yet it is a helplessly funny situation for the narrator.

These early scenes present a sense of brauva black comedy which is both daring, funny and heartless all at the same time.

Then Brad Pitt comes along and serves as a kind of bad-*** philosopher for our narrator who has sunk so low as to be faking to be a dying man just so that he can feel something. Pitt's ideas start off as somewhere between Nietzsche and Baudrillard but then as the movie progresses go into disturbing places to somewhere like the society Orwell presented in Animal Farm. In fact, I'm about certain that many of the scenes in the latter half of the film are hommages to Animal Farm.

Because Fincher is a director with such respect for detail and atmosphere, we (or at least me) are carried all the way through and begin to believe the more outrageous the story gets the more funny it is. And it is true. There seems to be a consistent undertone of balls being cut off and there is this one pay-off scene well near the climax in which the film is at its darkest point and yet provides a very weird and very hilarious comic relief that isn't really relief but just makes you more anxious and confused (this is not entirely a negative thing).

And then there are the fighting scenes which boarder on macho porn (to use Ebert's term). They are brutal and bloody and yet also liberating. The men go out and knock the **** out of each other, the others cheer on, and then they hug after being all bloodied up. The level of instinct and collective emotion is comparable to a daily religious experience for the men.

Pitt's character begins as a rebellious and yet inspiring character, despite his own pathology and masochism. His soliloquey's criticizing consumerist society (no matter how constructed the speeches might feel) are right on target. It is only once Fincher seems to purposely drive Pitt beyond the pale does he become alienating for both the viewer and the narrator.

A lot of the films works. The beginning undoubtedly. The fight scenes, yes. The scenes when Pitt and Norton (the narrator) live together in what is undertoned as a homoerotic relationship also with some Oedipal tones, yes. Even as the film becomes much darker and themes of Stalinist communism begin to come into play, yes if you want. But there is one surprise near the end, a twist, that just had me thinking "say it ain't so Joe".

After that point the film inter-changed between a brilliant practice in surrealist humour and just plain silly. Now like I said, Fincher is above making a truly silly and outrageous film and Fight Club is so original that to call it silly or outrageous is undeserved, but it is certainly not a perfect film. Fight Club no matter what its flaws is above all an experience. 7/10

*Suggestion for first-time viewers of this film: View this film as a very serious film on the edge of total comedy.

[JuniperWoolf]

I have to watch all the new rentals that come out because of my job. Here's what I had this week:

Peacock - 4/10. It was filmed well, but by the end it honestly creeped me out.

The Lovely Bones - 5/10. They glossed right over the whole "brutal rape" part, which I've always thought is a slap in the face to rape victims. They didn't follow her sister very much, and the script was pretty cliche and sappy. Her heaven was pretty though... very liquid.

New York, I Love You - 6/10. This one is hard to rate, because it was a film of about twelve stories that took place in New York and a couple of them were quite good, a couple sucked, and the rest were in the middle. Out of all of the ones that I watched this week, this one was the only one worth watching.

[Basil]

I have to watch all the new rentals that come out because of my job.
Including the ones that go in the vault?? :eek2:

[DanielBenoit]

I have to watch all the new rentals that come out because of my job. Here's what I had this week:


Omg serious?!?!? YOU have the GREATEST job in the world.

[Satan]

^Seconded. I'm jealous.

[JuniperWoolf]

Including the ones that go in the vault?? :eek2:

Haha, no but my manager does because he has to make sure that there's nothing illegal on them (he's found quite a bit of bestiality, actually).

And yeah, my job is sweet. :p

[OrphanPip]

Haha, no but my manager does because he has to make sure that there's nothing illegal on them (he's found quite a bit of bestiality, actually).

And yeah, my job is sweet. :p

All porn in Canada is supposed to have that little sticker that says it's been approved by the censors. Because Canadian law forbids bestiality, pedophilia, simulated rape, and violence in porn.

My brother used to work for a distributor here in Montreal and it was a big hassle for all the porn produced in the US to be approved for sale in Canada.

[DanielBenoit]

Haha, no but my manager does because he has to make sure that there's nothing illegal on them (he's found quite a bit of bestiality, actually).

And yeah, my job is sweet. :p

Omg I seriously thought that you had said "he's quite fond of bestiality" so I was like WTF?!


:lol:

[DanielBenoit]

I'm trying to discipline myself by keeping my reivews brief. Here it goes:

World's Greatest Dad - My sister was watching this, I saw Robin Williams in it and despite the fact that I am a great fan of his stand-up comedic work, one out of every five films he's done I've disliked (yes Mrs.Doubtfire is totally one of them). That said, he has a magnificent edge for dark comedies and this film is perfect for him, as he has proven himself on those uncommon but special occasions to be just as good a comedic actor as a dramatic one.

Despite the misleading and unlikable title, this mercilessly dark satire about a divorced father who lives with his distinctively child-from-hell teenager son who is (even for a fifteen year old) grossly obsessed with sex and is a compulsive erotic asphyxiate.

I must first give a great bravo to Daryl Sabara who plays the piece of **** son with an intensity and disturbingness rarely seen in mainstream films. This kid clearly has major problems, as evidenced by his semi-sociopathy, his utter misogyny among many things.

But everything changes when the father finds his son dead as a result of accidental suffocation while masturbating, the father out of shame of people knowing the perversity of his son, discards of all of the evidence to make it look like a suicide and from then on literatley re-creates the memory of his son into a lonley, confused and yet greatly intelligent young man.

From this point on the film goes into a dark satire on not only our obsessions with the memories of the deceased, but also our willingness to project the ideal unto reality.

The film has the potential for a truly great film but meanders here and there, making unnecessary moments to the point that by the end of the film everything seems too lopsided. Indeed it has moments of a true gem, but the disturbing realism of the first half is contrasted too heavily with the satire of the second and comes out uneven.

Both ways this is a fine film, deserving to be seen merely for the first act. 7/10


Barry Lyndon - The best three hours you can spend at the movies. A great and unique film by Stanley Kubrick which is as eloquently satirical as it is sad and sublime. A poetic masterpiece that flows like music and the picturesque images presented in just about every shot. 10/10

[OrphanPip]

I just got home from watching a Canadian independent film about LARPing called Wild Hunt. It was a pretty decent movie, an interesting premise and I enjoyed it. The movie will probably be seen by only a handful of people though lol.

[DanielBenoit]

Damnation - This is as terrifying and dark a film about modern industrial life as ever I did see. Its merciless and grotesque landscape replicates nothing less than a Dantesque Hell. Dreary and desolate the landscape it. Almost every shot of this film is filled with an atmosphere of the hopelessness. And yet there live people under this fog and music too. It is all the more terrifying. There is a certain scene in this film in which two of its main chatacters are making love to the background of the noise of industry, and it is as grotesque and mechanical a sex scene as ever I have seen.

Tarr's camera slowly pans the texture of this hell. All seem to be stuck there, as if in an endless time continuum. Dogs wander the streets, scavengers for scraps of food. But worse, men sit and discover how empty the time is.

Under this physical landscape is something much worse and more nihilistic. It's main character Karrer, obsessed with memories of his past lover, gradually comes to the realization of how empty his life and everything around him is.

There is a certain scene here in which a man tap dances in a puddle of water. This isn't joy, it is as terrifying a mechanicality as the factory machines. 9/10


Now on a lighter note I am going to examine two recent mainstream comedies and examine why one works and one doesn't.

Pinnapple Express - Okay this film has every reason not to work. It's immature, has a lot of action scenes, is ridiculously absurd and is pretty much all about two stoners freaking out as they run away from a bunch of drug lords. Not only that but it is also one of the funniest comedies I've seen for a long time. James Franco's performance is pitch perfect as the one of the stoners (who's also a pot dealer) and the script which indulges in Beckettian digression constantly, makes use of the most immature, absurd and obscene situations and makes them totally ****ing hilarious. 8.5/10


Step Brothers - I'm willing to submit and say that Pineapple Express most likely has just as much violence and obscene language (though definitley not drug content, that's for sure lol) as Step Brothers, and yet one of them is deemed to be a classic while another is somewhere next to an utterly depressing experience.

So what is it that makes Step Brothers different from the brilliance of Pineapple Express? Well it's not that the word "****" is said hundreds of times in both movies, but because one of them was approached and done in a well thought-out and funny way. The script of Step Brothers pretty much just sounds like a bunch of wildly immature men got together and wrote down as many obscenities as they could and put them into violent situations.

It's hard to explain without having seen the movies side by side but because of the context and situation that memorable phrases from Pineapple Express like "it smells like God's vagina" or "you're as high as a ****ing kite" which make them so funny. Step Brothers just throws pointless and unfunny stuff at you that may be amusing to a twelve year old and that's about it. That said Step Brothers does have its laugh out loud moments (the scene when they make a bunk-bed) but other than that it is nothing more than a cruel and mean-spirited comedy. 3/10


Being John Malkovitch - My God, Charlie Kauffman I think has very well proven himself to be the first writer auteur we've had in a long time. Never before have so many films have so consistently had so much in common even if they were directed by different people, because in reality all of these great films are Kauffman films.

Being John Malkovitch is Kauffman's first success and is a moving, absurd, funny, sad, weird and beautiful film about three lonely souls whose lives are changed once they find a portal into the head of John Malkovitch in a filing room where they work on the 7 1/2 floor. Soon enough they start a business selling 15 minutes into Malkovitch's brain for $200.

This movie has so many brilliant ideas which come in layer after layer, though despite that, it is never overwhelming.

What this film is about is our sense of a longing for completeness, for otherness, for love and for eternity. What many of the characters do in this film are terribly wrong, but in some very absurd way in this alternate universe we can understand their human needs. There is a great performance in here by Cameron Diaz (with an exceptionally modest physical appearence) who discovers that she wants to be a transexual after discovering what it is like to have sex with a woman whilst inside Malkovitch's head. The scene of this realization (filmed almost entirely through the POV of Malkovitch/Diaz) is frankly the most beautiful, weird and moving of the whole film.

Then there's Malkovitch himself who took considerable guts to star in the film, with even more guts by Kauffman to write a script about people traveling inside a renouned actor's head.

Kauffman is truly the wonder-boy of today's cinema. His films are beyond description. They can be deleriously funny and sad in the very same moments, fantastical and yet truthful, satirical and yet moving. And more than anything, Kauffman is a philosopher of the human spirit. 9.5/10

[qimissung]

For some reason I haven't seen Being John Malkovitch although I used to love him back in the day when he made movies fairly frequently and he was so-o-o-o good at being the bad guy.

Crazy Heart 9/10 This movie doesn't really cover any new ground, but then as they say, there is only one story.

And this one is magnificent. Jeff Bridges earned his Oscar with every creaky joint and shot. He says he's 57, moves like he's 67. But when he gets onstage and holds his guitar you can hear every long night on the road, every bad decision, every phone call that isn't answered, every bottle that he's drunk in his voice.

Somehow, as greasy and unwashed and bleary as he is, women still want him. It was surprisingly believable when he lay back on the bed with Maggie Gyllenhal in his arms and he cupped her breast in his hand.

It was just as believable when he sat before her weeks later, his eyes little slits, looking small, deflated, cowed by life and a mother's fury.

If you are looking for a movie with an actual story to tell, one with sound and fury and even love, this is it. And it comes with songs that flow like the dark river. Here is one used in the movie, sung by the original rake-hell and wanderer, Townes Van Zandt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl41lqUFKS4

[Shalot]

Reality Bites - eh 4/10

Before I even get started on this movie, I want to know what it is about Winona Ryder that makes her so unlikeable sometimes? She has been in several movies that I liked, but something about Winona Ryder has always been off to me. I've tried to like her - she's pretty enough, she's not a horrible actress and she always seemed to get good roles up until this movie, I think...so what is it about her? It must be the way she talks. I have never liked the sound of her voice.And, if someone other than Winona Ryder had played the lead in this movie, I still wouldn't have liked it I don't think.

Reality Bites is an old movie - it's from 1994 and I would have been a junior in high school at that time and I couldn't sit through this movie back then, even though I suspect that I might have been the target audience. So, why after all these years did I watch this film? Well, it was on cable and I was too exhausted to do anything but watch crappy TV apparently.

The story is about some young people living their post-college lives in the 1990's. Winona Ryder's character was the valedictorian of her graduating class and she has a bad haircut, wears schleppy dresses, smokes a lot of cigarettes and doesn't find her dream job. She has this executive type, quasi-boyfriend played by Ben Stiller and a friendship that begs to be more with the sterotypical 90's grunge band member played by Ethen Hawke who lives in and out of her apartment that she shares with two other roomates (I'll get to those characters in a minute). The grungy band character is too intellectual to hold a job and he slips his dirty laundry in with theirs in between band rehearsals . Her other roommates consist of a gay blonde male in gold- rimmed glasses played by Steve Zahn I think (Strange Wilderness was a much better movie than this) and an unhappy chain-smoking 90's female with pale skin, black hair and hideously short, unattractive bangs who works at the Gap and also wears ugly, schleppy dresses.

Now, I am sure there is more going on in this film then what these characters are wearing. I think this film attempts to make a statement about that generation, Generation X I think it was...but all I saw were ugly clothes and bad haircuts. I think maybe the filmmakers could have done away with the plot and the dialogue all together. They could just condense this film into a series of still shots of these characters wearing those clothes in that apartment and they would have communicated the same idea in a shorter amount of time. If anyone wants to know about the 90's all they have to do is look at the clothes. And best of all, no one would have had to hear Winona Ryder's strange little voice.

[qimissung]

Precious 9/10 Precious is the story of a girl who is physically and sexually abused. When the movie opens she has been called into the office at her school where the principal confronts her. Is she pregnant? Is she pregnant for the second time?

As the story progresses I think the most amazing thing was that there was anything left of Precious to save. She is sent to a new school where the power of education and a teacher who convinces her that she really cares are the saving of her.

I've seen a number of movies about teachers who turn students around. They are, for the most part good movies. And I admit I'm a sucker for the underdog. I liked this one because it tells the story from the students' viewpoint. For most of the movie Precious had precious little reason to wake up and be glad she was alive. Lee Daniels directs with a kind, sure hand. He shows the ugly stuff, but he never strips his main character of dignity or hope.

[DanielBenoit]

The Passion of Joan of Arc - Again, this is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen. Renée Jeanne Falconetti's performance is unquestionably the greatest in all of cinema. It doesn't matter if you are a person of faith or not, this is a film of impeccable quality. I hardly ever cry at films, and this film made me weep. Never will there be a moment ever again in cinema as when Joan remembers who taught her the Lord's prayer. 10/10

[DanielBenoit]

Tokyo Story - Ozu's films must always be watched twice. His films are so masterfully understated and subtle that a second viewing surely blows off the surface of contained emotions. Ozu is a master not only of composition but of storytelling. His films are like beautiful hakius, with a quiet lingering beauty. This film is as near-perfect as movies get. 10/10

[DanielBenoit]

Andrei Rublev - Very few films have ever stood amongst the epic heights of Tarkovsky's masterpiece. This film is in every respect a great film. No this is not a film of epic proportions, don't let the scope and length fool you. This is a film about moments, long and short, of the human experience. I couldn't agree with Bergman more when he said this after seeing this film, "Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream." 10/10

[The Comedian]

Avatar -- Wow, was that movie slow, cheesy, and dumb. The dialogue must have been written by a 13 year old who once saw Dancing with Wolves only he was too stoned to really recall it, but, hey what if Indians were blue? And remember that one part in LOTR with those walkin' trees what were all magical and crap? Dude!

Seriously, how could this possibly have been nominated for an Oscar?

Why is it every time I watch a movie, I feel my time could have been better spent sitting on the potty and reading a magazine?

2/10

[_JadeRain_]

Dreamwork's How to Train Your Dragon. I loved it 5 stars!

[JuniperWoolf]

Nine - For a musical about the Italian film industry (which I've never really given much thought to before), this was right up my alley. There were a couple of parts that I could watch over and over (I loved the redheaded prostitute, she was an earth goddess type). The protagonist was a self-indulgent cliché for most of the film, but that was the whole point. I could sift through this one for a while, I got a lot out of it and I will get more next time I see it. 8/10

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - A film by Terry Gilliam, a director that I aaaalmost like, I start watching and it has potential, but then it gets all muddled and ruined about half way through. He just needs to slow down and understand the significance of subtlety. Remember that scene in Birth where they showed the widow's face in the theatre, trying not to have a complete mental breakdown? That's the genius of subtlety, something that Terry Gilliam's films are sorely lacking. It's all just way too over the top, it's too desperate and frantic. I did like some things though, I liked the young gypsy girl's style. She had a very interesting look. I also liked some of the visuals throughout the film, very pretty. So, in conclusion, this one looked good but wasn’t. 5/10

[Revolte]

Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosours

10/10 I can't help it I love diago, and his voice is by Denis Leary one of my favorite actors, the only well known stand up ( other then henry rollins ) who talks about punk rock, plus I loved Rescue me and his music.

I also love that little squirl, and aww he fell in love, for a bit anyway lol.

And dinosours, ugh I love them, the mom t-rex was bad ***, and the kids were cute.

and the fact they through in that one giant dinasour as the big bad guy was awsome too, he's fairly new to our knowledge it wasnt long before jurassic park 3 that it was discovered. that made me happy.

and the little eggs that Sid had, that cracked me up.

[byquist]

BBC's Little Dorrit (Dickens' novel) 2008 version, a bit on the dark side, but some humor, really well acted from major roles to walk-ons. Real film folks will find this hard not to want to see another episode to find out what will transpire next.

[Pryderi Agni]

Slap Shot: Junior League get a 2/5 from me. I just couldn't get that damn story!

[1n50mn14]

Tank Girl- 10/10 just for entertainment and visuals. Obviously, the comics were much better.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Nine - For a musical about the Italian film industry (which I've never really given much thought to before), this was right up my alley. There were a couple of parts that I could watch over and over (I loved the redheaded prostitute, she was an earth goddess type). The protagonist was a self-indulgent cliché for most of the film, but that was the whole point. I could sift through this one for a while, I got a lot out of it and I will get more next time I see it. 8/10

Have you seen Fellini's film 8 1/2? Nine is a film version based on the stage musical of the same name, which was based on the film 8 1/2. Nine is shameful by comparison!! Fellini made it to be semi-autobiographical, but that charm is lost in Nine, in my opinion. I though the musical numbers themselves were weak as well. I found Nine really disappointing, actually.

[DanielBenoit]

Have you seen Fellini's film 8 1/2? Nine is a film version based on the stage musical of the same name, which was based on the film 8 1/2. Nine is shameful by comparison!! Fellini made it to be semi-autobiographical, but that charm is lost in Nine, in my opinion. I though the musical numbers themselves were weak as well. I found Nine really disappointing, actually.

Ahh what excellent taste you have! You have read my thoughts completely :D

Fellini's classic will forever be an unmatchable masterpiece in my mind. How can any musical ever match Nino Riota's beautifully quirky score?

[Helga]

up my son loved the balloons but I didn't find it interesting or funny... so not that good

[Themis]

"Up in the air" - 10/10.

Great soundtrack and great acting. I love this film! And though I'd have wished for a happy ending, I really liked the way it ended. It fit.

[The Comedian]

The Lovely Bones

-- good, but the ending was so stupid that it cheapened the rest of the film. 5/10

[Emil Miller]

Have you seen Fellini's film 8 1/2? Nine is a film version based on the stage musical of the same name, which was based on the film 8 1/2. Nine is shameful by comparison!! Fellini made it to be semi-autobiographical, but that charm is lost in Nine, in my opinion. I though the musical numbers themselves were weak as well. I found Nine really disappointing, actually.

It's just another of many examples where someone is trying to rip off the public using someone elses work to do so. Fellini was one of the greatest film directors ever and films such as Sweet charity and Nine, which effectively ponce off his work, shows just how corny and unimaginative the film industry has become. I have a rule that I apply to the cinema: Dont watch remakes or derivatives of existing films. That way I save money and am seldom disappointed. Sooner or later some rip off merchant will try to remake Citizen Kane and that's when I will hire a hit man.

[victorianfan]

I'm thinking about of watching new Robin Hood. Has anyone of you guys already seen it? Is it good or what? :wave:

[Emil Miller]

I'm thinking about of watching new Robin Hood. Has anyone of you guys already seen it? Is it good or what? :wave:

I haven't seen it and don't intend to but the Briitish press that I have read have given it a poor reception.

[*Classic*Charm*]

It's just another of many examples where someone is trying to rip off the public using someone elses work to do so. Fellini was one of the greatest film directors ever and films such as Sweet charity and Nine, which effectively ponce off his work, shows just how corny and unimaginative the film industry has become. I have a rule that I apply to the cinema: Dont watch remakes or derivatives of existing films. That way I save money and am seldom disappointed. Sooner or later some rip off merchant will try to remake Citizen Kane and that's when I will hire a hit man.

Did you know that remakes are currently in the works for both My Fair Lady and The Wizard of Oz? Disgusting.

[Emil Miller]

Did you know that remakes are currently in the works for both My Fair Lady and The Wizard of Oz? Disgusting.

Guess who won't be going to see them.

[Jesterhead]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 7/10

[MANICHAEAN]

We got the film "Monster's Ball" with Halle Berry on the Dubai Channel last night. As you might imagine, great chunks were cut. Its a shame because there was some great acting in it.

[Jesterhead]

Avatar 10/10

[sh_einstein]

"Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", It was amazing.

[Haunted]

Edge of Darkness 100/10

(no, it's not a typo)

[BienvenuJDC]

Edge of Darkness 100/10

(no, it's not a typo)

When did you see it?

[Haunted]

a few days ago

[MaryH]

Proposal 10/10

[DanielBenoit]

Pierre Le Flou - A postmodern epic which Godard envisioned, along with his own Breathless, cinema for the rest of the 20th century. With a synopsis similar to that of Bonnie and Cylde (made a year later), Pierre Le Flou concerns the often surreal and disjointed adventures of two people fed up with the trappings of modern society. The narrative after this is constantly jumping from one level of reality to another and is explicitly self-referential with characters even acknowledging the existence of the audience at times. This is a great epic of fragments juxtaposing violence, musical numbers, weird humor, soliloquy, poetry and stream-of-consciousness narration. This film will long be remembered, even after its imitators have been forgotten. 10/10

In the Mood for Love - Tell me, is it any mystery at all that Wong Kar-wai is considered one of the greatest living directors amongst Scorsese and Godard? He has a great deal in common with both and is truly the leader of the new wave of great Eastern film-making. His camera is so eloquent and poetic, I'd dare say that I've never seen as lush a film as this.

A love-story about two married neighbors living in a Hong Kong apartment in the 60's, who find out that both of their partners are having affairs with each other. Both in despair and frustration slowly ease into a friendship which is given all of the effort by both to remain platonic.

This is a great film, a unique film, an incredibly moving film about lost chances and lost time with an ending most Hollywood romances are too timid to do. This film is real with real people with real problems. Two masterful performances by the two leads.

And then there is Kar-Wai's direction, which is indescribable. Not since Ozu have I seen better pillow shots used in a film. Between every few scenes, Kar-Wai uses a transitional scene put into slow motion against immensely sublime strings. The effect is dream-like, sublime and moving all at the same time.

The plot in this film made me think of the great French New Wave film Hiroshima, Mon Amour, and the two are comparable in their emotional subtly. There is a poem flashed onscreen at the end which pierced my heart. I saw a mirror of myself. Please go see this movie, it will be the best romance you've seen in a while. 10/10

[Zoso]

sh_einstein: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favourite movies, so beautiful.

The last movie I watched was Hidalgo, for the 5th or 6th time.
I adore this movie, mostly because I've always been a horse lover, AND a Viggo Mortenson fan. Based on the life of endurance horse rider Frank Hopkins, this film is absolutely stunning- it has some amazing scenery as we follow Frank through his adventure to win the great race. There are issues of belonging in this, as Frank is part Red Indian and part white male, but he does not belong to either.

It really is an inspiring movie.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Saw this Spanish language film on Sundance:
http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Eat-Oscar-Borda/dp/B002OQZE68/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274961828&sr=1-1

Also this German film:
http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Others-Martina-Gedeck/dp/B000OVLBGC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274961927&sr=1-1

And this Chinese film:
http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Shaft-Qiang-Li/dp/B0002KPIJG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274961981&sr=1-1

All three are extraordinary in illustrating different space-times.

[Pryderi Agni]

The Core gets a 1/5, while Reign of Fire gets a 4/5.

[DanielBenoit]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - What film has ever been a more despairing war cry for human dignity and freedom than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? What image in cinema has been more earth-shatteringly powerful as the image of that sink crashing through the windows of the mental hospital?

Jack Nicholson in a sense began his career in this picture. Yes he had starred in some very great films before this one (Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces) but here he established a persona as the rather unstable rebel which would hold onto him for the rest of his career. I must say, it seems that iconic "Jack Nicholson smile" seemed to have originated from here.

Very few films have presented so clearly and powerfully the cold tyranny not only of the then-current medical system, but society in general. These men who are held in a mental hospital are labeled as 'crazies' and are too afraid to even go out into the real world even though most of them are free to do so.

The absolute archetype of the cold and calculated indifference of this overly-rational world is Nurse Rached. My God, there has probably never been a more spiteful villian in movie history, even though she is very polite, is good at her job and probably raises her voice twice during the course of the whole film. What Milos Forman's masterpiece does is show the hidden monstrosity under these systems in meandering close-ups of Nurse Rached's face.

This is a film of shattering power with among two of the best performances in cinematic history with Jack Nicholson and the rebellious pseudo-psychotic and Lousie Fletcher as the cold and indifferent Nurse Ratched. Every time I see this film I am in tears, and every time I see it they become less and less tears of despair but tears of joy. This is a hopeful film, a film that says that even though most of the world is a mental hospital, there is still humanity left in certain places waiting to burst out. 10/10


You, The Living - An undeniable work of Beckettian genius. Quirky, funny, surreal, perfect to that very last perfect shot. Like music it presents the darkly humorous rhythms of everyday life through a series of brief vignettes where the camera rarely moves. We may live in a world full of depression and despair, but how funny it all is. This film best recalls the quote from Beckett's Endgame; "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness." 10/10


Rome, Open City - A classic and extremely influential film which started Italian neo-realism. This is a almost shockingly realistic and gritty film made and set during WWII in Italy, it unflinchingly presents themes of murdering of innocents and torture, in an especially explicit way for the standards of 1945. The iconic street shooting is as powerful and shattering as ever, and the alliance between the priest and the communist is very moving; the former who provides the best performances in the whole film. That said, Rossilini's film occasionally stoops down to the levels of melodrama and at times feels less neo-realistic than it should be. Still worth being seen in high-regard because of Aldo Fabrizi's beautiful performance as the priest. 8/10

[Shakira]

Alice in Wonderland - 08/10

[The Book]

The Lovely Bones. 3/10 it was hard to follow at times and has lots of flashbacks and forwards. Only good thing was Stanley Tucci's performance.

[Dostoevskian]

Dazed and Confused - 5/10. Way too structurally loose for me.

[Aragorn Elessar]

The last film I saw was Clash of the Titans, 3D in theatres. Besides The Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park, it's probably my favorite movie! But it's hard to say if the 1981 film was better or worse.

[The Book]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall 7/10
Dune 0/10

[Dostoevskian]

Amadeus 10/10 :)

A wonderful piece, though largely FICTIONAL.

[zoolane]

best film is 'Stand by me' last film I saw was remake of 'war of worlds' crap. I do agree with Daniel about 'Jack Nicholson' 'one flew cuckoo nest is great film but so 'Awakenings'.

[ADRIAN0628]

The last movie I saw was The Double Life of Veronique, and it was very good.

[Pryderi Agni]

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace gets a 2/10. Man, that movie is the absolute nadir of the superhero movie genre.

[The Comedian]

Saw 500 Days of Summer last night. It's was a pretty typical romantic comedy. So I could take it or leave it (well, really just leave it), but my wife liked it.

5/10

[qimissung]

Die Hard 10/10 Still the most awesome action movie ever. Yippee-ki-yeh and you know the rest.

Book of Eli 10/10 This is a very good movie. Some action, yet a decent plot and character development. And a heartwarming message.

[punk sheep]

The Millenium series, originally broadcast on Swedish television. It's an extended version of the movies based on the novels by Stieg Larsson. 10/10.

[Whistle]

The Orphan, 6.5/10

[Desolation]

Toy Story 3 - 9/10

Just a good, sweet movie. I was just about moved to tears at the end.

[DanielBenoit]

An attempt at minimalist reviews:

Law Abiding Citizen - A product of Hollywood suspense which keeps you absorbed all throughout until you get to turning off the TV and thinking how preposterous it is. Well directed, but the screenwriter needs to cool it with the morality speeches. 6/10

Mall Cop - "Why the **** am I watching this?" Is pretty much what I was thinking throughout this film. But hey, it's cute. Kevin James makes for a good, honest and incredibly likable guy who works on a set filled with product placement opportunities. The love interest (isn't there's always one?) is unfitting for the role and too blonde. Not-so-surprisingly the Hollywood script can't handle just a likable mall cop. Character introspections? That's too boring for us! 5/10

La Grande Illusion - Renoir delivered one of the greatest double-punches in movie history with this anti-war masterpiece and The Rules of the Game two years later. Very few films reach the acting ability and beauty of this film. It is humanist cinema if ever there was one about the march of time and the death of the aristocratic order. Eric von Strohiemer gives a beautiful performance as the iconic German kommadant. 10/10

Sita Sings the Blues - "Produced by You." A real heroic jab at the system, juxtaposing rag-time jazz and Hindu epics, sketchy hand-drawn animation and South Park-like cut-outs, clever improvisational commentary (with Indian accents!), epic love stories, autobiography and musical numbers. What more is there to ask for? One of the most inventive films in years, animation or non-animation. For free on the internet. "That's all." 9.5/10

[Whistle]

I went to the movies yesterday and saw Robin Hood, what a great movie! 10/10!

[victorianfan]

I went to the movies yesterday and saw Robin Hood, what a great movie! 10/10!

The only Robin Hood movie that I appreciate is The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. Kevin Costner nor Russell Crowe aren't even up to his knees.

[papayahed]

Gentleman Prefer Blondes - Cute, campy. 8/10

[victorianfan]

Chinatown (1974) 4/5

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) 4/5

[DisPater]

Afghan Star --- great documentary, following some participants in the 'Afghan Star' ('American Idol' - Afghan version). Un-frakin'-belivable...

[papayahed]

Julie and Julia - Pretty cute movie although I would have prefered to see more about Julia who seemed more interesting. 8/10

[Lokasenna]

No Country for Old Men - I watched this with some friends the other night, and we all thought it was excellent, but we all interpreted it in different ways. A puzzling film to be sure, but that's a good thing! 10/10

[manolia]

I haven't watched a movie in quite a while..but i am currently watching Stargate-Sg1 episodes, a really good series :cool:

[Janine]

Definitely "Mulholand Drive"...Hi manolia! :smile5:

[manolia]

Definitely "Mulholand Drive"...Hi manolia! :smile5:

Hi Janine :smile5: :smilewinkgrin:

[Janine]

Hi Janine :smile5: :smilewinkgrin:

Just realised I posted in the wrong thread. I thought this was the one referring to the person you would like to watch the movie with; haven't watched "Mullholland Drive" since we discussed it Manolia...that was fun. I am not sure I even recall the plot now. Recently, I did notice on Hulu one can see episodes from "Twin Peaks". I guess that is in line for next viewing after Twilight Zone. Been watching a lot of stuff on there; but understand this site is only open to the US...a real pity. The site is amazing and free. Watched Hitchcock and Twilight Zone last night. Love those!

[victorianfan]

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2003) 5/5

Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) 4/5

[Haunted]

Unthinkable 9/10

The Book of Eli 9/10

[Biefall]

I went to the cinema after many weeks ( I ussualy wander around blockbuster's art section) to watch Toy Story 3... wow! it was great and very emotional for people who watched the previous ones when they were kids, so... its kind of sad the kids of these generation wont get the full message.

I loved the recurring joke about Buzz losing his mind and everyone was like "again!?"

[farnoosh]

Match Point 8/10
anywhere but here 9/10
two weeks notice(really FUNNY!) 9/10

[qimissung]

"Youth in Revolt"-Michael Cera is my Francois ! 9/10 pencil-thin mustaches