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I've never cared for Mel Gibson that much, but I did think that The Passion of the Christ, though being a bit empty (especially when compared to Scorsese's Last Temptation), is very well directed and quite powerful at some points.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathor
You have to give Kazantzakis some credit for Last Temptation. Other than the roles of Jesus and Mary, I applaud Gibson for casting actors with ethnic backgrounds that are accurate and for his choice of the languages used in both Passion and Apocalypto. The world is far to connected for Hollywood to continue to produce films like Valkyrie. Robert Pattinson as Dali?! WTF, indeed.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanielBenoit
I just saw Bela Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies for the second time in my life. I'm going to hold off the review because there is so much to say and I don't want to post it here until I publish it on examiner.com, which will be at the end of the year when, as tradition, all professional critics compile a list of the best films of the decade.
All I can say is that I have never seen anything like it. It is utterly mezmerizing. Bela Tarr seems to have invented a new language of cinema with his extremely long and contemplative takes. The atmosphere achieved in this film is so visually haunting, despairing and beautiful all at the same time. It is a metaphyiscal and political allegory in the best sense of the word. If you have the time and patience to go and seek out a rare, but extremely different film from the rest of things being made today, please see this haunting masterpiece. NetFlix is where I found it. 10/10
Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon) - 10/10 - Germany's selection for Foreign language film at the Academy Awards this upcoming awards season promises to blow the competition apart. This movie is amazing! Being an Oscar-watcher over the past couple years, I've got many foreign language submissions yet to see, but this one is the obvious favorite (With the winning of the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year). Great stuff.
EDIT: And Daniel, I agree on Passion.
The Core gets a solid 2/5 for me (I dig Hilary Swank), while Stranger Than Fiction gets a thumping 5/5.
Stranger Than Fiction was definitely a very good movie.
Last movie I saw was Song of Love with Katharine Hepburn and it was pretty decent. I'd put off watching it, deleted it from my list then finally thought why not! Made me want to read the biographies of the Schumanns and Brahms. Just more books to add to that list.
Killer of Sheep - It is a miraculous thing that a film like this was made. Not because it is some epic adventure no. But because it possesses the power and the vision of some of the greatest films of all time, and yet it was made on such a minuature budget with no professional actors and was considered a lost film for decades.
Thanks to the grace of director Steven Soldbeirg, this film was rediscovered and re-released, thirty years after it's original release in 1977. Upon the films second chance, critics exploded. It was universally acknowledged as a masterpiece and its director Charles Burnett was immedietly hailed as one of the American masters. Almost right after its release, it was submitted into the National Film Preservation Regestry, a privlidge that only a few American films have shared. This film is proof that independent cinema can create gems, and that you hardly need anything to make a monumental film.
Set in urban Los Angeles through long hot summer days, we are given a series of vignettes concerning the everyday encounters of urban life for African-Americans. The films protaganist, Stan, is an emotionally detached working man who earns the little money he gets by working as a slaughterer at a sheep processing plant (hence the name).
This film is just teeming with life. With little scraps and bits of everyday life, we are able to intigrate a glorious whole of what it is to live in America. This film is neither upbeat or downbeat. It possesses no plot, it has minor character development, and wanders about the urban neighborhoods, with Stan being our guide.
There are moments of despair, confusion, joy, play. Hardly any scene has any deliberate connection to another, but in the end, we are do not feel that we have seen some kind of pretenscious fragmentated mess, but rather a beautiful mosiac of the human experience.
10/10
2012 - 8/10 - Million times better than I ever could've hoped it would be. I expected this to be one of the worst movies this year.
The Box- 5/10 - Take a ridiculous plot and spin it around a couple times blindfolded, with the philosophy of a really abstract David Lynch movie, but with none of the same redeeming qualities and you have "The Box".
A Christmas Carol - 10/10 - This movie was brilliant.
Antichrist - 7.5/10 - This movie will disturb you. I promise.
The Cove - 10/10 - I'm gonna go out on a limb and say with all certainty this movie will win "Best Documentary" at the Oscars this year.
Maybe i'll start actually posting my reviews of movies in the future instead of just posting little one-line comments.
I have just seen the movie "Julie & Julia" starring Meryl Streep. I would give it 9 stars out of ten for-
1. Outstanding preformances
2. Appels to writers and cookers
3. Has soo many funny lines and is rather tragic
4. Makes you feel the emotions from the characters, and the way it was directed made it feel like you were best friends with both of the characters. Outstanding!
"Madea goes to Jail" by Tyler Perry
Amazingly funny!
10 out of 10, the only let down in this entire movie is the fact that you wish they had more of Madea in it but what you see is very satisfying. this movie tells the story of a prostitute and how her friend, who finds her after the past few years, trys to help her. Meanwhile, never-failing Madea is back in court and is now going to jail. See how she survives and how she tells the jail that she is the boss.
I say Check it out ASAP. grab your family, sit down, and laugh!
if you like Meryl Streep, you should see the new Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, Rushmore) film that's coming out in like a week, it's an animated film starring her and George Clooney. It's called "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"Quote:
Originally Posted by Emily May Nelms
Indeedy, from the Roald Dahl novel - so exciting! Other than Streep, it has a lot of the Wes Anderson crowd - Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, etc., and apparently Noah Baumbach helped with a lot of the screenwriting. I cannot wait! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Mathor
A Woman Under the Influence - Some films seem to flash before your eyes in seconds and then they are over. I for one enjoy films, and thus if I am watching a good movie, prefer the film to go on. I do not think extended running length is a vice.
That's why it's almost so strange to watch A Woman Under the Influence a Cassavetes film which runs at 155 minutes but probably has under eight full scenes. These scenes are stretched out beyond expectation to emphasize the reality and the life of this films characters. There is not one false moment in this film.
The plot: A blue-collar working man (played tensely by Falk) begins to come under the impression that his wife (played masterfully by Rowland) might be insane, and decides to commit her. It is well established that he has been aware of this for a very long time, as is everybody else, and is merely regarded as her quirky attitude.
It is quite obvious that Mabel has some issues at the begining of the film when her husband calls her and says that he is going to have to work late. Tonight was supposed to be a special night for them, they had sent the kids to their mothers, so the house would be empty. Nick seems to know from experience her behavoir and dreads returning home to something terrible. Something does happen, but hardly serves the plot and rather shows us Mabel's world.
The following scene takes place at a dinner table, with a dozen or so of Nick's friends coming over for dinner. Here a base is formed on which we discover these characters. Mabel seems to possess more social anxities and esteem problems than she does insanity and tries too hard to please. In fact, the dinner goes well even when she begins to get comfortable, and thus over-the-top eccentric. It is not until at one point Nick yells out "sit your *** down" does a state of silence vanquish the scene.
Unlike many films, this is not about characters evolving, both spouses are still helplessly themselves in the end, but rather about characteristic discovery, for both the audience and the protaganists. It involves two great performances by Falk and Rowland and intense camera-work by Cassavetes. There are some scenes of such extreme emotional intensity, that sometimes you are shocked, and yet, you despairingly know what's going to happen.
A Woman under the Influence is a film about two helplessly wounded people; one who doesn't know how to act in front of others and thus escapes into eccentricity, another who is terrified of a lack of order and is easily ashamed by his wife's acts, and reacts in shocking ways.
There is one immensely powerful scene in which Mabel returns after six months of being in the institution. Everyone is unnerved upon seeing her behave, which lacks all of the antics and embaressing idiosyncracies. Nick is ironically embaressed by this and takes her upstairs and demands that she just be herself. Covered in shadows the two try to discover what it is they want out of each other. In the end it seems that they don't want anything, but rather must have each other in their own madness. Mainly because not everybody is as forgiving as Mabel.
10/10
HAHA amongst all these mature movies I have to throw in my Ice Age Three-Dawn of the Dinosaurs.... :D ITS AMAZING
Such a great film :thumbs_upQuote:
Originally Posted by DanielBenoit
Ok, all you goldern oldies. What was the oldest films you saw?
"Above Us The Waves" with John Mills.
"The Hill" Sean Connery.
"Ice Cold in Alex"
"El Cid" Charlton Heston.
"Straw Dogs"
"Midnight Cowboy" Jon Voight
"The Dam Busters"
"Saturday Night & Sunday Morning" Allan Bates
"Klute" Jane Fonda
"The Big Country"
"The Servant" Dirk Bogart.
"Zulu" Michael Caine.
"The Pawnbroker" Rod Steiger
"Mutiny On The Bounty" Marlon Brando.