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

[sixsmith]

Up In The Air - 10/10 - this is the best film i've seen all year, and I didn't think i'd say that seeing as The Hurt Locker and In The Loop came out this year, but this one tops them all. Brilliant. The best role of George Clooney's career, without a doubt.

I've heard good things but I was dubious. Will certainly check it out now.

[DanielBenoit]

Only three films in my life have rendered me so speechless that I felt as if I had somehow transcended all thought. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apocolaypse Now and Persona. The latter I have just finished watching and I must say that I am as mute as the women in it. This film along with 8 1/2 the above mentioned and a few others, is the all-everything of cinema; it is infinite. 10/10

[Lumiere]

Only three films in my life have rendered me so speechless that I felt as if I had somehow transcended all thought. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apocolaypse Now and Persona. The latter I have just finished watching and I must say that I am as mute as the women in it. This film along with 8 1/2 the above mentioned and a few others, is the all-everything of cinema; it is infinite. 10/10

I second 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was not until I saw this creation that I fully appreciated film as an art form.

The last movie I saw was The Tenth Level (1975). It was a made for TV movie about a real psychological experiment that investigated what made people obey orders of cruelty toward others, and how far the average person would go, (an idea that stemmed from the events that took place in Nazi Germany during WWII). The content was intriguing. Also, it starred William Shatner and included his famous shoulder-roll, which is always a plus in my book. 9/10 for quality of subject matter.

[Mathor]

The White Ribbon - this movie mystifies me more and more every time i see it.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Watched it against last night. I'm always on the edge of my seat every single time. SO GOOD.
Inglourious Basterds - I just got this on DVD. This is my third time seeing it, and I think it gets more hilarious and brilliant every time you watch it. This is starting to shake the ranks of some of my old fav Tarantino films.

[DanielBenoit]

The White Ribbon - this movie mystifies me more and more every time i see it.

Grrr, I have to find some time to see this.

[Mathor]

Grrr, I have to find some time to see this.

take your time. It's a very hard watch, a very difficult movie to take in. Even when you're finished with it you likely won't know how you feel about it.

[DanielBenoit]

The Blind Side - The fact that this film made $150 million at the box office proves that this is one of the most manipulative films in years. Maybe it is better that more people are seeing this than nonsense films like Twilight, but then at the same time, most people when watching Twilight are there for entertainment and know they're watching nonsense; by the numbers, audineces seem to be mistaking The Blind Side as something profound.

Of course it is hard-times and sometimes all we need is a feel-good movie. I've never been much of a fan of feel-good movies since most of them violate the logic that Capra laid out for them, and that is there must be something of a plot, conflict or even sadness or despair preceding the feel-good fluff. Take It's a Wonderful Life, the quitessential feel-good movie; our hero goes through an entire life of what he sees as failures, irrelevances and meaningless trials to the point that he is driven to commit suicide. Taken literatley to the edge of the bridge, his guardian angel suddenly comes down to him and not-so-easily convinces him that his life was and is worth living.

The Blind Side gives us the guardian angel, but no preceding life, hell it doesn't even give us the nightmare of George Bailey's world without him, the very source of the heart-fulfilling ending. The Blind Side assumes that it needn't pull its audiences emotions, it plays it as safe as it possibly can and squirms into the little gutter of corniness whenever the very sight of a conflict arises. Hell, from the very opening scenes one is convinced that all will be better in the end.

Yes this may be based on a true story, but as moving as it may be, if the movie is not brave enough to at least show us some darkness then we have no reason to believe in it. Instead it shows us nothing of him except a series of reaction shots overtrumpted by Sandra Bullocks condesending and yet very good performance. I'm sure the two stars of the film mean well and are more than capable of doing a honest version of this story, it's clearly the writers and director who are at fault in diminishing their hero into a shallow object of pity with absolutely no psychological depth and giving the films guardian angel the main role.

Probably the films major fault besides its disrespect for the audiences intellegence is the embaressingly old-fashoined racial profiling. This is probably one of the few mainstream American films in years to indulge in the age old insult that the helpless big black boy must be saved and reconciled from all of the evil black druggies by a smart and angelic rich white women who will teach him the rules of the civilized world.

What an insult. At first I threw off this undertone as illusorary, but once the film got to the point in which the only other African-American portrayed onscreen besides our helpless giant was a mean old lady and a bunch of cronies leading him the wrong way, I was convinced that this film was at least diluted in very subtle and outdated friendly racism in which all African-Americans portrayed on film are either druggies or innocent little teddy-bears that cannot survive without the help of a bunch of nice rich white people.

It's such a sad thing that a film with such racial condecation would be making $150 million at the box office in the year of 2009 when the very same year a much smaller and much greater film is playing, though in not the nationwide multiplex theaters The Blind Side unfortunatley finds itself in. That movie is Precious, both concern a teenage African-American living in poverty, both are abused by their parents and both are given help by kind induviduals. The difference is that one respects its characters by making honest and real, by not being afraid to but them under the most unbearable circumstances and trials, in the end, not being afraid of the cruel world. Precious is real life, The Blind Side is an illusion. One is more uplifted by kindness after seeing a harsh and cruel life than one is by seeing nothing but kindness from the very begining.

God, if there's anything I hate in a film it is the feeling of condecation from the film through cheap manipulative preachy moments. This overlong two hour and eight minute film is stuffed with these until the slop boils over. Sure Old Dogs is an awful film, but when would somebody take it seriously? The Blind Side is nowhere near as bad as Old Dogs but is more dangerous since audiences have taken it seriously. The former is just bad entertainment, the latter is a lie disguised as reality. 3/10

[Veho]

Avatar - 9/10

I wasn't really looking forward to it and I went in to the cinema slightly sceptical, but I was pleasantly surprised, it was a good story that kept me enthralled until the end. I will be buying the DVD when it's released, that's for sure.

[The Comedian]

I saw Public Enemies the other night. I was mostly confused, bored, and disinterested by it.

5/10

[Idril]

Now that I've discovered just how easy it is to watch netflix movies on my computer, I've gone a little nuts. This weekend alone I watched 4 movies. The first was The Rage in Placid Lake which was a fun little Australian movie, I would give it about 8 out of 10 stars. The second was The Other Side of Sunday, a Norwegian film about growing pains of a young girl who's father is the pastor of a very conservative church. Even though my experience was wildly different from her's, I still felt a slight kinship with her being a pastor's daughter myself. The acting was excellent, the story line was griping but the lighting was frustrating because it was always dark, even in the middle of the day with the sky clearly blue. That is a 8/10 as well, it would've been a 9 if I could've actually seen what was going on with any certainty. The last two are both Chinese movies, the first one was King of Masks about a street performer in the very traditional art of bian lian. He is widowed with no children. Tradition dictates that he can only pass on the secrets of his art to a male heir, which he does not have, so he tries to "buy" one on the black market but it turns out the 'boy' he bought is actually a girl. Again, the acting was wonderful and it explored some really thought provoking themes. The ending was a little sappy but that doesn't mean it didn't still make me cry a little. I loved the scenes with the mask changing and it had a few scenes from Sichuan opera which is always bizarre yet fascinating. Another 8/10. The last movie was Tuya's Marriage which took place in Mongolia. A woman with a disabled husband divorces him, with his 'permission' and looks to remarry so she will have help on her farm. It was an incredibly complex look into the culture and relationships, like the landscape it was bleak and sparse and out of the 4, it was my favorite, 9/10

[Mathor]

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.

[NickAdams]

Now that I've discovered just how easy it is to watch netflix movies on my computer, I've gone a little nuts. This weekend alone I watched 4 movies. The first was The Rage in Placid Lake which was a fun little Australian movie, I would give it about 8 out of 10 stars. The second was The Other Side of Sunday, a Norwegian film about growing pains of a young girl who's father is the pastor of a very conservative church. Even though my experience was wildly different from her's, I still felt a slight kinship with her being a pastor's daughter myself. The acting was excellent, the story line was griping but the lighting was frustrating because it was always dark, even in the middle of the day with the sky clearly blue. That is a 8/10 as well, it would've been a 9 if I could've actually seen what was going on with any certainty. The last two are both Chinese movies, the first one was King of Masks about a street performer in the very traditional art of bian lian. He is widowed with no children. Tradition dictates that he can only pass on the secrets of his art to a male heir, which he does not have, so he tries to "buy" one on the black market but it turns out the 'boy' he bought is actually a girl. Again, the acting was wonderful and it explored some really thought provoking themes. The ending was a little sappy but that doesn't mean it didn't still make me cry a little. I loved the scenes with the mask changing and it had a few scenes from Sichuan opera which is always bizarre yet fascinating. Another 8/10. The last movie was Tuya's Marriage which took place in Mongolia. A woman with a disabled husband divorces him, with his 'permission' and looks to remarry so she will have help on her farm. It was an incredibly complex look into the culture and relationships, like the landscape it was bleak and sparse and out of the 4, it was my favorite, 9/10

Thanks for the King of Mask recommend.

[NickAdams]

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'm going to see Avatar for the same reason. I have no doubt that the new technology is revolutionary, but I'm so tired of the "going-native" genre. I'd rather see a revolution in narrative. CGI, of any sort, doesn't impress me. Herzog trying to get a ship over a mountain, Buster Keaton and the Vertigo effect is very impressive. There's no magic to CGI. We know the trick: it was done on computer.

[Mathor]

I'm going to see Avatar for the same reason. I have no doubt that the new technology is revolutionary, but I'm so tired of the "going-native" genre. I'd rather see a revolution in narrative. CGI, of any sort, doesn't impress me. Herzog trying to get a ship over a mountain, Buster Keaton and the Vertigo effect is very impressive. There's no magic to CGI. We know the trick: it was done on computer.

I couldn't agree with you more on all of those points. CGI ruins most movies because you begin to believe what is going on in the movie, begin to get sucked in, and then you see a CG explosion or a CG monster or a CG Spiderman mixed in with all the real shots and it sets up a bit of disbelief in the viewer. You say to yourself "that is not real". Avatar finds a way to do it that works. After seeing it, i'm very mad at the production companies for how they made all of the trailers of Avatar. It makes the movie look very stupid. The movie you are going to expect to see is certainly not the movie you will be seeing, that's the only thing I can guarantee you.

[DanielBenoit]

I'm going to see Avatar for the same reason. I have no doubt that the new technology is revolutionary, but I'm so tired of the "going-native" genre. I'd rather see a revolution in narrative. CGI, of any sort, doesn't impress me. Herzog trying to get a ship over a mountain, Buster Keaton and the Vertigo effect is very impressive. There's no magic to CGI. We know the trick: it was done on computer.

I totally agree, and I love films like LOTR or Avatar, but seeing Buster Keaton do the real thing is truly astonishing. Hell the greatest thing about Buster besides the fact that he is one of the best and funniest actors who ever lived, he's without a doubt the greatest stuntman. It is enthralling to see what he does; fall off of a twirling house, jump onto a moving car, have a frickin' house fall on him, and all with a straight face.

It's all too bad that directors no longer take very many risks when all they have to do is add CGI. What would've a film like Fitzcarraldo become if it was done with CGI?


Anyway, I've been watching a lot of silent films recently, most notably that of Buster Keaton, Eisenstein and Murnau, because I'm busy and tired I'll only provide my unusually brief reviews.

October - Upon second viewing I still contend that though Battleship Potemkin is more iconic and powerful, but October is far more visually poetic and complex. With less a clear narrative than Battleship Potemkin, October seems to become a series of images which intigrate into a propigandist recreation of the October revolution in Soviet Russia. There are some indescribably effective edits/shots in this film, such as when a machine gun is fired into a crowd and Eisenstein shows a hyper-fast back-and-forth edit between the machine gun and the gunman. There are many immensely effective montages like that in this film, all of which are technically astonishing. But October, like Potemkin, fails to really captivate its audience on an emotional level which spans beyond its visual poetry. It is admittingly tedious and overdone at times, making Potemkin the more dense and structured of the two, but the flawless technique is too irresitable to dislike as a film-lover. 9/10

Sherlock Jr. - What can I say? I love Buster Keaton. Whatever he does, he can do anything and I will be thrilled and awed by it. A simple facial gesture or expression of his is equal to an entire performance from a lesser actor. This film is one of the most surreal of his I've seen with its modernistic non-linear narrative and hilariously weird moments. The directing is filled with eager vitality and excitment and the stunts are unsuprisingly stunning. 10/10

The Last Laugh - Beautifully moving performance by Emil Jannings in Murnau's technically influencial melodrama which is truly silent for it lacks any title cards. Each shot of Murnau's directing is something of a beautiful epiphany, infinitely inspired. I was most shocked to see in a dream-sequence handheld camera work done quite flawlessly (this was made in 1924 mind you). The story and character is deeply deeply moving but then flushes itself down the toliet in the final ten minutes. My advice would be to walk out of the theater ten minutes before it ends and you would have seen a great heartbreaking film. 8/10

The Man with the Movie Camera - Ideally experimental work from Soviet director Vertov who creates a film of pure cinema in this non-narrative masterpiece of cinematography and editing. 10/10


EDIT: Btw, ALL of the above films can be found for free at google video