list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

WinterLight wrote: avalanchemaster wrote: Eastern Promises- another Cronenberg film in the similar vein as his last, A History of Violence... it was okay.  worth seeing once.  I did not enjoy this one as much as History of Violence, even though it is an interesting look at the workings of the Russian mafia.....some real gory/violent scenes.   6.5/10 That's pretty much my impression of the film.  It was well done, but was only a shadow of A History of Violence, arguably his best since Videodrome.

the thing that I think is missing from "modern" Cronenberg films is the organic anomalies that he was so fond of....just weirdly shaped organic objects and creatures.   Like in EXistenz, where they had the gun made out of bone pieces, that movie ruled.  I guess he is trying to go more "mainstream" now or something?  anyway, I love him, it just seems like the recent stuff does not have his typical and grand flavor of the unusual (if you know what I mean!).

Toaster Mantis wrote: I think the problem is that he hasn't done a movie from a script by himself since eXistenZ. I've heard rumours he's doing these more straightforwards crime flicks in order to make money for a big original project that he plans as a magnum opus.

if so, that sounds like it would be KILLER!

WinterLight wrote: Recently, I watched John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence.  As my introduction to the director, I found the film quite different than nearly anything I've seen on screen before (and I've seen not a few films throughout my life).  The plot is essentially skeletal:  a housewife is, to use the parlance of Thomas Szasz, having "problems in living."  We see how her family reacts to her extraordinary, and just plain weird, behavior.  What makes this film so distinct from others is that Cassavetes doesn't spell out, or even distinguish, amongst "bad guys" and "good guys."  I quite appreciate this charitable opinion of his audience:  for it is only in fiction do we observe such finely attenuated dichotomies whereas in our everyday lives we each exhibit (in differing proportions perhaps) characteristics of saints and gas-chamber attendants.  It is, I believe, a great film, tightly composed and with impeccable performances; as such, I highly recommend it, especially if one can pick up the Criterion edition.

Anything Cassavete puts his hands on is worth watching. Truly an underrated filmmaker.

Atavachron wrote: I saw I, Robot but barely remember it recently watched the Casino Royale remake and loved it.. best Bond since Man With the Golden Gun over thirty years ago  ..intelligent and classy, 007 is back!

Oh man, I'd rank it at least 2nd behind Goldfinger, maybe even first when some time goes by. The only good Bond film since The Spy Who Loved Me (and that was pushing it) was Goldeneye. The rest were at best decent (Tomorrow Never Dies) and at worst awful (pretty much all the others). Casino Royale is the only non-Connery film I would place up there with the first few. I hope Quantum of Solace (worst damn name ever) keeps it up.

Be Kind Rewind- I put off seeing this because it looked like all the funny stuff was in the trailers. I was right. Now, if you're not young like me and/or didn't watch Nickelodeon in the mid to late 90s, this film concept might seem fresh to you. If you DID watch Nick, then you remember this from the Blockbleester sketch from The Amanda Show, where a group of Eastern European immigrants recorded their own versions of popular movies and rented them out, promising their versions were "better, MUCH better!" Thankfully, this film drops the dumb accents, but the idea is pretty much the same.

Now, I think it's bold to make a film involving VHS tape erasing and subsequent refilming in the age of DVD (and on the cusp of the next big thing, perhaps), considering this film will really only appeal to kids (Blockbleester- funny then, not now), many of whom were either born in the late 90s when VHS was rapidly on the way out and can't remember them or were born in the new millennium and don't know them at all. I think it's even bolder to SET the film in this age and assume someone who have a shop with nothing but VHS (a small section fine, but the whole store?).

Mos Def and Jack Black are two buddies who face a tiny crisis while managing a failing VHS rental store (gee, wonder why it's not doing so hot...) when a magnetized Black erases all the tapes. Knowing that if they lose what few patrons they have will spell doom for the shop's owner, Danny Glover (I forgot his character's name cause, honestly, I don't care). So, they make 20 minute versions of hits like Ghostbusters and Rush Hour. The gimmick is actually kind of amusing for a little bit, then they add Mia Farrow who brings nothing and annoys the piss out of me. Also, you can smell the sickly sweet aroma of sappy vomit on the horizon. You know Hurricane Schmaltz is coming, and all you can do is board up your cynicism and hope to survive.

Now, in the trailer, there is the scene where the Feds show up to confiscate the tapes for breaking copyright laws. What those of you who haven't seen the film don't know is that that is the whole scene. They literally come, take the tapes, tell them they will be fined into the mouth of Hell, then are never seen again. On the one hand, this spares us the uber-cheese of some impassioned courtroom defense of a small town shop and how the tapes represent civil rights or some sh*t, but on the other why the hell put that in there? If you needed an excuse to get rid of the tapes just use Black's lingering magnetism. Also, they tapped Sigourney Weaver for the role which, when you consider how heavily the Ghostbusters remake factors into the film/trailer, comes off as convenient. Hell, knowing how those two are I'm amazed the film didn't cut to a brief intermission where Jack Black and Mike Gondry dance with sparklers in front of a sign that says "Do You See What I Did There?"

Ultimately, the town comes together though to help out Danny Glover by making a biopic of Fats Waller, the made up jazzbo (who I'm willing to bet cash money gets his name from the insulting nickname Steve Merchant and Ricky Gervais gave to Pop Idol winner Rik Waller) who is the apparent toast of Passaic. If you don't see the happy ending from a mile away on this one then I should be allowed to balance biscuits on your nose because you're subhuman.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but this is not a good film by any stretch. Perhaps if, like the movies Jerry and Mike make, the film had been 20 minutes, this would have been fun. As it stands, though, it takes a hard left from whimsy onto Awww Street and never returns. 4.5/10

Fight Club wrote: tardis wrote: Fight Club wrote: [QUOTE=mithrandir] Sunshine - I loved the first hour or so of this movie, great hard-Scifi with an awesome and believable ship, crew interactions and problem scenarios, great special FX too... this is what CGI was made for! the only minor factual flaw was there's no reason why they couldn't have remained in contact with Earth from that short of distance - but I guess that was something they added to raise the tension, Now my annoyance with this movie was what played out towards the end, (all of a sudden it turns into a stalker/slasher in space movie ugh) ...so it lost some points with me on that one, a shame they had to break the mood with that tripe, I'll still give it a respectful - 7/10 - just because there was so much I liked about the beginning, I pretty much agree with you here on this review, and 7 is quite generous. I loved the first part of the movie, great suspense and tension, beautiful ship design etc. .... but couldn't quite feel disappointed at the sudden "slasher-flick" type ending (won't give anything away here)...still, definitely worth seeing...had a lot of potential as a sci-fi flick, we need more of 'em out there because the good ones are few and far between! Movies I've recently watched: Iron Man - 5/10 Mixed feelings on this one. Had some fun scenes and action, but felt disappointingly short-lived if that makes any sense. I felt left wanting for more, and that the ending battle sequence was only subpar (also I have a lot of respect for Jeff Bridges, but couldn't quite get into his character...in fact a lot of the characters felt a bit contrived, but if you can look past the cliched stereotypical archetypes, the movie still has it's fun moments). I, Robot - 9/10 I really enjoyed this movie, despite hearing only average reviews by the critics. I've never read the book, so I can't compare the film, and anyways books are always better, but I really had fun with this film. Yes, fun is the key word! It was a nice combination of detective story, mystery, and philosophical debates (on artificial intelligence rights, and Asimov writes great AI sci-fi). I liked Will Smith's character, even if it took me a bit to warm up to at first. There is more I could say about the film, but I'll let you judge it for yourself...check it out! There Will Be Blood - 5.5/10 Very mixed feelings about this effort. I would have given it a much higher rating if the ending hadn't left me feeling so cheated. Sure, maybe it was intentional and all, but I like to see movies that give me at least a partial sense of satisfaction, and all I felt after seeing this movie was disappointment, depression, and a sick feeling in my stomach. Don't get me wrong, there was some fine acting performances, but the main character was so hopelessly bleak and bitter, with no hope of redemption, I was left feeling like I'd just watched a funeral march. Maybe some like these kind of anti-feel good movies, but I prefer movies with redemptive themes. All I took away from this movie was that I hope to God never to end up like Daniel's character Still, I tried to be generous with my rating, movie was captivating and certainly kept me watching, if the ending hadn't left me feeling so jilted, I'd have given a much higher rating. Definitely recommend watching it though, and would love to hear what others think of it...there's no right review for a movie, it's all personal preference I will never look at drinking a milkshake the same way again though.... Originally posted by BroSpence Originally posted by Fight Club Originally posted by Chicapah Finally saw "There will be blood" and it was an amazing acting performance by DDL.  He's in every scene and I'll spend the rest of my life dissecting his character's dark psyche. Even though I believe that his performance may in fact be the best I have ever seen in a motion picture (yes is really is that profound) I think it's a crime that the movie gets so much attention for the performance instead of its entire execution in general. The sheer magnitude of DDL's performance initially seems to pull people's eyes away from the true genius of the film. Every little detail in that movie is worked out to perfection - every. There isn't a single aspect placed within it that doesn't serve a purpose towards conveying the character of Daniel Plainview and his conflict with Eli Sunday. Really everyone, if you haven't seen this movie yet, I urge you to. If you have seen the movie and didn't quite get it yet, watch it again, and with a closer view to aesthetic detail. It truly is a modern day masterpiece and will be remembered for years to come! WOO YES!  I too was taken away by TWBB. It was brilliant.  the acting, the cinematography, the story, the music.  The entire film had everything you could need.  I was upset that a brilliant work of art like TWBB was reduced to one man's performance (a great one though).  The best picture oscar should have gone to TWBB instead of No Country For Old Men. While that film was good, it didn't match the glory of TWBB.  I mean the Coen brothers had already made films like No Country before.  TWBB took movies back to the days when epic films were so very well done like Lawrence of Arabia.  The big screen especially magnified the brilliance of the film too. Even just the opening shot was perfect.  I loved it.  easily a 10/10 film for me.  Ah yes, the intro to that movie is just plain brilliant. There's no dialogue for the first 15 minutes, and it really puts meaning to the phrase "actions speak louder than words." In this first 15 minutes you get an idea of exactly what kind of man Daniel Plainview is, and it sets up the audience for the rest of the film. I too agree TBWW was a better movie than No Country for Old Men, though No Country was also brilliant. The Coens have had a long and prestigious career though and they deserved that Oscar. TBWW was just brilliant though... I know I'm repeating myself haha, but honestly, the more I think about that movie the more I realize how great it is. It's such a successful example of character study that it should be taught in literature classes. In all honesty, that movie was more poetic than most of the crap I was forced to read in high school haha. EVERYTHING has either a literal or metaphorical purpose. I especially love how Eli bleeds black at the end, just like everything else Daniel touches. He is quite literally an oil man. Geez, you rated I Robot higher (much higher) than There Will Be Blood. That's disappointing... You're DEFINITELY going to have to watch it a few more times. I also suggest going out and renting a bunch of David Lynch movies, once you understand those, you'll watch movies in an entirely different manner

It's just that I'm very sensitive to darkness in movies, so I found TWBB very disturbing and difficult to watch. And I know that's the point, but I prefer movies that leave me feeling uplifted. Just personal preference.

The Spiderwick Chronicles- decent fantastical yarn which really is a lesson in family, teamwork etc.,
pretty good for one time viewing but does not match some others previously done.   6/10

Lars and the Real Doll-
a surprisingly original story about a socially inept man somewhere in smalltown America who decides to try his luck with the purchase of a real doll.....hilarity ensues and the whole town grows to love the eccentric man.  Thankfully the film addresses the topic of mental health aberrations with a sympathetic hand.  I laughed all the way through and was thoroughly entertained by this one-of-a-kind film.   8/10

Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain (1973) is really amazing.  It's so surreal and yet symbolic it's hard to draw the line on what's humor and what's serious, I'm going to have to research it some more and give it a few more viewings (maybe next time under the influence of something).  Some of it is definitely the most "wtf" moments conveyed on film, but some of it is definitely the most "holy wow that's amazing."  I really loved the ending, it's a twist on the typical and cliche plot twist, plus with an optimistic message.  10/10

I also downloaded Jodorowsky's El Topo from 1970 which I'll be watching sometime later this week.  Definitely need to look into more obscure and surreal movies.  Like with music, I dislike the fast majority of popular movies, especially the modern ones.


Edited by Bluesaga - June 17 2008 at 22:14

While all of you are watching pseudo-movies, I entertain myself with a true piece of lost cinema: Zoltan, Hound of Dracula A.K.A. Dracula's Dog... Now try to beat that...

Jodorowsky is awesome. If you like his movies, be sure to check out the sci-fi comics he's written.