list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

Paranormal Activity

Highly effective faux-documentary about a married couple who are being harassed by an aggressive entity.   In a Blair Witch vein but better, with Oren Peli's stationary camera and asphyxiating tension delivering one of the best fright flicks in years.

Unthinkable, starring Samuel L Jackson, Michael Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss.

This started on TV late last night while I was on the couch so I gave it a look. It kept me glued to the couch until the early hours. An intelligent and surprising film.

The subject is torture in the service of the War on Terror but the theme is the ambiguities thereof. Hollywood tends to eschew ambiguity in favour of mythologising its characters. While this film presents the arguments for and against torture, it avoids closing off the argument in favour of either side. Instead, it raises questions: If you're against torture (as I am), is there a threshold, a point where the stakes become so high, that would get you to reconsider? If you're in favour of torture, what (and who) can you trust? This openness and balance places the film squarely in the domain of art. It's nothing like mere entertainment.

The artistic quality of the film is enhanced by its unities. That the plot takes place continuously over the course of several hours, involving the same characters in intense relationships in the one location, generates a theatrical air. The performances from the lead actors are also of theatre quality. Michael Sheen's performance made me think of his performance in The Passion. Samuel L Jackson in particular gives the most open and honest performance I've ever seen from him. He deserves every award there is for bringing the audience into intimate contact with his character's inner life.

Awards should also go to the writers and director for having the courage to create an intelligent work of art in our current economic and political climate and for possessing the talent to make it work. It's not a film I'd watch a second time, but it is a film I'd recommend everyone see.  

^ It's actually almost exactly two hours, and, even though there is a bit of groping, there is no sex that I remember (fortunately).

Edited by Dayvenkirq - February 07 2013 at 03:23

Game Change

HBO production based on the book about the McCain/Palin campaign and how the choice of Sarah Palin came back to haunt John McCain, the revelation that she was a far more confused and troubled person than previously imagined, and the volatility of her narcissism.   Not a great movie but a good one with spot-on imitations by Julianne Moore and Ed Harris.
 

^ I was disappointed with it as well, especially as a big fan of the original

Skyfall

In a troubling turn toward the ridiculous, Al Broccoli seems to have returned to old habits and over-the-top instincts with what could have been a rather good entry in the series.   Instead we get a cross between Thunderball and a Jason Bourne movie with little of the class or character in Casino Royale.   Skyfall is far from the pit of banality during the Tim Dalton or Pierce Brosnan years and does have some fun bits with a new Q, the introduction of Miss Moneypenny, and an appearance of the old DB5.   But I fear more white-haired villains, impossible car chases,  remodeled castles, and winking in-jokes are in 007's future.    And unfortunately ours.

^ I should have said 'Albert  R. Broccoli's Eon Productions' 

Paul Williams: Still Alive

Unusually honest road film spotlighting the legendary singer/songwriter, what happened to him, the low-budget tours and appearances he now makes around the world, the loneliness and irony of success, and his rejection of the drug- and alcohol-saturated past that haunts him.   Moving and stark, we see a man happier now than at the height of stardom.   Recommended.

The Raid -

Usually, this genre of movie would not even have registered on my radar - imagine a martial arts filled Dredd & you'd get close - but a friend recommended it to me so I did the rental thing & sat down last night to give it a watch.

Story wise, it's as shallow as it comes; police team raid an apartment block to apprehend/take down a drug overlord & come a cropper due to a naughty copper. Visually though, I have to say it's stunning - the fight scenes (of which there are many - this is a very violent film) are spectacularly choreographed & the camera work is exemplary. After a while, I even forgot I was watching a subtitled film (Indonesian movie - did I mention that? ) as its style is pretty immersive.

I'd certainly not watch it again, but I am glad I watched it once.

Rating?

Story:
Overall though: and a half...

Edited by Jim Garten - February 28 2013 at 11:17