Movie Tab II [Archive] - Page 33

mark f

10-10-08, 02:42 AM

The Sterile Cuckoo (Alan J. Pakula, 1969) 3

http://i3.iofferphoto.com/img/item/530/199/26/o_Sterile.jpg

Liza Minnelli got her first Oscar nom for Best Actress in her second film, limning the adorably-insecure Pookie opposite an enormously insecure co-star, making his film debut, Wendell Burton, playing Jerry. Burton, although he never really made it big in movies at all, is a perfect foil to Minnelli's Pookie and grounds the film in recognizable humanity. The film is actually rather simple although that shouldn't mean simplistic. It's a Power Struggle, a Battle of the Sexes, but this time it involves 18-year-olds going off to neighboring colleges, seemingly to not only get away from their parents but to find themselves. Initially, Pookie's erratic behavior seems to put her in charge of the relationship, but eventually Jerry's ability to root himself in reality takes over. It does contain multiple usage of the Sandpipers' smash, "Come Saturday Morning".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3SIQvaXWBs

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller, 2008) 3.5

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x89/edwardbayntun/reviews/Forgetting-Sarah-Marshall2.jpg

One thing you can say about Judd Apatow produced and directed films is that they always depict men as emotionally unable to compete with women on an even keel. They also tend to be much longer than the average sex/romantic comedy since they seem to range from about 115 minutes to 140 minutes. Woody Allen took a long time to make a film longer than 95 minutes, but he was too naive to try to make big bucks initially. This film contains plenty of big laughs and smaller guffaws, but it mostly does represent a truth between the sexes, and that's why I tend to cut these Apatow comedies more slack than a few do around here. I keep hearing this idiotic mantra, "well, comedy is subjective..."; WTF? You don't think drama, horror, action, fantasy, etc. are subjective? OK, signing off.

The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962) 4+

http://celluloidheroreviews.com/images/manchurian-candidate.jpg

This is just a terrific film, undoubtedly deserving a higher rating, but I still have to stay with my class. It's a terrific black comedy/paranoid thriller/suspense flick. It's crammed with so many dark and twisted things that it's almost unAmerican to accept how perfect the plot is. Remember, this film was released before the first Kennedy assassination. That's one of the main reasons it disappeared for so many years. I'm pretty sure that most people will agree that this film contains the best performances by Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, James Gregory and Angela Lansbury. The twisted dark humor, involving the brainwashing scene, has never been replicated; no, not even in Dr. Strangelove. Yes, this is in my Top 35 films, per my Top 100 List, so it probably needs a higher rating than 4, But I can be just as stubborn as you can. :cool:

Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks, 1960) 5

http://static.flickr.com/119/285360466_d3396d6c8c.jpg

My number 2 film of all time. While watching this yesterday, I really had to step back, once again, and decide why I picked Jaws as my number 1 because I had this and "The Fish Movie" tied for first for so long that I never thought I'd have to perform an operation to separate them. Jaws is as close to perfection as a film comes, at least if not compared to this shining star of honest emotion, raucous characterization, contradiction in what's important in daily life, general "love thy neighbor" policy, deeply satirical interpretations of human behavior, and the basic law of "he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone". Elmer Gantry has probably the most amazing script ever written, with a non-stop collection of witty and pungent lines every few seconds. Richard Brooks easily wrote his best script, and performed his best direction, both visually and using his cast, and he deserves special kudos for making Elmer Gantry as relevant today as it it was almost 50 years ago when it came out. If you don't believe me, just check out this year's Presidential campaign. :cool:

ash_is_the_gal

10-10-08, 06:46 PM

At first, before the image showed, I thought you were talking about Pam Grier. :cool: I think there's lifting involved in Tralala's outfit, but Jennifer Jason Leigh has been topless in plenty of movies, all the way from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to last year's Margot at the Wedding.

wait, what? i meant her eyes.

Daffodil

10-11-08, 04:01 AM

Wild Child. Blergh. :rolleyes:

Emma Roberts and Alex P (the guy from Stormbreaker; can't remember his last name) are such an odd couple. I cringed every scene they kissed, it looked like a grown man kissing a ten year-old. :sick:

adidasss

10-11-08, 05:26 PM

Mamma Mia! - Who cares

Hello, I'm a homosexual stereotype and this is the greatest film ever made. :|

MikaTan

10-11-08, 07:10 PM

Mamma Mia! - Who cares

Hello, I'm a homosexual stereotype and this is the greatest film ever made. :|

Enjoy it!! :D

ash_is_the_gal

10-11-08, 08:14 PM

Mamma Mia! - Who cares

Hello, I'm a homosexual stereotype and this is the greatest film ever made. :|

perhaps you'd be interested in THIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61UolzFTVPI

Swedish Chef

10-12-08, 01:19 AM

http://www.avclub.com/content/files/images/Mist.jpg

The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)

Frank Darabont has directed three adaptations of Stephen King stories and this is the best one, easy. Going in, I had only known the basic idea of Tom Jane and co. being stranded in a supermarket while hidden monsters waged war on the outside world. Not the most original starting point, but the movie is so much more. It manages to be scary and suspenseful despite being guilty of absurdly betraying its audience's intelligence on several occasions and just being silly in general. Actually, I know I really liked The Mist, but the more I think about it, I can't figure out why I liked it.

It's funny, the flick is refreshingly subtle in so many ways, but then there are times when it just becomes this overblown mess where everything characters say or do is preposterous. I fully realize how ridiculous it is to accuse a film of being inane or unfaithful to its characters when the main plot of said film revolves around bloodthirsty monsters lurking in an all-encompassing mist. But there are more than a few times in this thing where I felt a little cheated. All the characters are stereotypes and there are some (in particular Marcia Gay Harden's religious fanatic) that are way too broadly drawn. Everybody's overracting, too. I think in any other movie, not one of the performances in The Mist would work. But, for whatever reason, they work in The Mist.

There are some minor things that really did bother me. The overuse of a piece of spiritual music towards the end was pretty grating and there was also some pretty shoddy CGI on display. But those kinds of things are forgivable in a movie that just picks you up and takes you along for a ride like this one. For all its flaws, it works.

So, yeah, I know I really liked the movie. But I am conflicted about my feelings on the ending...

So at the end of the film, Tom Jane's character (David), his son and a few other survivors manage to escape the monster-besieged supermarket in his car. They drive away, trying to flee from the deadly mist, but they soon run out of gas. Supposedly surrounded on all sides by monsters, they decide to shoot themselves. Unfortunately, they only have enough bullets for four people and there are five of them. David volunteers to kill them all himself and face the unenviable fate of becoming monster food. They agree, he kills them all, including his small child. Literally one minute after he shoots these four people, the mist clears and it is revealed the National Guard has defeated the monsters and all is well. The last shot of the film is David, on his knees, screaming towards the sky.

This whole sequence is completely out of whack with the rest of the film. The David of the first half of the flick would never have shot his young son. Never. Plus, it goes against a lot of the themes and ideals the movie spent the last two hours preaching to us. That said, I do respect the heck out of Darabont for having the balls to do this. If you can look past the lack of continuity with the rest of the movie, the ending is undeniably effective and a real stomach punch. Apparently, King's novel has a more ambiguous finale, which I think I would've preferred. I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I dug this ending.

I do know I dug the movie, though.

3.5

I've been told by a couple of people to watch The Mist in its intended black and white version. I don't know why, but that's what I'm gonna do now.

Mrs. Darcy

10-12-08, 01:36 AM

Rebecca 4

This was a fantastic movie. Olivier was to-die-for handsome and broody, and Joan Fontaine well suited to the innocent role she played.

Maxim (Olivier) brings his young bride home to Manderley, but the shadow of his deceased wife, Rebecca, lurks in every nook and cranny of the large estate.
Ms. Danvers, the head housekeeper, is there to welcome the newlyweds back to manderley. She is truly one of the best evil villians I've seen onscreen, and she makes the new Mrs. De Winter uncomfortable and frightened. Young wife tries to be accommodating of Ms. Danvers, who is mostly stone faced and respectful, but you can feel the menace in her. She loved her former mistress and lets Young Wife know how lovely, gracious, perfect Rebecca was.
http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/redir?src=image&s_req=8ad7e5bfd6e0a4f3&s_cq=rebecca+movie&s_cid=80949829940639775023148434588983469714&s_cim=1223786189977&s_cu=http%3A%2F%2Fi141.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fr68%2Fgiancarletto%2FFILM%2FHITCHCOCK%2F500%2F500F ontaineJoanRebecca.jpg&s_cd=ImgDet&s_cm=image_details.M.xml
Of course, things come to a head one night at a party at Manderley, and Maxim sets things straight with his bride about the death of his first wife. Things were not as they had seemed. Maxim has a secret that can tear his life, and his bride's, apart.

mark f

10-12-08, 01:56 AM

I like Rebecca a lot, but it doesn't especially seem like an Alfred Hitchcock film to me. It's psychologically taut, but it doesn't really contain the normal Hitchcock visual flourishes and black comedy, but that's probably because it's a David O.Selznick film as much or moreso than a Hitchcock flick. Selznick collected the Best Picture Oscar for the second year in a row with Rebecca, on the heels of Gone With the Wind. Either way, I highly recommend Rebecca.

P.S. - Mrs. Darcy, you should know about Olivier being handsome since he played Mr. Darcy the same year (1940) as Rebecca in Pride and Prejudice. Now, it's not like you don't realize what he looks like in either film, but I'll post these for the uninitiated. :cool:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/bejmaf/olivierrebecca.jpg
Rebecca

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/bejmaf/oliverpride.jpg
Pride and Prejudice

Daffodil

10-12-08, 02:46 AM

Rambo (2008).

Mediocre film at best. I haven't seen the other ones though.

http://www.kinomax.fr/images/Arnaud/G-L/PosterJohnRambo.jpg

mark f

10-12-08, 03:21 AM

Wait a sec, you were allowed to watch Rambo but not Pulp Fiction? It must be because of the Gimp. :cool:

adidasss

10-12-08, 07:22 AM

Thanks ash, that was hilarious and completely spot on...:yup:

B-card

10-12-08, 09:28 AM

The Lord Of The Rings:The Two Towers-(Peter Jackson 2002)4

Step Brothers(Adam McKay 2008)-5

Ðèstîñy

10-12-08, 01:04 PM

Rebecca 4

This was a fantastic movie. Olivier was to-die-for handsome and broody, and Joan Fontaine well suited to the innocent role she played.

Rebecca is in my top 5 favorite Hitchcock films.

Pyro Tramp

10-12-08, 01:23 PM

Battlefield Earth
Death Race
Ashes to Ashes (TV SERIES)
Hitman
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Dewey Cox
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane

Ratings and that in Quickie (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=13920) thread, in a bit

tramp

10-12-08, 02:42 PM

I like Rebecca a lot, but it doesn't especially seem like an Alfred Hitchcock film to me. It's psychologically taut, but it doesn't really contain the normal Hitchcock visual flourishes and black comedy, but that's probably because it's a David O.Selznick film as much or moreso than a Hitchcock flick. Selznick collected the Best Picture Oscar for the second year in a row with Rebecca, on the heels of Gone With the Wind. Either way, I highly recommend Rebecca.

What's interesting about this, too, is that since Hitch hated Selnick's interference, he decided from that moment on he wanted control over his films.

Ironic, too, since he is considered such a great director and the mentor/idol of so many filmmakers, yet this is the only film that won BP. More than anything, that might be attributed to the power of Selznick at the time.

It's interesting to watch Rebecca and think about how Selznick might have interfered, but it seems clear that no matter how much Hitch might have been upset, it seems the master was behind the camera. :)

It's one of my favorite older films, too.

B-card

10-12-08, 08:42 PM

Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King(Peter Jackson 2003)-5

MovieMan8877445

10-12-08, 08:53 PM

Body Of Lies- 5

Daffodil

10-13-08, 02:35 AM

Wait a sec, you were allowed to watch Rambo but not Pulp Fiction? It must be because of the Gimp. :cool:

Haha, don't worry, I was told to close my eyes at the naughty scenes.

But that's a good question. I guess my Dad only limits certain films lol. Which is kinda weird, 'cause we've probably seen more violent. Maybe when I'm 14 or 15. ;)

What's a Gimp? xD

Iroquois

10-13-08, 03:24 AM

A Gimp is like the Matrix - you can't really be told what it is...you have to see it for yourself...

mark f

10-13-08, 03:53 AM

:rotfl: Like wow, Man!

Where did the "a" Gimp come from? It was "the" Gimp...

Daffodil

10-13-08, 04:04 AM

OK. :D

I haven't even watched all those movies people claim to be classics yet, like 2001. (I used to get 2001 and 2010 mixed up, so I used to be like, "why are people giving this movie so much praise?" lol). I'm not sure I'd get it straight away anyway though. I'd probably need a play by play of what was happening. xD

Iroquois

10-13-08, 04:12 AM

With some movies, you don't need a play-by-play. You just buy the ticket and take the ride, to paraphrase a certain doctor of journalism.

Daffodil

10-13-08, 04:28 AM

Yeah, I guess. But I'm kind of... slow, at times. xD I think I'd need to be in a certain mood to watch 2001. And then watch it again after that.

Iroquois

10-13-08, 04:34 AM

At least 90%* of Generation X and Y combined will have trouble watching 2001 for the first time.

* Statistic may be completely fabricated.

Iroquois

10-13-08, 08:15 AM

Back on topic...

Breaking Away - 4

Pyro Tramp

10-13-08, 08:18 AM

A Gimp is like the Matrix - you can't really be told what it is...you have to see it for yourself...

Thought you were gonna say a gimp IS the Matrix. What with all that leather and stuff.

Iroquois

10-13-08, 08:46 AM

I can see it now. Pulp Matrix...

Pyro Tramp

10-13-08, 08:59 AM

Enchanted
Wolf Creek

Write ups in the now usual place (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=468713#post468713)

undercoverlover

10-13-08, 09:40 AM

Mary Poppins
Nosferatu

Caitlyn

10-13-08, 03:24 PM

Eagle Eye (2008) .... cousin talked me into going with him to see this... and... I enjoyed it but at the same time I caught myself :rolleyes: more than once....

Daffodil

10-14-08, 02:30 AM

^ Was it good? Eagle Eye I mean?

linespalsy

10-14-08, 10:55 AM

Three Resurrected Drunkards aka Sinner in Paradise (Oshima, 1968) 4.5+

Death by Hanging (Oshima, 1968) 3-

The Last Movie (Hopper, 1971) 3.5

The American Dreamer (Carson & Schiller, 1971) 0

B-card

10-14-08, 01:14 PM

Quarantine-2

Pyro Tramp

10-14-08, 09:09 PM

Diary of the Dead
Adulthood
Wizard of Gore

Sleezy

10-14-08, 09:50 PM

The Ballad of Jack and Rose (Miller, 2005)

I'm not sure what to rate this yet. I know it was phenomenal, due predominantly to a wonderfully unique story, and driven performances by Daniel Day-Lewis and Camilla Belle, among other surprises (such as Ryan McDonald's charmingly real Rodney). But the film itself didn't speak to me very much. That connection between father and daughter, since I'm on neither end, is somewhat lost on me. I do get the message that this is my life and I should do what I want with it, but I felt that was only ever a secondary theme, and rightfully so: all the major life moves in the film are either retrospective or future-assumed. Still, I can't fault the film for speaking a language I didn't respond to, so I highly recommend it.

Sleezy

10-14-08, 09:56 PM

At least 90%* of Generation X and Y combined will have trouble watching 2001 for the first time.

This is true for me. I'm Generation Y, and I had quite a bit of trouble with it. I'm not sure why. It's not that it's slow, or even overly complicated. I think it's just that it's an undulating film that's perfectly content to undulate as equally as narrate, and I'm not used to that sort of thing. The space montages might also be a little more mesmerizing if they weren't so dated, but as it is now they do nothing more than annoy me.

That said, they did get me thinking that in modern "space" films, space itself is always represented with a certain degree of open silence that we associate with big, black emptiness. I do think it's interesting to play with the concept of space as a backdrop for triumphant sound.

Justin

10-14-08, 09:58 PM

Quarantine (Dowdle, 2008) - 3.5

Not bad, it wasn't quite as good as [REC]; it did, however, improve some aspects, but unfortunately faltered in others (namely the acting suffered).

Iroquois

10-14-08, 11:53 PM

Doomsday - 3

linespalsy

10-15-08, 10:00 AM

Forgot these in my last post:

Kyoto, My Mother's Place (Oshima, 1991) 3.5

100 Years of Japanese Cinema (Oshima, 1994) 3+

Swedish Chef

10-16-08, 06:49 PM

Say, when this Movie Tab drops its 8,000th post, is it gonna be closed like the other one?

I guess not.

undercoverlover

10-16-08, 10:09 PM

Wet Hot American Summer - funniest **** ever, really liked it, had a cult movie feel about it and crazy sketch comedy touches. Awesome cast too, especially Paul Rudd and Janeane Garofalo.

Iroquois

10-17-08, 02:00 AM

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - 3.5
Be Kind Rewind - 3
Lars and the Real Girl - 3

Daffodil

10-17-08, 02:06 AM

Bend It Like Beckham - 8/10, lol. I loved it. :yup:

Sedai

10-17-08, 11:13 AM

mark f

10-18-08, 03:31 AM

Tremors (Ron Underwood, 1990) 3

http://www.filmsy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/tremors1.jpg

Cult classic packs a lot of fun and scares into a B-movie tale of something weird happening underground out in the middle of nowhere. True, most of the characters come across as rednecks or survivalists, but the film uses plenty of satire to delineate all the character arcs, and one thing's for sure; you have plenty of people to love and to hate, even if none of them come across as totally wrong. The frosting on the cake is how this flick incorporates strong plot devices from Frank Herbert's/David Lynch's Dune, and it's done just about as unpretentiously as possible. :cool:

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (Kenji Masumi, 1972) 3

http://a6.vox.com/6a00c2251f5a74604a00d41449dcc66a47-320pi

This film sets up the six film series. Although it's only 82 minutes long, it does contain plenty of spectacular set pieces. On the other hand, it also contains plenty of exposition and drawn out scenes, so it almost immediately highlights what this series is about. The key to this series is that the hero (Tomisaburo Wakayama) doesn't seem like a traditional hero in that he's middle-aged and overweight, and that he likes to lay low while all his ******* adversaries like to show off and basically give away anything special about them which very few of them actually have to reveal to an enemy. Of course, the fact that our hero has to "cart" around his baby son with him adds to the spectacle and satire of the situation, but since I'm going to review all six of them, I'll get back to you on how much that evolves over the course of the three-year (!!!) series.

The Scalphunters (Sydney Pollack, 1968) 3

http://posters.johndingle.com/Movie_Posters_The_Scalp_Hunters_Burt_Lancaster.jpg

This is one of those westerns which is good, but with just a little bit more fine-tuning, could have been much-better. Burt Lancaster is always good in this kind of role; here, he assays the part of a hunter with some major animal furs. First, he runs into some Kiowas who steal his furs. Then, while tracking them, he comes across a band of scalphunting marauders, led by Telly Savalas, who kills and scalps the Indians and takes the furs. The most-interesting part of the film is that it takes place in the U.S. pre-Emancipation Proclamation, and Ossie Davis (in one of his best roles) plays a well-educated slave who also becomes what seems like a ping pong ball between Lancaster and Savalas. The film is entertaining throughout, and Shelley Winters has a strong role as Savalas' woman friend. However, aside from an awesome scene where Lancaster starts a huge avalanche of rocks, the film could have been more exciting and funnier. I certainly recommend it, but I feel with all the talent involved, it should have been a lot better.

Daffodil

10-18-08, 04:51 AM

Lone Wolf and Cub is great. :yup:

Powdered Water

10-18-08, 02:26 PM

Iron Man (Jon Favreau-2008) 4.5

Really good stuff, third time and still going strong. I hope the many more Marvel universe movies to come are as good as this one.

The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan-2008) 3.5

Not nearly as bad as I was led to believe. Good thing I rarely listen to anything that any one else says eh?

I would agree that its not as strong as some of his previous work but I also think there are way to many people that have put this guy on this lofty pedestal and now he can only go down from there. Still though. This was an almost "classic" Shyamalan flick. No monsters, just story. An interesting story too. He just makes interesting movies. I love his style and I really like the guy. He is different and in today's world I find that refreshing.

Roman (Angela Bettis-2006) 3

A solid low budget horror flick with a name actress in a small part. Have you seen this Seds? Its got your girl Kristen Bell in it. She's not in it for very long, but parts of her are in it for the duration... That's was an inside joke in case you're wondering and after you watch it I'm sure you'll find it HI-Larious. :laugh:

Anyway, good stuff.

Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford-1989) 4

Such a delightfully simple movie with a really powerful message. What's the message? Go watch it. That's the message. It also helps that I absolutely love Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. Jessica at age 81 won an Oscar and Morgan Freeman was nominated for Best actor in a supporting role. Damn good stuff. My sweetheart had not had the pleasure of seeing this yet and I'm glad I found it at the store and was able to show it to her.

Monkeypunch

10-18-08, 08:35 PM

War, Inc. - Funny satire of the war on terror, with John Cusack as a conflicted hitman under the employ of a huge corporation that controls the entire military in the fictional country of Turaqistan. Fans of Grosse Pointe Blank should love it.

MovieMan8877445

10-18-08, 11:50 PM

V For Vendetta - 5

Justin

10-19-08, 02:15 PM

Body of Lies (Scott, 2008) - 3

Not bad -- my main problem was the pacing, otherwise it was a pretty decent film. DiCaprio was great.

Ðèstîñy

10-19-08, 10:27 PM

Still of the Night (1982)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GAD5JW2RL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Meryl Streep
Roy Scheider
Jessica Tandy
Joe Grifasi
Josef Sommer

The Star Chamber (1983)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41W6PWZ42WL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Michael Douglas
Hal Holbrook
Yaphet Kotto
Sharon Gless
Joe Regalbuto
Don Calfa ~ Weekend at Bernie's ~ "He's not dead!"

I haven't watched my movie, The Star Chamber, in a good 15 plus years. No time in, and the next film you want to watch, due to both Hal Holbrook, and a part of the story, is . . .

Magnum Force (1973)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513AxOaUurL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Clint Eastwood
Hal Holbrook
Mitch Ryan
David Soul
Tim Matheson
Robert Urich

ash_is_the_gal

10-19-08, 10:51 PM

The Visitor (2007)

http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2008/04/30/18/184-5X2VISITOR.standalone.prod_affiliate.4.JPG

Thomas McCarthy [The Station Agent!] did not disappoint. i loved this.

The Pianist (2002) :indifferent:

Justin

10-19-08, 10:54 PM

Taxi to the Dark Side (Gibney, 2007) - 5

An incredible documentary...

Iroquois

10-19-08, 10:55 PM

Dark City - Directors Cut (Proyas, 1998)

http://www.rowthree.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/darkcity_singer.jpg

The definitive version of the film, which is one of my favorites, soon to appear in my long awaited Top 100 list! I have started compile it, and i have about 70 titles so far. I have yet to put it in any sort of order, though...

Wow. I should find a couple of hours to watch my brand-new copy of the Director's Cut now...

Also...

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle - 4

Don't look at me like that.

mark f

10-20-08, 01:24 AM

What happened? Did Harold and Kumar tell the waitress to "hold the chicken"?
http://outdoors.mainetoday.com/children/kidtracks/flychicken2_blog.jpg

rice1245

10-20-08, 01:32 AM

Lock, Stock and Two Smokin Barrels 5/5 i loved it

how do you do the awesome popcorn thingies? :D

Justin

10-20-08, 02:02 AM

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Lumet, 2007) - 4

Yoda

10-20-08, 02:03 AM

Saw three films this weekend...

Doomsday
After Hours
Redbelt

mark f

10-20-08, 02:30 AM

I hope this doesn't get TOO monotonous

Indiscretion of an American Wife (Vittorio De Sica, 1953) 2.5

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/2735362387_f07ab3bc55.jpg?v=0

Unfortunately, I only saw the butchered American version. It was reminiscent of Brief Encounter and had plenty of stylish lighting and photography. In fact, this film seemed to have De Sica almost showing off the fact that he can light and shoot terrific shots within the studio system. In that way, this film does seem to drift a bit away from De Sica's neorealistic roots, but to tell you the truth, no matter how "neorealist" Bicycle Thieves, Shoeshine and Umberto D. seem, they are all four-star melodramas, so this film isn't that huge a stylistic change for De Sica. It's also very interesting to see 14-year-old Richard Beymer in a European film eight years before West Side Story.

Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla, 1960) 2.5

http://www.blacklagoon.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/village_damned.jpg

This film was intended to be filmed in the U.S. with a U.S. cast, but the fact that the kids seemed to be the "Devil's Children", and born from immaculate conception (even if by Aliens) caused the U.S. company to shuffle it off to Britain and reduce the budget. Even so, the plot and presentation are very interesting and suspenseful. George Sanders and Barbara Shelley acquit themselves well, and Martin Stephens (The Innocents) is good as the lead "weird kid", but I still find it hard to believe that they actually let Stephens speak most of his dialogue. This is an eerie, if minor flick, but superior to John Carpenter's remake.

The House of Usher (Roger Corman, 1960) 2.5

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTY0NzU0NjM0MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMTc1ODM2._V1._SX321_SY400_.jpg

The first Roger Corman Edgar Allan Poe flick isn't as good as a few others, but it certainly set up a solid formula. Corman had heretofore made a reputation making Z-grade flicks with little-to-no budgets, but here, he decided to take the budgets for two cheapo flix and combine them into a budget of one B-movie where he could actually hire somebody as well-known as Vincent Price and get Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) as the screenwriter. The result is a textbook of what Corman was to do with five future films, many of which certainly qualify as the best films he's ever made. This one has all the mysteries, creaking doors, unspoken horrors, nightmares and other goodies which Poe, Price and Corman were able to conjure up, but I still find it a bit weaker than The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia, among others.

Offside (Jafar Panahi, 2006) 2.5

http://cultureofsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/offside_poster.jpg

This is a sincere, heartfelt Iranian film, set during the World Cup Soccer Qualifying rounds in 2005. In fact, the film was somehow allowed to be filmed in Iran's National Stadium during the game between Iran and Bahrain. It tells the story of various "girls" (mostly all under the age of 20) who tried to get into the stadium to see Iran play. However, the law is such that women are not allowed into the stadium whatsoever. Let me correct that: Iranian women are not allowed into the stadium, and if they are caught attempting to enter, they are taken to the top of the stadium and held until some "police chief"-type person shows up and escorts them to the Vice Squad for just punishment. This is whether a male member of their family is there to take them home or not. On the other hand, in the previous qualifyiing game in Iran, Japan was playing, and all the Japanese women were allowed into the stadium. The reason? They "couldn't understand the Iranis' swearing during the game while the native females "could". HA! For people who have never watched Iranian films or somehow believe that Iran belongs in some far corner of DumbShit countries, the humanity on display in this film may well open your eyes. The tale is heartbreaking and universal. Don't let my so-so rating keep you from checking it out. I'm a tough S.O.B.

We got through about 60% of Branagh's Hamlet (1996). I'll review it when we're done, but right now, I'm leaning toward 4.

http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/1872/1211/lo/co5.jpg

Thursday Next

10-20-08, 01:59 PM

I finally got round to watching Das Leben Der Anderen (The Lives of Others). Had to watch this in about three installments which possibly lessened the impact somewhat, but I thought it was a good film. I think it is always bound to be the case with films which are much praised and win awards that expectations can be too high; it is difficult to be blown away by a film you already think ought to be good in the same way as one which takes you by surprise.
I won't bother with a full review because as I am probably the last person who wanted to watch the film to actually get round to watching it, if you care you probably know the main details already.

Ulrich Muhe as the Stasi spy who becomes fascinated by the playwright and his girlfriend on whom he is spying is excellent. The playwright and the girlfriend are sadly not so compelling, whether this is the acting or the characters or both I'm not sure. Perhaps that the spy, the tool of the state, is ultimately braver and willing to sacrifice more than the supposedly liberal artist is part of the point of the film.

I am only focussing on small flaws because it has already been said everywhere how brilliant the film is, and it is very good. I now feel the need to rewatch Pan's Labyrinth to see which I would have picked for that hotly-contended oscar...

4/5

Sedai

10-20-08, 02:19 PM

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Superman Returns

Magnolia

Near Dark

Used Future

10-20-08, 02:34 PM

Tenebre (Dario Argento 1982) 4 The best soundtrack Goblin did

Trauma (Dario Argento 1993) 3.5

Naturally I've already seen both films a few times before, but I still enjoyed them just as much.

linespalsy

10-20-08, 02:53 PM

Ashes of Time Redux (Wong, '08). Wow.
Lips of Blood (Rollin, '75). Bow

undercoverlover

10-20-08, 08:07 PM

Dracula(1931) - very slow and boring at times but is the determiner for vampire films, not the last word but definitely a strong early paragraph. Dwight Frye is definitely the stand out in this.

Iroquois

10-20-08, 09:45 PM

A Better Tomorrow - 4

Swedish Chef

10-21-08, 02:21 AM

Wet Hot American Summer - funniest **** ever, really liked it, had a cult movie feel about it and crazy sketch comedy touches. Awesome cast too, especially Paul Rudd and Janeane Garofalo.

Yes, this movie is kind of the balls, isn't it? I just caught it the other day on Comedy Central or something and was reminded of its pure, stream-of-consciousness brilliance. It's a testament to the flick that despite all the gags and subplots that fall flat on their faces, the movie recovers instantly and remains very, very funny. If I could ever find a representative screen cap of that classic double-take Paul Rudd does towards the end, that would be my new avatar. That's the greatest double take in the history of double-takes.

Dark City - Directors Cut (Proyas, 1998)

http://www.rowthree.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/darkcity_singer.jpg

Man, this sounds a lot more geeky now that I'm typing it out, but I'm gonna say it anyway. When I first saw this flick on DVD, I paused and rewound the bit where Jennifer Connelly croons "When the Rumba-Rhythm starts to play..." about twenty times. I also love how William Hurt says the name "Hasselbeck". I am due to watch this movie again.

Used Future

10-21-08, 09:55 AM

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DZ91YBQ5L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Patrick (Richard Franklin 1978) 3
Well made Australian mixture of Carrie and Coma, about evil title character (Robert Thompson) who uses telekinetic powers to take over the life of a nurse he's fallen in love with. Somewhat predicatable film is bouyed by good characterization, solid performances, and effective suspense making it a lot better than it should be.

http://dvdcovers03.bigpondmovies.com/static/movie_covers/featured/16691.jpg

Thirst (Ron Hardy 1979) 4
First rate Australian vampire yarn about beautiful young woman (Chantal Contouri) brainwashed by secret society of vampires who believe her to be a descendant of Elizabeth Bathory. Original contemporization of traditional themes has the creatures farming humans for blood under the guise of health club/dairy plant!!! A likable heroine, great supporting cast (including Henry Silva, David Hemmings and Amanda Muggleton) and all round creepy atmosphere that gets right under your skin, make this thoroughly satisfying stuff.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XHTgM-zAL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

In Bruges (Martin McDonagh 2008) 4.5
Immensely likable tale of two Irish hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) sent to Bruges by their psychotic boss (Ralph Fiennes) to hide out after a bungled job. Superbly funny, melancholy script, beautifully photographed, full of interesting characters and quirky vignettes, not to mention two knockout performances from Farrell and Fiennes.

http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1010/234950.1010.A.jpg

Race With the Devil (Jack Starret 1975) 2.5
Relentlessly trashy time filler about two couples persued in their camper van accross Texas after witnessing a Satanic ritual sacrifice. Unremarkable, silly excuse for a car chase takes an age to get going, but delivers the goods once it does and has a decent cast. The films ending is also noteworthy and no doubt completely divided viewers, safe to say I thought it was ludicrous.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/315AJ1H4dEL._SL500_AA216_.jpg

Dellamorte Dellamore aka Cemetery Man (Michele Soavi 1994) 4
Stylish romantic gothic fairytale about Francesco (Rupert Everett) who lives in the cemetery of a small rural Italian village guarding it from 'returners' (zombies). Living with his simpleton assistant Gnaghi, Francesco's leads a depressing existence until he falls for a beautiful young woman (Anna Falchi) there for a funeral. Argento cohort Soavi embelishes the film with a superb sense of depth, dreamy atmosphere, and clever special effects, making this one of the best horror films of the 90's. It's marred slightly by the dubbing track (Soavi shot the film in English then had a new track added in post production) but I'd still highly recommend it to fans of Guillermo Del Toro, Caro & Jeunet, and zombie films.

Sedai

10-21-08, 11:58 AM

Man, this sounds a lot more geeky now that I'm typing it out, but I'm gonna say it anyway. When I first saw this flick on DVD, I paused and rewound the bit where Jennifer Connelly croons "When the Rumba-Rhythm starts to play..." about twenty times. I also love how William Hurt says the name "Hasselbeck". I am due to watch this movie again.

Hate to break it to ya, but, that was an overdub on both the theater run and the original DVD. Alas, with this new director's cut, they have restored Jennifer's original voice track. She certainly doesn't have the pipes that Anita Kelsey had, but she does a good enough job, and it looks more convincing now.

adidasss

10-21-08, 02:31 PM

I must be the only person on the planet that didn't think In Bruges was particularly good...:|

Sedai

10-21-08, 03:27 PM

I haven't seen it yet. I will give it a shot at some point, though...

Swedish Chef

10-21-08, 05:03 PM

In Bruges - Martin McDonagh

http://www.totalfilm.com/__data/assets/image/945421/in_bruges.jpg

Barely finished it. It has a lot of strange, dare I say middle aged? humor which wasn't really my cup of chai. The pacing is terribly slow but that might have been due to the fact that I somehow got it into my head that this was going to be an action type comedy. The ending is rather good but can't erase the fact that I was predominantly bored during the previous hour and 40 odd minutes. On the bright side, the scenery is great and Farell has never been sexier as the rather vulnerable (and inept) brooding assassin.

2.5

Maybe you were disappointed because you went in with the preconceived notion that it was gonna be a balls-to-the-walls action flick? And I don't really know what you mean by "middle aged humor". I thought it was pretty flippin hilarious. How can you not laugh out loud at every single word that Ray Fiennes utters in that flick?

I also think the seemingly slow pacing serves to further underscore how boring Farrell's character finds the city of Bruges. Actually, I didn't even feel the movie was all that slow, so I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Justin

10-21-08, 05:29 PM

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper,1974) - 4.5

Easily one of my favorite horror films...

adidasss

10-21-08, 08:45 PM

Maybe you were disappointed because you went in with the preconceived notion that it was gonna be a balls-to-the-walls action flick? And I don't really know what you mean by "middle aged humor". I thought it was pretty flippin hilarious. How can you not laugh out loud at every single word that Ray Fiennes utters in that flick?

I also think the seemingly slow pacing serves to further underscore how boring Farrell's character finds the city of Bruges. Actually, I didn't even feel the movie was all that slow, so I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Well your taste in music is a bit outdated so...:p

Different strokes I suppose...:\

Swedish Chef

10-21-08, 09:30 PM

At least I don't listen to Coldplay.

Justin

10-21-08, 09:42 PM

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)- 4.5

mark f

10-22-08, 02:39 AM

"La-Di-Da" - Annie Hall

The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948) 2.5

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/captnyro/Eleanor%20Parker/TheWomaninWhite1.jpg

This is a minor suspense flick which quickly becomes too hokey. I mean, when you have someone as awesome as Sydney Greenstreet playing a possible bad guy, why ruin it so early along in the flick? I'll admit that the plot is pretty weak, no matter how much of a classic the novel is supposed to be. Still, it's modestly entertaining, if you like the cast (Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Gig Young, Agnes Moorehead, etc.)

The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963) 3

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a356/The_Daemon/thehaunting_group.jpg

This is certainly a scary movie. It seems to be inspired by the far-superior The Innocents, but even so, I know enough people who prefer this one. Now, I have a problem with this film because it takes far too long to get moving, it seems to make jokes of itself, and it doesn't actually have the faith in itself to not keep pumping up the incredibly loud "bumps in the night". Now, I'll admit that those LOUD bumps are undoubtedly the highlights, but the film just doesn't carry the down-to-the-bones creepiness of The Innocents. It seems to be far more concerned with "loud noises".

Topper (Norman Z. McLeod, 1937) 3

http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens1960726module9277847photo_1209181135Topper_Cary_Grant_1937.jpg

The stars of Topper are Cary Grant and Constance Bennett, but they die and turn into ghosts soon enough, so lucky for us, we're left with Roland Young as Topper and Billie Burke as Mrs. Topper. They truly carry the film and do a rehash of all the cool effects that James Whale triumphed four years earlier in The Invisible Man. Topper is a cute movie, but it can't compare to what David Lean and Noel Coward did eight years later with Blithe Spirit.

Brief Moment (David Burton, 1933) 2

http://i1.iofferphoto.com/img/item/341/654/26/o_Brief_Moment.JPG

Although this is a "legit" film, it's just not very good. Nighclub chanteuse Carole Lombard weds spoled rich kid Gene Raymond, but he's incapable of working his way up a ladder or not lying to his wife who gives up her career to try to "pull him up by his boot straps" to make something of himself independent of his family. It's not a bad film, but it's very generic, The bright spot is obviously Carole Lombard.

Virtue (Edward Buzzell, 1932) 2

http://i2.iofferphoto.com/img/item/338/647/96/o_Virtue.JPG

OK, this time Carol Lombard plays the streetwalker who falls for cabbie Pat O'Brien. He's certainly not a saint, but when he eventually finds out about her "earlier profession", he's unable to forgive her. Of course, it turns out that he needs at least as much forgiveness as she does, so Robert Riskin's script covers a few interesting twists, even if they aren't all that interesting...

No More Orchids (Walter Lang, 1932) 2.5

http://www.seventymm.com/Images/ActorImage/11886.jpg

This seems to be the most entertaining of the three Carole Lombard films I watched last night. It also has the best cast. However, this is one of those wacko movies where the "pseudo-rich" American daughter (Lombard) has to marry a European prince to try to keep her family in front of the "money/class" power curve. She really wants to live out her life with Lyle Talbot, but don't ask me why. Even so, the supporting characters (Walter Connolly and C. Aubrey Smith) add some verisimilitude to the Cinderella story and make you forget how much of a wimp Lyle Talbot really is.

Swedish Chef

10-22-08, 07:21 PM

http://www.variety.com/graphics/photos/reviewb/rbabymama.jpg

Baby Mama (Michael McCullers, 2008)

Okay, this is a bad movie and I can't dispute that fact in good conscience. But I have such unreasonable affection for both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (not to mention everybody in the great supporting cast) that I thoroughly enjoyed this flick despite its craptacularness. How do you not root for these tired, predictable archetypes when they're played by such genuinely winning and likeable people?

3

http://www.variety.com/graphics/photos/reviewm/rmargot_at_the_wedding.jpg

Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)

I keep going back and forth on this movie, but I'm pretty sure I liked it. I know that I liked the fact Jack Black's character grew a mustache for "comic effect". And I think I like the fact that the two characters in the picture I posted above are laughing hysterically about their sister getting brutally raped.

3

Sedai

10-23-08, 11:42 AM

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Yates, 2007)

At last, a gigantic magic battle! This is one of the better films in the bunch, regardless of attempting to cram too much into its run time. Still, I liked the tone, and the more adult themes in this one. Some characters get swept aside (Malfoy), but overall, I was engaged by this film more so than Goblet of Fire, which I didn't really care for.

4

undercoverlover

10-23-08, 12:59 PM

mark f

10-23-08, 09:33 PM

Robot Monster (Phil Tucker, 1953) 0.5 Camp Rating: 4

http://www.digthisvid.com/images/R/POSTER%20-%20ROBOT%20MONSTER.jpg

Unintentionally hilarious Z-grade "sci-fi" schlock, reportedly shot for $16,000, involving the Monster shown above (there are no robots in the flick). Can you see it? Yes, it's a guy in an ape suit with a space helmet and antennae on his head. In the actual film, there's a faint outline inside the helmet of a face, but nothing as blatant as a skull. This anti-hero is Ro-Man, who was sent by his Ruler, the Great Guidance, to destroy all humans on Earth before they become capable of traveling out into space and blowing up the rest of the Universe. Ro-Man succeeds in destroying all humans except for six people living in the desert near the cave where Ro-Man hangs out and carries out "deep philosophical" discussions with the Great Guidance using some kind of TV monitor inside a cheap wooden case. Oh yeah, he also likes to play with the Billion Bubble Machine, which blows bubbles toward the camera and seems to be the reason the film was originally shot in 3-D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9IKsH9BXg

As you can see from the trailer, Robot Monster has just about everything. :cool: It includes such awesome scenes as hottie Claudia Barrett marrying George Nader (who's shirtless at the time). Then, even though billions of people have just been killed, they decide to leave a relatively safe place and have a quickie honeymoon in Ro-Man Territory. Ro-Man has taken quite a fancy with the Earth woman, so he finds it difficult to kill her. It also includes, and I kid you not, an original score by Elmer Bernstein! Although the film eventually grossed a million dollars at the drive-in circuit, director Phil Tucker was so distraught at the critical thrashing this film received, he attempted suicide. I just picked this baby up in a two-pack, along with Plan 9 From Outer Space, for $9. Sarah is currently showing Plan 9, along with Frankenweenie, at her high school as this year's free Halloween movie.

Jean de Florette (Claude Berri, 1986) 3.5

http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/yutethebeaute999/imgs/8/d/8d10725c.jpg

I'm a big fan of Marcel Pagnol. He was a true Renaissance Man in France in the 20th century. He was a novelist, playwright and film director extraordinaire who had an uncanny way of communicating his entertainments and social commentaries by incorporating all the events and people of his own life. Although I have had the opportunity to see many of his early 1930s films, with the exception of Joshua Logan's Fanny (1961) and John Barrymore's turn as Topaze in 1933, Jean de Florette was the first Pagnol-based film I ever saw.

http://www.fransefilms.nl/home/wp-content/jeandeflorette.jpg

It's a gorgeously photographed film, told in a mostly lowkey style about a bitter old man, Cesar (Yves Montand), who conspires with his only living relative, the simple Ugolin (Daniel Autieul), to get a neighbor's land by any means possible, even including manslaughter and the systematic criminal thwarting of one of the kindest, most-human characters ever depicted in film, Jean de Florette (Gérard Depardieu). Much of the film is seen through the eyes of Jean's young daughter Manon, who eventually learns the truth of the situation, but too late for the happiness of her family.

Manon of the Spring (Claude Berri, 1986) 3.5

http://image.allmusic.com/00/adg/cov200/drt000/t084/t08486g8w0j.jpg

This is the second half of the story begun in Jean de Florette. It takes place about 10 years later, when Jean's grown-up daughter (Emmanuelle Beart) is a goatherd in Provence near her family's home. Cesar and Ugolin are still there, basking in their commercial success, having gotten away with every thing they ever did criminally. However, one day Ugolin espies Manon bathing and dancing in the nude and becomes obsessed romantically and sexually with her. He wants to marry her but knows he's ugly and she's beautiful, and besides, she also knows what he did to her family. This second half of the film is more melodramatic and definitely plays out all the poetic justice cards as it moves to its inexorable, yet satisfying conclusion. The two films, taken together, are a human tragedy, but it's more uplifting than most, because far too often in the real world, people never learn from their mistakes or find out how truly poor their choices have been. Especially when they could have actually been kind, happy people all along if they only knew the truth and didn't have the hand of fate intervene to turn them into hateful, soulless creatures. Or perhaps even moreso if they just did the right thing in the first place and looked out for their neighbors.

http://www.john-bauer.com/Movies/movies.ManonOfTheSpring.2.jpg

linespalsy

10-23-08, 10:20 PM

woah, that looks gnarly (rotbob moocher)

Powdered Water

10-23-08, 10:49 PM

I want Robot Monster and I want it now.

mark f

10-23-08, 11:22 PM

Here's (http://www.dvdplanet.com/details.cfm/info/ID8703CODVD) one way to get it. I went to their store down the street and saved a buck off this (http://www.dvdplanet.com/details.cfm/info/IMA002158). Plan 9 comes with a good two hour documentary called Flying Saucers Over Hollywood. If you spend $25, you get free shipping. Then again, I could probably go to the store, buy the two pack and mail it to you for nothing. (I got the last one on the shelf, but they must have some more in the back shipping room.)

Daffodil

10-23-08, 11:31 PM

Has anyone seen Forbidden Planet? They had like guns that shot rainbows out of them. :laugh:

Mrs. Darcy

10-24-08, 09:21 AM

The Hunchback of Notre Dame 3.5

This film starred Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara as Quasimodo and Esmerelda. Laughton was fantastic as the deformed man.

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/redir?src=image&s_req=ced46e8c18d25ce4&s_cq=quasimodo&s_cid=28185368305663105090274207988485263895&s_cim=1224850905203&s_cu=http%3A%2F%2Ffilmforno.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F03%2Fuglyoz2.jpg&s_cd=ImgDet&s_cm=image_details.M.xml

Sedai

10-24-08, 11:18 AM

El Laberinto De Fauna (Del Toro, 2006)

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/coffeesnorter13/panslab1.jpg

My second time watching, and I just love this film. Lyrical, brutal, and darkly magical. I cry like a little girl with a skinned knee at the end.

Sawman3

10-24-08, 11:20 AM

I want Robot Monster and I want it now.
QFT on that :D

Justin

10-24-08, 12:54 PM

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick,1968) - 5

Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) - 4.5

Justin

10-24-08, 12:56 PM

Gumbo

10-25-08, 09:28 AM

The Breakfast Club - 7 / 10

How do you guys get the popcorn ratings!?

Monkeypunch

10-25-08, 10:29 AM

The Strangers - I liked this one. This is a great movie to watch at home alone, late at night. Honestly, watching it during the day, it's just not scary. But late? The tension is unbearable, and it creeped me the heck out.

Bride of the Monster - Ok, this isn't "good" but it's amusing, with Mad Scientist Bela Lugosi trying to create an army of "atomic supermen to take over the vorld!" It's awesome to see him play this to the hilt, even with all the ridiculous dialogue and horrid actors surroundng him. This is a better Ed Wood film than Plan 9, in my opinion.

Justin

10-25-08, 07:46 PM

Synecdoche, New York (Kaufman, 2008) - 5

mark f

10-26-08, 12:02 AM

La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954) 3

http://www.brokenprojector.com/images/la-strada-poster.jpg

Fellini's first international hit is a simple, powerful, neorealstic parable which shows him stretching his neorealist roots further than I Vitteloni. He focuses on three characters, each who seems to represent a different side of humanity, in a road trip movie where often the simplest action or reaction draws a direct connection with the audience. Gelsomina (Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina) is the plain, simple, innocent sister of a woman who left with the brutish traveling strongman Zampanò (Anthony Quinn) years before. Now that the sister has died (under unexplained circumstances), Zampanò returns to pay the poor mother 10,000 lira to use Gelsomina as his new assistant. Thus, Gelsomina becomes a possession for the strongman to use in whatever way he sees fit, including sexually.

http://www.cinematographers.nl/GreatDoPh/Films/LaStrada.jpg

The thing is that the strongman only takes and never gives. He basically thinks about making money, eating, drinking, and "lovemaking", so if that means that he finds another woman he's attracted to, he'll just dump Gelsomina on the street and take off with the other woman for the rest of the night on his outsized motorcycle which includes something akin to a small truck bed behind it. Eventually, an antagonist of Zampanò's, "The Fool" (Richard Basehart), turns up. He's dexterous, both in the body and the brain, but he's also a fatalist who's learned to love life while he can, but he loves it in the opposite way of Zampanò. Instead of doing the same tired act over and over, like the Strongman, The Fool is unpredictable, in not only the way he performs his high wire act, but also in the way he treats most people charitably, except for the Strongman. The Fool never misses a chance to bust Zampanò's balls.

http://thecia.com.au/reviews/s/images/strada-4.jpg

While there's certainly more to discuss, I don't feel the need at this time to delve further into the plot, disect the characters, analyze the visuals, etc. The one thing I will mention is that Nino Rota's score, with its multiple themes, is an inviting entryway into the film's realistic, yet still magical, world.

¡Alambrista! (Robert M. Young, 1977) 2.5

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/bejmaf/alambrista.jpg

This is a little-seen American neorealist film, with most of the dialogue in Spanish, showing how a young man named Roberto (Domingo Ambriz) leaves his family in Michoacan just after he witnesses the birth of his daughter. His family is dirt-poor, but he has dreams of making it "rich" in the U.S. as an illegal migrant worker and being able to provide a better life for his family. However, things don't turn out the way he expects. The flick begins with a strong sense of purpose, with the scenes flowing together and the new characters all having a reason for being. Eventually, the film becomes more of a road flick (just like La Strada since that's Italian for "The Road"), but it also becomes less purposeful and more random. Eventually, Roberto takes up with a young American waitress (Linda Gillen) who also has a female newborn. Later on, he gets caught by Immigration, but before he can get deported, he's diverted by a shady American character (Ned Beatty) to a melon farm in Colorado. It is there that Roberto and his family's fate come full circle under some ironic circumstances.

http://www.argenmex-filmfestival.com/anteriores/chicano/retro-alambrista1.jpg

Although it does hold one's interest, I found the film a little too uneven. I watched the Director's Cut, which is actually 15 minutes shorter than the original release version. Several interesting actors show up in little more than cameos or walk-ons; among them, Edward James Olmos, Julius Harris, Trinidad Silva, and Jerry Hardin. It does delineate a story which has been happening for centuries, even before there was a "border" between the United States and Mexico (or more literally, before there was even a United States and a Mexico). Native peoples (and later, Mestizos) have been migrating north and south for hundreds of years now because their families had settled on both sides of the border even before there were any Europeans present in the Western Hemisphere. It might not make U.S. citizens of European ancestry happy, and it might be a hassle for National Security and "Government handouts", but it's still something to consider when trying to solve an incredibly complex subject. Does the U.S. seem to have a monopoly on "complex problems", or do all you citizens from around the world have to deal with the exact same things?

Monkeypunch

10-26-08, 03:52 AM

W. - Oliver Stone has done the impossible, made me have sympathy for George W., Bush, making him a likeable, if brash and impulsive man trying to earn his father's respect and then later trying to succeed where he thought his dad failed. James Cromwell plays Bush Sr, as a generally honorable man, unable to show emotion to his son, and careful where W. is hard headed and insistent. The character I ended up loving was Ellen Burstyn playing Barbara Bush as a strong willed, ornery matriarch. Sure the film does repeat a lot of the Bushisms we've all heard before, but it also tries to understand the man, not judge him.

Justin

10-26-08, 12:04 PM

The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973) - 5

undercoverlover

10-26-08, 03:05 PM

kissing jessica stein
the departed
Underworld
and the last 45 minutes of Red Dragon

undercoverlover

10-26-08, 07:41 PM

just finished Night of the living dead (1968) - little slow to get into it but builds fantastically, the last 20 minutes are the best.

Iroquois

10-26-08, 09:54 PM

Burn After Reading - 4

Ðèstîñy

10-26-08, 10:24 PM

just finished Night of the living dead (1968) - little slow to get into it but builds fantastically, the last 20 minutes are the best.

I waited forever to view this movie, and now that I have, it's feels like I've ran it 100 times. I just love it!

undercoverlover

10-26-08, 10:26 PM

it was my first viewing, i hate zombie films because they're my imaginary phobia, like i have my real life phobia of sharks and dark water and then theres my movie phobia like zombies. I had to watch it for my course though.

linespalsy

10-27-08, 11:34 AM

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - 3.5
Branded to Kill - 3.5
Let the Right One In - 2.5

Sedai

10-27-08, 12:49 PM

Alien (Scott, 1979)

http://ruthlessreviews.com/pics5/alien3.jpg

4

My favorite of the series, Alien has aged really well, as the film relied on real suspense and tension, as opposed to an overload of snappy dialogue and special effects. An effective thriller with great art direction and a great low-key score by Goldsmith.

Aliens (Cameron, 1986)

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/080506/Mothers/Aliens-Weaver_l.jpg

3

This one isn't playing as well for me these days, with some campy scenes and that annoying little Newt, who is one of the worst, stilted child actors ever, IMO. Still fun, and a couple of the scenes are classic at this point, but, I like the first one more, for sure. Some of the action scenes totally kick ass, though.

Swedish Chef

10-27-08, 07:30 PM

http://www.darkhorizons.com/interviews/samberg.jpg

Hot Rod (Some Guy, 2007)

See, I can blather on and on over in that marijuana thread and it would all be for naught. This movie is far and away the best argument anyone could ever make for preaching the virtues of marijuana use. For all I know, this is a godawful flick, but I mildly enjoyed it. And I kind of hate Andy Samberg. So I have a sneaking suspicion that the only reason why I mildly enjoyed this movie is because I was under the influence of certain illicit substances when I watched it. So if you're looking for an excuse to smoke pot, guilt-free, try watching this movie sober. No one will judge you.

2.5

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/movies/i/indiana_jones_4/ford_labeouf2/281x211.jpg

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg, 2008)

Now that I've seen this flick twice and with the benefit of hindsight on my side, I'd say I was a little harsh on it the first time I saw it. Its surprisingly reminiscent of the originals and, while it feels a bit rushed and is too goofy in spots, it's still very entertaining. That is, up until they start going through the motions of getting captured-escaping-getting captured again-escaping again and flooding our senses with overblown CGI nonsense and interdimensional gobbledygook. But it's not horrible and I'd rate it about on par with Temple of Doom. Maybe even a little better than Temple of Doom.

2.5

adidasss

10-27-08, 09:46 PM

Kung fu panda - Meh...3.5

The Mirror - Mnyaah....3

mark f

10-28-08, 12:09 AM

The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan, 2008) 2.5

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/image-files/the-happening-horror-movie-poster.jpg

The Incredible Hulk (Louis Leterrier, 2008) 3

http://moviesmedia.ign.com/movies/image/article/870/870725/the-incredible-hulk-20080430001627893.jpg

I think it might make more sense if I try to discuss both of these films in the context of each other and what they mean, especially to people who DID NOT SEE them last summer. Of course, I could be wrong. Personally, I wasn't that interested in seeing either film in the theatre. The last Shyamalan flick I saw in the theatre was Signs. I thought The Village was worth a 2.5, but I still haven't seen Lady in the Water although I plan on remedying that. I definitely didn't see Ang Lee's Hulk in the theatre, but I gave it a 3, although I have to admit that it may have been slightly high because I was on the borderline. I'm also on the borderline with this new Hulk, borderline meaning that I maybe overrated both of 'em.

Now, let's get into the two specific flicks. The Happening was certainly an OK flick, as far as I was concerned, but it seemed to be much more of an idea than a full-blooded film with an honest-to-God meaning and plot. I didn't find it hokey, poorly-paced or poorly-acted. Rather, I found it to be unable to fully commit to itself. The "plot points" are posited as "maybes" or weird ideas from "wackos". Then, there's the idea that Night is going to deliver up a legit R movie. Well, if you watch the DVD's bonus features, you can find the R-rated version, but Night couldn't deal with it. The only way he could get people to pick and choose through his "I don't want to commit to it" plot would have been to have the kid's head blown out the back like he staged. Instead, he couldn't do it, which basically makes the film superfluous. Now, I find plenty of films superfluous, but that doesn't mean they aren't worth watching, especially when they're available.

The Incredible Hulk definitely seemed like a superfluous flick to me. Although the first Ang Lee film seemed pretty pointless to me, at least it existed and was slightly entertaining. This film almost seemed like a remake because it really seemed like nothing new was going on with any of the major characters. But Hulk was trying to get better, and Thunderbolt was trying to get even and reproduce Hulk in a newer, improved version. Even so, the film seemed about 80-90% rehash. Why do I give it a higher rating? I don't rightly know, but maybe it's because the people who actually want to watch it, will notice the difference in the effects, and will enjoy the fact that they got such a terrific actor as Tim Roth to portray Hulk's second coming. I don't know. Hulk has never really meant a damn thing to me, so maybe I should just delete this post. OR maybe I should highlight and bold it! HA!

Maybe what's more pertinent, in this day and age, is why Studios are OKaying these films as potential summer blockbusters when they obviously seem to be something more along the lines of a very modest money maker, but certainly not a "franchise". I realize that they are looking at the Worldwide Gross and the DVD sales, but films are truly going into the toilet when they're aren't enough in-your-face films being pushed by legit studios. I remember when I said that I thought that A Clockwork Orange COULD not be financed now, yet I believe that Prestige claimed that such a film could be made now. Hey, Prestige, which director would film it, how much would WHAT company finance it for, and what rating would it get from the MPAA? No matter how cutting edge you believe films are now, I don't think you could put out that movie or even The Exorcist in the same way it was released in the "Good Old Days".

rice1245

10-28-08, 12:25 AM

^_^ Tim Roth was my favorite in The Incredible Hulk

I just saw Oldboy after it has been hyped up so much on this website...i kept falling asleep and watching it over a period of three days so i'm not gonna say anything about it yet until i've had a second viewing...

B-card

10-28-08, 04:31 PM

Troy-2.5

Dead Space: Downfall-Damn really good and gory I want to play the game so bad 4

Pineapple Express-4

mark f

10-28-08, 09:26 PM

Jersey Girl (Kevin Smith, 2004) 2.5

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00029LO5E.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Kevin Smith proves he can make a mainstream, PG-13 romantic/family comedy. The opening scenes between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are a bit queasy to watch as they show both husband and wife to be not very good people, let alone spouses, but I believe Affleck wins the "Bigger Jerk Award". After Jennifer dies giving childbirth (sorry, but this happens less than 20 minutes in and isn't much of a spoiler; just look at the box), Affleck's Ollie enlists his father (George Carlin) to help him care for his daughter while Ollie continues his workaholic job as an NYC celebrity publicist. However, one day at his job, he actually says what he thinks to all the media people waiting for a Will Smith interview and loses his job.

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/spotlights/2007/rtuk/kevin_smith_14.jpg

It's at this point that he's forced to move in with dad, go to work with him as a garbage man and still try to have a good relationship with his now seven-year-old daughter (Raquel Castro). Oh yeah, this hot video store employee (well, it's a Kevin Smith flick) played by Liv Tyler feels sorry for him because he hasn't been laid since his wife died... Throw in a trip to a Broadway performance of Sweeney Todd, the fact that the daughter wants to stage it at her school and that Will Smith eventually turns up so that he and Ollie can discuss what's really important in one's life, and you get a fair-to-middling, seen-it-before, but it's an almost charming little film. I seem to recall this film garnering lots of lousy reviews when it came out, but it gets better as it goes along, and even if it's mostly unoriginal, it's a watchable film. R.I.P. George Carlin.

Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass, 2002) 3.5

http://www.cartelia.net/fotos/b/bloodysunday.jpg

Paul Greengrass turns his sniper's eye on a key moment in the history of The Troubles, trying to not only recreate the incidents of January 25, 1972, in Northern Ireland's Londonderry, but also trying to bring some sort of closure and potential healing to a tragic historical incident, much the same way he did with his later United 93. The film is set up from the beginning, showing MP Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt) discussing his plan for a peaceful Civil Rights March through Derry in an attempt to counteract Britain's systematic use of internment in Northern Ireland. At the same time, the chief officers of the British Army are seen discussing how they need to have maximum presence at the march, especially since they basically announce that any such gathering, even if it's non-violent, is now against the law! What you would expect to result in a lit powder keg all too readily occurs.

http://l.yimg.com/img.movies.yahoo.com/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/paramount_classics/bloody_sunday/james_nesbitt/sunday2.jpg

Writer/Director Greengrass is probably best known for his two Bourne films, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum where he uses intense photography and editing to create crackerjack thrillers. Both Bloody Sunday and United 93 are intense thrillers, but they're also human tragedies. In these latter two films, Greengrass slowly builds to the tension of the heartbreaking reality. When all hell breaks loose, it's extremely realistic and scary, especially because there is no consensus of what happened and what caused the events of the day. The results are known: 13 Irish killed and 14 wounded; no British soldiers wounded and no weapons found on any of the Irish, except for perhaps some found under extremely questionable circumstances. As Ivan Cooper himself says at the end of the film, "I just want to say this to the British Government... You know what you've just done, don't you? You've destroyed the civil rights movement, and you've given the IRA the biggest victory it will ever have. All over this city tonight, young men... boys will be joining the IRA, and you will reap a whirlwind." Bloody Sunday is an important film.

Ðèstîñy

10-28-08, 09:34 PM

How Awful About Allan (1970)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516yC9hyqhL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Anthony Perkins ~ Allan
Julie Harris ~ Katherine
Joan Hackett ~ Olive

I really enjoyed this movie.

Iroquois

10-28-08, 11:19 PM

mack

10-29-08, 09:01 PM

Iron Man 10/10
Which is saying a lot. Based on this one film, I have totally forgiven Robert Downey Jr for all of his horrid films to date. Oh, and an observation: Gwenyth Paltrow couldnt look frumpy if she TRIED.

The Happening 4/10
It was kind of...meh. And he had the audacity to say he downgraded it from an NC-17 to an R rating. :rolleyes: Give me a break!

That Latest Indiana Jones Flick 0/10
It should have been called Harrison Ford Goes the Way of Steven Segal. EVEN THOUGH it had Shia Lebouf - and I actually like that guy! It was HORRIBLE! It was dull. It was ....... sooooo Harrison Ford, and Harrison Ford is .... soooooo 90s. It was like sitting through Dances With Wolves, a movie which many can agree was good in its heyday, but is nothing less than pure punishment today. I just want Harrison Ford to GO AWAY. And quietly.

undercoverlover

10-29-08, 10:56 PM

Blood and Roses weird 60's vampire movie with hints of lesbianism and a freaky dream sequence

Horrors of Dracula cooool, kinda

Pyro Tramp

10-30-08, 07:05 PM

Adulthood x2 4_5
Fright Night 4
Monster Squad 4_5
Nightbreed 4
Family Guy- Season 6 1_5

And the ones I caught on the plane

Hancock 4
The Incredible Hulk 3+
Get Smart 3_5
Forbidden Kingdom [/rating]3[/rating]+
You Don't Mess With the Zohan 3

undercoverlover

10-30-08, 10:21 PM

Brides of Dracula - awesome

rice1245

10-30-08, 10:28 PM

Requiem for a Dream 5\5 i loved it

mark f

10-31-08, 12:38 AM

People overrate movies. Either that or I have no soul. Maybe I'll make this a poll tomorrow.

Mr. Sardonicus (William Castle, 1961) 2

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TREVDVZJL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

William Castle was the Master of the Divertisement; anything to get somebody into a theatre seat. This film had one of his crummiest gimmicks, but it still had one. Castle showed up at the beginning of the flick to start to "narrate" what was going on. He talked about an English family who was somehow cursed and how the head of the family's face was frozen due to that curse. Then the film started. The flick is full of guys with masks who speak, women getting leeches all over their faces, doctors who know nothing of psychology but are still perfect practioners of it, curses, impossible love affairs, fake families, and many other non-Poe goodies.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/2186924247_5cb2d6583f.jpg?v=0

One of the problems with Mr. Sardonicus is the basic concept. When I saw his smile, in the middle of the night, for a second or less in the 1970s, it was scary. In the movie, it's more pathetic than scary, and Sardonicus doesn't deserve the crap which Castle gives him at the end when he counts "the audience's votes" and decides that Sardonicus deserves "no mercy". Even though Castle rose above his gimmick crap with the awesome Rosemary's Baby, he still seems like a hack at heart!

The Tomb of Ligeia (Roger Corman, 1964) 3

http://www.rochesterfantasyfans.org/reality-posters/tombofligeia.jpg

Roger Corman made a triumphant flick in England in 1964, photographed by Nic Roeg, called The Masque of the Red Death, but this film, scripted by Robert Towne (Chinatown), came first and starts out with all guns blazing and would lead a normal filmwatcher to think that Corman has finally seen the light. Vincent Price gives one of his greatest and most romantic performances as the unfortunately named Verden Fell. His wife, Ligeia, dies just before the film's beginning, but even while witnessing her burial, it becomes clear that she may very well be possessing her widowed husband.

http://dreamers.com/indices/imagenes/peliculas.6121.IMAGEN1.jpg

Soon afterwards, a woman on horseback shows up who resembles Ligeia. The difference is that Ligeia has black hair and the "new woman", Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd), is a redhead, but she's just as equally "strong-willed" as Ligeia ever was. Things continue to grow stranger, but the couple decide to marry because they see themselves being able to help each other out. The main trouble seems to be that Ligeia may possess not only Verden, but also Rowena. Towne's script and Corman's direction are both quite good, but they kinda poop out after an hour. Still, it's one of the best flicks of its kind.

Tough Guys Don't Dance (Norman Mailer, 1987) 2.5 (Camp Rating: 4)

http://www.cannonfilms.co.uk/webposters/t/Tough%20Guys%20Don't%20Dance%20(1987).jpg

OK, now, how does one describe Norman Mailer's response to Blue Velvet? It's very difficult, not only for him, but for all the viewers. Tough Guys Don't Dance does play out as a voice in the wilderness; almost someone who has no clue who David Lynch is, but that isn't quite correct since Mailer seems comfortable borrowing Lynch's themes and settings and then even adding some of Mailer's wacko character traits. I will be the first person to admit that I believe that the characters played by Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell have absolutely NOTHING (literally) to do with Blue Velvet, yet the characters played by Wings Hauser, Debra Sandlund, and John Bedford Lloyd are so ingrained in the plot of this sorry-ass movie that you have to witness all their patheticness, including purple prose, nudity and all manner of lunacy. NOTE: Best use of "Pomp and Circumstance" during the film's finale. :)

Thinking about the opposite of patheticness, check these quotes out:

"I just deep-sixed two heads."
"Quit using that word."
"Heads? There's no substitute!"

"I just spent three years in the slammer and I never became anyone's punk."
"Good for you, Son. I was afraid to ask."

adidasss

10-31-08, 08:48 PM

Wall-e - 3.5

Sweet, but rather underwhealming...http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/shrug-1.gif

MovieMan8877445

10-31-08, 08:50 PM

Friday The 13th - 4.5

Iroquois

11-01-08, 04:47 AM

Fright Night - 3
Severance - 3

Daffodil

11-01-08, 07:13 AM

Just realised I've watched three zombie movies in the past couple of days. Halloween must be near cos I'm unconsciously watching them now...

Shaun of the Dead - 5
Dawn of the Dead (2004) - 3.5
Dawn of the Dead (1978) - 4

They're the best zombie films, IMO. Along with Night of the Living Dead and the original Day of the Dead. I didn't like the Dawn remake the first time I saw it, but I've grown to love it. It is actually very good for a zombie remake. The Day of the Dead remake was rubbish.

Iroquois

11-01-08, 07:52 AM

Finally, something we can agree on. ;)

Powdered Water

11-01-08, 01:45 PM

Gone in 60 Seconds (Dominic Sena-2000) 2.5

If it wasn't for Angelina's horrible hair I think I'd give this a solid 3, she also looked like she was smoking a little too much crack at the time. About as skinny as I think I've seen her. Still though, I love all the cars in the flick and I especially love the "low rider" scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk7hXC-a5JU

"Low Rider Donnie... Donnie, Low Rider."

Equilibrium (Kurt Wimmer-2002) 3.5

Before Christian Bale became "Bat Jesus" he actually did some other films as well. This is one and its one that's kind of close to my heart because I especially enjoy it when smaller budget sci-fi flicks really try... know what I mean? The story isn't a great one but taken as a whole its pretty good. A pretty good cast too.

Plan 9 From Outer Space (Edward D. Wood Jr-1959) 5

Is that a real rating or a camp rating you may be thinking to yourself. Or you may think I'm an idiot or dysfunctional. You may be right on both counts.

My God, the flying Saucers on fishing line was truly divine. The dialog was superb. Check this out.

"Visits? That would indicate visitors."

"And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future."

"But one thing's sure. Inspector Clay is dead, murdered, and somebody's responsible."

I could just post the whole damn movie's script, but I won't... ;) I'll save some of the really good stuff for those of you that need to go and see this immediately.

Worst movie of all time? Hardly. Quite possibly brilliant? Most likely.

Robot Monster (Phil Tucker-1953) 3

Thanks again mark. I can't really say anything interesting that mark hasn't already said about this little gem. I really enjoyed it to say the least.

ash_is_the_gal

11-01-08, 02:58 PM

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - 5 out of 5!

http://www.quirkcollective.com/images/american_werewolf_in_london7.jpg

B-card

11-01-08, 04:44 PM

Tropic Thunder(Ben Stiller 2008)-3.5

Daffodil

11-01-08, 09:25 PM

Finally, something we can agree on. ;)

Ha.

Why did Shaun of the Dead get the highest rating though? D;

Iroquois

11-01-08, 09:46 PM

Why did Shaun of the Dead get the highest rating though? D;

Because I liked it the most, obviously.

The Running Man - 4
Shallow Grave - 4.5

EDIT:

Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie - 5

MovieMan8877445

11-02-08, 12:00 PM

Die Hard - 5
Die Hard 2: Die Harder - 4.5
Die Hard With A Vengeance - 5
Live Free Or Die Hard - 4.5

I had a marathon of them yesterday.

mark f

11-02-08, 10:05 PM

Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002) 2.5

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2685112138_0d8b332452.jpg?v=1216549232

Cronenberg's low-key, but haunting treatment of mental illness begins slowly but gradually draws you into the story of a man nicknamed Spider (Ralph Fiennes) who's released from a mental hospital and enters a halfway house run by Mrs. Wilkinson (Lynn Redgrave). The halfway house is populated by many disturbed men; in fact, the only discernable difference between the "house" and a "hospital" is that there is no treatment in the "house". Spider is able to function at a seemingly-higher level than the other ex-patients though, and soon, he's roaming the streets of his hometown from twenty years ago, just about the time his psychosis first appeared when he was a boy. In fact, Spider begins to "see" not only himself as a boy (played by Bradley Hall) 20 years earlier, but his hard-drinking father (Gabriel Byrne) and housewife mother (Miranda Richardson). And then, there's that blonde tramp (also Miranda Richardson) who may be trying to steal the husband or may not even be real at all...

http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/IMG/jpg/doc-772.jpg

Like many of Cronenberg's films, Spider is open to interpretation and undoubtedly rewards added viewings for those who are able to get past the slow pace and the depressing surroundings. Cronenberg doesn't really make easy films, and this one begins especially "difficultly", but things begin to clarify about 30-40 minutes in and it becomes more interesting. The best parts to me are trying to determine which parts are real, which parts are imagined and which parts could even be both. I also liked the fact that Spider kept a journal of everything which went on in his day-to-day life, but since it's written in some original language of his own making, no one can understand it except for himself. It's similar to the way that Spider often mumbles something which the viewer cannot understand because it's either too low in volume or doesn't even seem to be real words. Some people may not understand and care about Spider while others will "enjoy" it for probably the same reasons. I probably fall somewhere in the middle ground.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978) 3.5

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff49/shb033196/10InvasionoftheBodySnatchers.jpg

Thirty years ago when I saw this on the humongous Big Newport screen, I just wasn't impressed. I'm not sure what my problem was. I was never that big a fan of the original, true, but I was having a hard time empathisizing any more with the lead characters than I did with the pod people. Three decades and several viewings later, I can safely say I was full of it back then. This film may actually qualify to me as the ultimate paranoid thriller. Everything is in place. The shiny photography, the dark shadows, the killer sound effects, the scary music (actually, I'd probably tone down some of the music because it's the quietest parts which are the scariest). I like the performances and the black humor, as well as just the weird touches, like Robert Duvall's "priest" swinging in a children's playground.

http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978/invasion04.jpg

To me, this is Kaufman's first full-blown success, and if he was ahead of me in the power curve, at least I could see it just a short while later. I thought he went even more into paranoia and dark comedy with his next film, The Wanderers, but that's for another post. This film is pretty-much textbook, as far as basically showing you what's happening, then slowly allowing only one character (Brooke Adams) to know about it. Nobody believes her, but eventually a group of three others (Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright) are forced to believe her because they cannot deny their own eyes, no matter how much pop psychiatrist Leonard Nimoy tries to rationalize away everything "paranoid". That's enough for now, but be sure to watch for Sutherland's friend's dog near the end.

Next (Lee Tamahori, 2007) 2.5

http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/images_3/NextMoviePoster325.jpg

I barely even remember this flick being released, but it came on cable a couple of hours ago when I felt a desire to put my feet up, so I watched the beginning, and it kept me moderately interested enough to keep watching for an hour and a half. Nicolas Cage is a clairvoyant, masquerading as a magician, who was born with the gift (or is it curse?) to see about two minutes into the future involving his personal life. However, there is a mystery woman (Jessica Biel) whom he's never met, who he's apparently able to see further into the future, although for what reason isn't clear. Well, Cage is thrown into the middle of a plot by unknown terrorists who seem to want to blow up a nuke in Southern California (shades of "24") and the FBI, led by field agent Julianne Moore, who are trying to stop them. For some reason, both groups seem to understand that some two-bit Las Vegas magician is the key for them to succeed.

http://www.davinciinstitute.com/new/admin/content/FCKeditor/uploads/next-2007-2.jpg

Based on a Philip K. Dick story, Next is probably best at setting up the story, no matter how preposterous it may be, since it's fast-paced and doesn't take itself too seriously. There's even a stretch near the beginning which recalls the scene in Dick's Minorty Report where Samantha Morton's pre-cog is able to keep her and Tom Cruise one step ahead of the authorities. There is also some wonderful scenery shot in and around the Grand Canyon. Eventually, the film becomes a little less interesting, but not enough for me to turn it off. Of course, there's a big twist near the end which makes it almost seem like the movie could have gone in an infinite number of directions and still ended up in the same place. I don't especially like that sort of scripting, but in this case, it probably doesn't matter too much to anybody who's likely to watch it.

Iroquois

11-03-08, 02:58 AM

The Breakfast Club - 4

Monkeypunch

11-03-08, 08:58 AM

The Addams Family - Loved it. Very well cast, with Raul Julia and Angelica Huston, and Christina Ricci is hilarious as the creepy little girl.

undercoverlover

11-03-08, 09:25 AM

it bugs the bejesus out of me that Addams family isnt on DVD, the ****** sequel is on DVD but not the good one

Monkeypunch

11-03-08, 09:36 AM

it bugs the bejesus out of me that Addams family isnt on DVD, the ****** sequel is on DVD but not the good one

I have it on DVD, it's on a dvd with both the films. I got it at Wal Mart for ten dollars. (And I rather liked the sequel, the class play with the indians setting fire to the pilgrim village was hilarious):D

undercoverlover

11-03-08, 10:07 AM

maybe it's just in the US but not here in merry ole england, in comparison the sequel cant touch the first. Totally separately yeah its not a bad film but its not a good enough substitute for the first

Caitlyn

11-03-08, 10:30 AM

Watched Harold and Maude for the first time and loved it... 4/5

Sedai

11-03-08, 11:09 AM

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974) 4

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/061024/142224__texas_chainsaw_l.jpg

Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980) 3

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/Friday-the-13th-ralph-small.jpg

Hellraiser (Barker, 1987) 3

http://www.moviesonline.ca/AdvHTML_Upload/hellraiser-remake.jpg

The Blair Witch Project (Myrick, 1999) 3_5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v289/billythesquid/blog%20images/Movies-Blair-Witch-Project-The.jpg

The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) 4_5

http://moviesonline.ca/movie-gallery/albums/userpics/TheThing09.JPG

Swedish Chef

11-03-08, 01:07 PM

The only two "scary" flicks I watched 'round this Halloween were The Monster Squad and Dog Soldiers.

The Monster Squad is a lot worse than I remember it being, but it'll always hold a special place in my heart. I'm not gonna get into its flaws or the actual rating I would objectively give it, because I don't want to ruin sweet childhood memories with jaded 21st century criticism. I will say The Monster Squad is refreshingly un-PC for a kiddie horror flick and should be required viewing for any child every Halloween up until they're about eleven or so.

Dog Soldiers I liked, especially the Straw Dogs/Home Alone inspired final 2/3. Before they get to that house, it's pretty forgettable Sci-Fi channel cable fare, but it does get better afterwards. I dig the movie for not turning to CGI to animate its wolfies and the balance between comedy and horror almost reaches an Evil Dead II level of perfection. It was a lot better than Marshall's Doomsday but I'll reserve judgements on his overall filmography until I've seen The Descent. Anyway, I think I'd give Dog Soldiers a high 3

Jonathan Strange

11-03-08, 07:35 PM

Shoot 'Em Up (2007) 3.5 / constant action, i could relax /
Tropic Thunder (2008) 3.5 / I'm lead farmer, mother****er! /
Broken Flowers (2005) 5 / bill murray - nuff said /

Daffodil

11-03-08, 08:10 PM

Child's Play - 2

Pyro Tramp

11-03-08, 08:13 PM

Crikey Mark, i was all set to rep that last post of yours until i realised Next got the same rating as Spider. Now i'm probably bias towards Cronenberg, heck it was almost in my Top 10 till rethought it but giving it the same as Next, which looked (like Cage's other recent films) awful.

mark f

11-03-08, 09:21 PM

That's fine, but you have to realize that my ratings aren't for elitists or idiots, but they're for some middle ground of idealized filmwatchers who have no prejudices and are as objective as possible. There's no way for me to prove to you that I'm objective, but you can at least read what I said about the films. If you want to dis me for actually giving them ratings, that's fine with me. I've been trying to rationalize and "defend" my ratings for a longer time than you've been breathing. You might not see that as too significant, but my personal reality should always carry some form of significance, especially compared to someone's unknown assumptions about the unknown. :cool:

rice1245

11-03-08, 11:06 PM

Snatch 5/5 will be up on my top 10 very soon because i loved it so much and i love Vinnie Jones!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/92396283_5bf347cbdb.jpg?v=0

Ðèstîñy

11-04-08, 12:48 AM

Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980) 3

Those are fun. I always save the Friday the 13th movies for that date. I know those aren't actual holidays, but I still get a kick out of it. We were robbed this year, leap year, and we only had one, in June. That will be made up for in 2009, with three of them in February, March, and November.

The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)4_5

We should all know by now the love I have for John Carpenter. Mr. Hands, watch that damn film already! ;)

The Blair Witch Project (Myrick, 1999) 3_5

Damn! Holden told me I'd probably like this one, and that it was scary. I meant to watch it for the holiday, and forgot. I have it, so I suppose I'll try to watch it soon enough. I try to cram as many horror movies as I can in on the first week or two of November, before the cheery holidays get going.

I've watched a lot of movies this past week, and I will try to list them by tomorrow night. Some are from a huge Vincent Price pack that my sister gave me. It has many Edgar Allen Poe stories in it.

"I'll be back!"

PimpDaShizzle V2.0

11-04-08, 01:30 AM

Kenny :up: :up:
http://www.wherehouse.com/amgcover/dvd/large/u6/57/u65716ioojn.jpg

It's a movie about a guy who cleans port-a-potties, but like most good movies, it's actually about a lot more than that. Recommended.

mark f

11-04-08, 02:01 AM

Why, oh why, do I do I do this? These are my honest ratings over some "horror classics". These are certainly not meant as personal attacks in any way, shape or form. Go ahead and pile on. I wasn't sure how to post this, but I copied Sedai's ratings and then added my own thoughts. I hope it doesn't come across as some "mean old man".

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974) 4

My rating: 1.5 - This is without a doubt one of the most boring, pathetic, inexcusable "excuses" for a "horror" film I've ever seen. Yep, it's a super-cheapo movie, yet now that turns out to be a good thing! It allegedly makes the entirely laughable piece of crap "more realistic". There is no acting, and basically nothing of interest whatsoever. However, I'll admit that there are about three minutes of primitive terror in the entire thing; barely enough to give it higher than 1. That's fine, horror revisionism goes hand in hand with every other form of revisionism. There are very few "horror" films which are considered "classics" nowadays which I even find worth watching at all.

Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980) 3

I don't even want to talk about this film at all because everything I said above goes double for this one. Yet, somehow, I can still give this one 2. It may be just because it's cheaponess never translated to some auteuristic brilliance. It still stinks, and the entire series stinks, but I guess it's as good as the "series" got right up front.

Hellraiser (Barker, 1987) 3

This film is at least ten times more realistic than the last two. It's not exactly my idea of a good time, but it's a masterpiece compared to the other films mentioned in the first four. My rating: 3.

The Blair Witch Project (Myrick, 1999) 3_5

Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez's flick is one of the few "horror films" I can think of which is actually worse than TCM. I do give it 1 which seems incredibly generous for a film where nothing happens, and even if you think something does happen, it's so utterly pointless that I find it difficult that anyone with a brain or a soul would care. Remember, you have every right to care about these pathetic "non-people", but I also have every right to wonder why.

The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) 4_5

This is a totally legit horror/sci-fi film which excels on almost every level. It's a perfectly spooky mystery which plays out not only as a "macho adventure" but also as a textbook way to make a basically non-commercial film which will still pay off, even more than a quarter century later, to viewers who demand some true horror and intelligence, rather than slipshod crap which somehow eventually "rises" to some pathetic excuse of "true horror". Sorry about this, but horror is a genre I love, and its top lists are populated with garbage left and right, and people wonder why it still gets no respect? My rating: borderline between 3.5 and 4.

Go ahead and let 'er rip. I'll undoubtedly come up with more "horror classics" I find wanting.

Daffodil

11-04-08, 06:37 AM

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2nd viewing) - 4

linespalsy

11-04-08, 12:39 PM

I don't know if I actually have a soul, but I'm 100% sure that I have a mind because right now it's telling me that saying "nothing happens" in Blair Witch is a revisionist take on that movie, and I don't mean "revisionist" in the sense of dueling "versions" of the fax.

Sedai

11-04-08, 03:19 PM

I graded all those flicks on a curve. My love for Friday the 13th stems from my being just the right age and sneaking in to watch it when it ran back then. I could never not like this totally terrible film. It's just too fun for me. It's ****, though, clearly.

Also, how is Hellraiser, a supernatural thriller, more realistic than Friday the 13th, which contains no supernatural elements at all (This is pre-Jason)? It isn't, by any stretch of the imagination.

I watch Blair Witch for the ghetto style, and creativity (yes, it's creative to me). The characters rather annoy me, you know, like real live smarmy college students. ;)

*runs*

Some folks just consider all horror to be shite, but, I rather like digging through the trash sometimes...

Lennon

11-04-08, 03:24 PM

Monster Squad 4

undercoverlover

11-04-08, 09:42 PM

Cache (Hidden) - fantastique

B-card

11-04-08, 09:52 PM

Zabriskie Point(Michelangelo Antonioni 1970)-I was forced to watch it on a screening for one of my lectures. 1.5

mark f

11-04-08, 11:23 PM

Although I think it's worth watching (at least if you don't have to pay and are deeply interested in film), I'm pretty close to you with your rating on Zabriskie Point. I mean, it might be a wee bit high, but no biggie. :cool: I hope it didn't make you sick or anything like that.

Ðèstîñy

11-04-08, 11:33 PM

I watch Blair Witch for the ghetto style, and creativity (yes, it's creative to me). The characters rather annoy me, you know, like real live smarmy college students. ;)

I'm going to for sure watch this sometime this week/weekend.

Some folks just consider all horror to be shite, but, I rather like digging through the trash sometimes...

I could not freakin' live without my horror movies. It's a daily thing, too.

rice1245

11-05-08, 12:21 AM

Mystic River 4/5

Daffodil

11-05-08, 05:22 AM

Sounds Like - 1. Just.

Oh gawd, the main guy looked like such a pedo. :|

Tacitus

11-05-08, 07:23 AM

I enjoy Blair Witch also, in fact I think it's quite an important little film. Y'know, from a viral marketing standpoint.

And stuff... ;)

Mrs. Darcy

11-05-08, 09:35 AM

Il Resto della Notte
The Rest of the Night 3.5

This is a film being shown at the AFI Festival, the sophmore effort of Italian director Francesco Munzi.

Maria is a Romanian immigrant in Italy, working as a maid for an upper middle-class family. When the lady of the house misses her pearl earrings, Maria gets the blame, and against the husband and daughters protests, then gets fired. Maria has no where to go, and so she heads back to the Romanian community she knows and gets reinvolved with Ionut, a man that robs homes to make his money. He lives with his little brother Viktor in an apartment with no running water in an immigrant slum.

http://www.tiff08.ca/images/films/restofthenight.jpg

Viktor isn't pleased to see Maria, because she hurt Ionut when she left the last time, and also because they have no room for her in the apartment, but Ionut's besotted and he takes her in with little hesitation. There is a third storyline involving an Italian man that has a hatred for immigrants, but works odd jobs with Ionut to support his drug habit. The rest of the film shows how these three families' lives eventually intersect. It's a gritty and messy portrayal of immigrant life in a new country. It's not pretty, it's like real life. I recommend it.

MovieMan8877445

11-05-08, 06:22 PM

RocknRolla - 5

This for me is the second best movie of 2008 so far for me. While watching it, I thought it really had a Smokin' Aces kinda feel to it, which I'm super glad about because I love Smokin' Aces and Smokin' Aces is one of my favorite movies, I think I liked this a little more than Smokin' Aces though. I think most ever actor in this were great, I didn't really think there was a main character in it, because almost every actor had about the same amount of screen time as everyone else. I really liked Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson the most out of the cast though, they stood out the most, but if I did have to decide who was the main character it would've been one of them. The story I absolutely loved, it was a gangster movie, so I knew I would've at least liked it some because of the fact that it was a gangster movie. I also loved the subtle humor they put in there, Gerard Butler got pretty funny at times. I actually find it weird I liked it so much, because for some reason movies that take place in another country seem to bore me a little (I have no idea why though). But anyway this is one I would defintely recomend seeing before it leaves it theaters, it's pure exciting from the opening credits all the way to the closing credits. I can see this making it pretty high on my favorites list.

http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl1/20/202476/34_2008/Rocknrolla.jpg

Swedish Chef

11-05-08, 08:17 PM

http://www.hammertonail.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/foot-fist-way-still.jpg

The Foot Fist Way (Jody Hill, 2006)

This is the Napoleon Dynamite for people with a good taste in movies. It's uncompromisingly un-PC and it doesn't hesitate for a second to sacifice likable characters for hilarious ones, if that makes sense. It had some fairly long stretches of laughlessness, but it was funny enough, I think. Danny McBride, if there's any justice in this world, will become the next rock star of comedy. I am now looking forward to the Land of the Lost flick solely because Danny McBride is involved. And I'm also very much looking forward to next year's Jody Hill/Seth Rogen collaboration, Observe and Report, which i wasn't too psyched about before, either.

3

adidasss

11-05-08, 08:49 PM

Dekalog - Krysztof Kieslowski
http://www.moviepie.com/dekalog.jpg

Slightly overrated but impressive to say the least. I've spent the last 4 days with this film (10 hours or so) and I'm gonna miss it now that it's over. I'd say that it's my second favorite Kieslowski film (after Blue)...if you can call it a film. Some stories were better than others, I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but the ones I disliked (or liked less) didn't have a particularly striking soundtrack.
I can't say I was a particular fan before this film, I'd seen the Three colours trilogy, The double life of Veronica and Scar but only Blue impressed me (I was hoping my dislike for The double life... and Red was based on casting and I guess I was right. As far as White and the last episode of Dekalog, he should have stayed away from comedies, so very much not his thing). This gives me an incentive to see the rest of his 80's output, particularly A short film about love, I'm not sure how much it differs from the episode in Dekalog but that was one of my favorites...and the ending was so freakin' ambiguous!

Anyway, I would have liked to have a discussion on something like this...unlike Doomsday. :|

Here are the ratings for each episode:
I 4.5
II 3
III 4.5
IV 4.5
V 4
VI 4.5
VII 3
VIII 4
IX 4
X 2

Overall 4 ?

undercoverlover

11-05-08, 09:22 PM

The Departed - im in one of my movie moods, i watch one film over and over again for like a month, now its the departed which im watching as im writing this.

Powdered Water

11-05-08, 09:29 PM

Shaolin Soccer (Stephen Chow-2001) 3.5

Just fantastic! I've been waiting to see this for about 2 years or so. It wasn't quite Kung-Fu Hustle good but it was pretty damn good all by itself. I'm pretty excited to see his newest movie CJ7 now. I almost bought it at the same time, but I was showing restraint. I'm an idiot.

Otis (Tony Krantz-2008) 3

Pretty good stuff. A little over the top. The box says its 'Juno for the horror set'. I don't really think that's the case, but it was pretty entertaining. Especially Illeana Douglas who played the Mother. I've always liked her and she was pretty good in this flick as the revengeful Mother. Kind of a lower budget feel to it and yet there were some pretty good actors in it.

mark f

11-06-08, 12:12 AM

I've watched some fair-to-good old mysteries lately, but most probably aren't worth really in-depth discussions, especially if I'm the only one who has seen them. :) I'll start with something different though.

Baby Cart at the River Styx (Kenji Misumi, 1972) 3.5

http://whatspikelikes.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/styx-3.jpg

I'm probably fudging my rating a little high, but if you recognize what the image above is, then you may realize why. Although the plot is historically accurate, it's not the most interesting thing to hang an action epic upon, but this second film in the Lone Wolf and Cub series is better than the first one, mainly due to the almost never-ending series of swordplay-filled action scenes and some twisted humor and plenty of over-the-top violence. When the baby cart gets attacked by giant parsnips, I had to laugh out loud. Ogami Itto not only has to battle female ninjas, but the three basket-headed Masters of Death, and then you can add about another dozen action scenes besides. Cool.

The Man on the Eiffel Tower (Burgess Meredith, 1949) 3

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fyyX3MMuL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

This is a surprisingly-entertaining Georges Simenon adaptation, featuring Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) trying to unravel the murders of a rich woman and her maid in Paris. There are plenty of clues and suspects, but a surprising lack of evidence leading towards the man that Maigret is sure is responsible for the murders. The two people most implicated are a half-blind knife sharpener (Burgess Meredith) who was actually at the scene immediately after the murders and the rich woman's wastrel nephew (Robert Hutton) who needs money to pay off his wife (Patricia Roc) and marry his lover (Jean Wallace). The weirdest character in the film is Radek (Franchot Tone), who goes out of his way to act crazy and catch Maigret's attention. In fact, Radek's psychotic behavior is reminiscent of that of Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, filmed two years later. The film's highlights are the various scenes at the Eiffel Tower.

Jigsaw (Fletcher Markle, 1949) 2

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/b/b7/200px-Jigsaw_.jpeg

This is another 1949 mystery starring Franchot Tone, but this one is far less interesting. The setup is OK, and there are some unexpected twists in the ways the characters behave, but overall, the plot and presentation seem pretty half-baked. Tone plays an assistant D.A. who ends up becoming a "Special Prosecutor", but the plot is so convoluted that it's difficult to understand what he's "inspecting". There are obviously mobsters, maybe some commies, definitely murderers trying to silence people who "know what's going on", sexy chanteuses, and something weird happening at an art museum. It's not exactly horrible, but it is pretty much a mess. What I don't understand is why there are so many big star cameos in this thing. I'm talking people like John Garfield, Marlene Dietrich and Henry Fonda!

He Walked By Night (Alfred L. Werker, 1948) 2.5

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/6405/hewalkedbynighten1sm1ymbe9.jpg

Much of this film is in-your-face, especially in the exciting bursts of violence found at the beginning and the thrilling ending. The middle section is a semi-documentaryish retelling of an actual case in Los Angeles in the 1940s, except that "the names have been changed to protect the innocent". Yes, this is the genesis of what turned into Dragnet, both the movie and the TV show, and lo and behold, Jack Webb is in this film, but here he's a techno geek cop. The main character of the film is the psycho murderer played well by Richard Basehart. The chief detectives, including Scott Brady and Jeff Cardwell, along with their captain, Ray Russell, have almost no clues whatsoever in trying to find the murderer who shoots a policeman in the film's opening scene. This is really an interesting film, but 50 years of TV shows have somewhat lessened its impact. However, another intriguing thing to mention is that the film's ending is similar to and predates the climax of The Third Man. Yep, the LAPD traps and chases the murderer through the sewers in a semi-brilliant film-noirish presentation. Anthony Mann allegedly directed some of this film uncredited. I wouldn't be surprised if he did the most startling scenes: the intro and the outro.

The Fabulous Dorseys (Alfred E. Green, 1947) 2

http://torrents.bittorrent.com/vintage-movies/df7bf73c89ddf9c2080fa09e2c9e69af0eb846b6/xlarge.jpg

For some reason, I feel like discussing this hokey biopic using the title of my fave Sergio Leone flick, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good - The Dorseys did make some beautiful music, both together and individually. This has got to be one of the most recognizable pieces of music from the first half of the 20th century, especially the beginning. P.S. This was one of my pop's fave songs. He loved to play it on the cornet and the organ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67XIT6f0KDE

The Dorseys were as popular with college age kids in the 1930s as Elvis was in the 1950s. Perhaps by coincidence, the Dorseys hosted a TV show in the early/mid '50s, and they hosted Elvis's first TV appearance in which he sang "Heartbreak Hotel". At the end of the video, that's Tommy on the left and Jimmy on the right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c031OE_qhTU

The Bad - The Dorseys are NOT actors. They were constantly fighting, and in fact, an alternate title of this film was The Fighting Dorseys. This film's script is just a silly excuse to get them together and sell some tix. In fact, for all the real life fighting they did, their fighting in this film comes off as fake. Most of the other acting isn't too good either, but Sara Algood and Arthur Shields are OK as their ultra-Irish parents.

The Ugly - Although there is no way for people to know this from watching the film, both Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey died young. Tommy died at age 51 by choking to death in his sleep after eating a huge meal. Jimmy died at age 53 from lung cancer. :(

Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, 1945) 3

http://filmjournal.net/clydefro/files/2007/01/scarlet-street.jpg

This is a good followup to The Woman in the Window, another film noir directed by Lang and starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett. In this one, Eddie's happiest moment is the opening scene where his boss is throwing him a party for being his faithful cashier for 25 years. Soon after leaving the party, Robinson, who plays a character named Christopher Cross (get it?), tries to rescue a young woman named Kitty (Bennett) from an apparent mugger named Johnny (Dan Duryea). Chris is a real sap though because he doesn't realize that Kitty is a whore and Johnny is her abusive pimp. Kitty quickly perceives that Chris will do anything for her, so she gets him to rent her a studio apartment, and then, after she learns that Chris is an amateur painter, she gets him to bring his paintings over to the apartment. Things really snowball from here. Among other things, Chris begins to steal money from his boss to pay for Kitty's apartment, and Chris is also stuck in an incredibly-loveless marriage. Chris basically turns into one of the most pathetic characters in film history because Kitty and Johnny are making love in the apartment, and Johnny starts trying to make some money selling Chris's unsigned paintings. And all this happens less than halfway into the movie. I still think that The Woman in the Window is a bit better, but this flick is pretty damn solid.

Tacitus

11-06-08, 06:31 AM

Pyro Tramp

11-06-08, 01:39 PM

Zabriskie Point(Michelangelo Antonioni 1970)-I was forced to watch it on a screening for one of my lectures. 1.5

Good ending though, didn't you think?

B-card

11-06-08, 07:49 PM

Good ending though, didn't you think?

Yeah good point there

ash_is_the_gal

11-06-08, 09:53 PM

Louis C.K.: Shameless (2007)

http://www.louisck.com/louiegallery/louiegallery-Images/26.jpg

a great HBO special of stand-up comedy from Emmy award winner Louis CK--one of the greatest stand-up's i've seen in awhile, but definitely not for the faint of heart.

"So just eat the doughnut."

-

Inland Empire (2006)

rice1245

11-06-08, 11:01 PM

i'm about to go watch Dark City for the first time...i'll tell ya how it goes

Otth

11-07-08, 01:44 PM

Zelig (1983). Standard Allen in a different type of wrapping; a real treat for his fans.

Sedai

11-07-08, 02:02 PM

i'm about to go watch Dark City for the first time...i'll tell ya how it goes

Make sure it's the director's cut!

Pyro Tramp

11-07-08, 03:10 PM

Ash, how did you find INLAND EMPIRE?

ash_is_the_gal

11-07-08, 03:10 PM

:(

EDIT: is it meant to be all in capitals like that? how important!

Sedai

11-07-08, 03:52 PM

I think it's time for me to watch IE again!

rice1245

11-07-08, 03:56 PM

Make sure it's the director's cut!

aw damn. I took what seems to be the only copy of Dark City at the movie store and it's not the directors cut and i already watched it :rolleyes: how much better is it?

adidasss

11-07-08, 04:07 PM

I'm gonna watch the director's cut tonight...:D

rice1245

11-07-08, 04:12 PM

psh rub it in :(

adidasss

11-07-08, 04:39 PM

Ok. I'm gonna watch the DIRECTOR'S CUT....TONIGHT...sucka...:D

Sedai

11-07-08, 04:48 PM

aw damn. I took what seems to be the only copy of Dark City at the movie store and it's not the directors cut and i already watched it :rolleyes: how much better is it?

According to Director Alex Proyas, it's a lot better.

I like the fact that they removed the silly expository voice-over at the start of the film, which, like Blade Runner, attempted to dumb the film down for the general masses. Characters get developed more, and J Connelly actually sings in the DC, where as she is dubbed over in the theatrical cut. There is about 11 minutes of extra footage, mostly scenes that develop the characters a bit more. Also, they moved a couple of scenes for the sake of a smoother narrative, most of which work for the better, IMO. It's also a much better transfer.

Daffodil

11-08-08, 01:43 AM

The Happening - 1

Mark Wahlberg's acting wasn't even able to save this film. He was terribly miscast.

What can I say. Just disappointing. :/

adidasss

11-08-08, 04:35 AM

I'm gonna watch the director's cut tonight...:D
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/dvd/darkcity-dvd.jpg
Seen it!http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/yay.gif It was an amazing experience.:yup: And to think I never would have heard about it if it hadn't been for Mikey and Swedish. I don't really understand how it could have bombed at the box office, even if it was "dumbed down". You'd have to be pretty incompetent not to be able to sell this film, it's simply bursting with style and substance. Such a shame I didn't get to see it on the big screen...http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/sigh.gif

4.5 (I still like the Matrix better)

Iroquois

11-08-08, 04:56 AM

I still haven't watched my copy of the DC...

Otth

11-08-08, 07:19 AM

I don't really understand how it could have bombed at the box office, even if it was "dumbed down". You'd have to be pretty incompetent not to be able to sell this film, it's simply bursting with style and substance

For style and substance is the main common denominator of all the biggest box office hits.
It did pretty well in the DVD-marked, so they can’t be completely incompetent.

ash_is_the_gal

11-08-08, 10:34 PM

The Big Chill (1983)

http://www.jeffpidgeon.com/uploaded_images/bigchill-735473.jpg

i'm totally crushin' Kevin Kline.

mark f

11-09-08, 04:09 AM

The Guv'nor (Milton Rosmer, 1935) 2.5

http://www.britishpictures.com/photos4/pics/guvnor2.jpg

This is one of George Arliss's (second from left) final films, and it's a cute spoof along the lines of a Frank Capra film, at least if Capra bothered to make British films. On the other hand, Arliss did play a member of the House of Rothschilds in the Best Picture nominee the previous year, The House of Rothschild. In this movie, Arliss also plays a Rothschild, but even though most all the other characters are crooks, he's an "underachieving bum" (HA!) and therefore, he's probably the most trustworthy person in the film. It is a delight, even if it's a bit short and simple, but they still don't make them (very often) like they used to.

The Matchmaker (Joseph Anthony, 1958) 3.5

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S1XKT4YKL._SS500_.jpg

Thornton Wilder (Our Town) wrote this satiric comedy which became the basis for Hello, Dolly!. Well, long before there was a musical, this film was made with a wonderful cast. Most of the cast, especially the young man played by Anthony Perkins, talk to the screen, and it works for the most part. Perkins works in a general store with Robert Morse in Yonkers, but they realize that their boss, Mr. Horace Vandergelder (the always-hilarious Paul Ford), doesn't pay or respect them enough. Perkins gets it into his head, especially when listening to Vandergelder's matchmaker, Miss Dolly Levi (Shirley Booth), that he should head for greener pastures in NYC. What ensues borders on "priceless". :cool:

Wild River (Elia Kazan, 1960) 3

http://www.timeout.com/film/img/dvd/93342/cover.w200.jpg http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/wild-river-clift.png

Believe it or not, this was Kazan's first color film. The atmosphere is wonderful, and it's almost a totally unique film, subject-matter-wise. Montgomery Clift comes to Tennessee early in FDR's administration to try to remove an old woman (the incredible Jo Van Fleet, even better than she was in her East of Eden Oscar-winning performance) from her island home in the middle of the mighty Tennessee River. The Feds have determined that they have to dam the river up, not only to save human lives, but to manage the river's majestic energy for the people. The film doesn't skirt from the racism of the area in the '30s, but some might find the obligatory romance between the TVA man Clift and the old lady's granddaughter (Lee Remick) to be overblown. I was going back and forth, but ultimately, I found the humanity of the romance to be a positive compared to having to cram in any more racism than they already did. This is a hauntingly beautiful film, and definitely one of the best Kazan made from the '60s on. I do recommend Splendor in ther Grass (1961) and his Oscar-nomed America, America (1963), but they aren't as good as his best from the '50s.

Lady in Cement (Gordon Douglas, 1968) 2.5

http://www.posteritati.com/jpg/L/LADY%20IN%20CEMENT%20DAN.JPG http://blog.thirdphaze.com/uploaded_images/lady-in-cement-775132.jpg

This quickie sequel to Tony Rome is actually better, mostly because Dan Blocker from "Bonanza" plays the most interesting character, and he's not only scary and hilarious, but he's obviously a human being too. This film also has Raquel Welch in one of her earliest significant roles. I'll admit that much of the film is ridiculous, and when you have to decide who's worse, the homophobic Tony Rome or the homophobic-baiter owner of a strip club, it makes you want to just ignore the flick for a few moments, but overall, for a slipshod, throwaway sequel, this film is pretty decent, especially since it's much funnier than you'd ever expect.

Sleezy

11-09-08, 01:50 PM

Zack and Miri Make A Porno (Smith, 2008) 3_5

Wow. Easily the dirtiest, raunchiest movie I've ever watched. But still charming. The vast majority of this film is complete extension of disbelief for the purpose of filthy comedy. Some jokes drag on too long, while others are downright hysterical in all the wrong (right?) ways. But the parts of the film that actually do feel real are surprisingly satisfying. I think it perhaps becomes a romantic comedy a little too abruptly and unbelievably, but we're not looking for much reality... just a little dirty humor, and some heart.

But yeah, easily the raunchiest movie I've ever seen. You might think you're ready for the language, but you're not. And you definitely won't be ready for some of the surprises this movie throws around.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/Sleezy/081030zackmiri.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/Sleezy/porngang.jpg

rice1245

11-10-08, 06:43 PM

Just watched High Tension and i loved it 4/5

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z148/beach187/HighTension2.jpg

Vertical Gunn

11-10-08, 06:49 PM

Just watched High Tension and i loved it 4/5

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z148/beach187/HighTension2.jpg

Meh, I would give it:
2

Pyro Tramp

11-10-08, 08:59 PM

Quantum of Solace- over edited and over cut. Another 20 minutes was needed to give substance and exposition to the rest of the film which was lacking the depth of the last one. Shame they're ridding the Bond-isms as well since it's looking depressingly like a Bourne knock-off. A lot of the tangents thrown out needed to be fleshed, including the ones resolved within the film. Hopefully this will play as a buffer to a far more satisfying two more entries from Daniel Craig. What is there is enjoyable enough and handled with enough competency to let it stand above most actioners. Should only really get less but because it's Bond it gets an extra half leaving 3_5

Can do a fleshed out review if there's interest, seen it twice now lol :/

Sawman3

11-10-08, 09:12 PM

Just watched High Tension and i loved it 4/5

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z148/beach187/HighTension2.jpg

DUDE! Yesterday I was making a list of movies to see and I remembered seeing the COVER of that DVD when I saw it in a rental place like five years ago, but I couldn't remember the name. (The cover had that same image.)

And now I know it. Made my day.

rice1245

11-10-08, 10:03 PM

DUDE! Yesterday I was making a list of movies to see and I remembered seeing the COVER of that DVD when I saw it in a rental place like five years ago, but I couldn't remember the name. (The cover had that same image.)

And now I know it. Made my day.

That same thing happened to me too! I saw the cover of it years ago and thought it looked really cool, and then i saw on somebody's top 100 list that it was on there so i decided to rent it and i ended up liking it a lot :D

aaand i just watched Equillibrium which i also enjoyed, i feel like i need more breathing room so i'm going to do out of ten, 6.8\10
High Tension, ranking it along the lines as horror movies go i'd give 7.5/10 because i loved the last thirty seconds and there was a Muse song in it!

Monkeypunch

11-11-08, 01:28 PM

Flash Gordon - Awesome movie, lots of memorable lines, and the DVD I got has an episode of the first ever Flash Gordon serial from the 1930's on it, and some awesome Alex Ross cover art. Loved the unreality of the whole thing, loved the Hawkmen, especially. "Diiiiive!" :D

Sedai

11-11-08, 01:36 PM

@ Monkey

I love the sequence in which Zarkov's rocket enters the Imperial Vortex. Great music and atmosphere there. I still play that section of music here at work, and people always ask what it is...

@Adi - So glad you liked Dark City! It's funny you mention substance, as I remember critics panning the film for being "all style and no substance", which, as you saw, is complete horsesh1t.

Caitlyn

11-11-08, 03:01 PM

Cat People (1982) :rolleyes:/5

I do like the song though...

ash_is_the_gal

11-11-08, 03:10 PM

Cat People (1982) :rolleyes:/5

ha ha. i actually recently added this to my Netflix. i guess we both must have watched the 100 Scariest Movie Moments on Bravo. ;)

do you think i'd not like it, though? should i not bother?

Caitlyn

11-11-08, 03:34 PM

ha ha. i actually recently added this to my Netflix. i guess we both must have watched the 100 Scariest Movie Moments on Bravo. ;)

do you think i'd not like it, though? should i not bother?

I don't know that I'd bother... It's not scary at all and the whole movie could have been told in about 10 minutes or less... the rest was just filled in with a couple of gruesomely bloody scenes and naked people (none of which were particularly interesting naked ;) )... 'tis a shame really because it could have been a really cool movie...

Monkeypunch

11-11-08, 10:55 PM

rice1245

11-12-08, 12:07 AM

Hellboy II: the Golden Army - Wow. THIS is how to make fantasy films. It's just so packed to the rafters with creativity and imagination, and has some amazing action scenes. I sat there thinking, "This is so cool!" the entire movie.

yay! i also loved The Golden Army, the bad guy was a complete badass and the fighting was awesome and it was just a really pretty movie too

mark f

11-12-08, 03:17 AM

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Stanley Kramer, 1967) 3.5
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/177/1203238023_1.jpg
I might as well start with the most controversial and the most interesting film. I've seen this film many times, and although I always have a positive opinion of it, I can see why others may have more problems with it. In fact, I can see how the subject matter would almost cry out for cynics to lambaste it and declare it as phony a liberal, "feel good" movie as there ever was. Before I get too far into that, let's summarize the plot for the uninitiated. Joey (Katharine Houghton), the 23-year-old daughter of liberal San Francisco newspaper publisher Matt (Spencer Tracy) and his art store owner wife Christina (Katahrine Hepburn, Houghton's aunt) returns home with a world-renowned doctor named John (Sidney Poitier) and announces that they're in love and want to get married ASAP with her parents' unconditional blessing. John has to leave that night to fly off across the Atlantic, so there isn't much time to think about this surprising occurrence. Oh yeah, John is black and he wants to marry a white woman.
http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/rsz/434/x/x/x/medias/nmedia/18/65/29/44/18844340.jpg
Even though Christina and John's mother (Beah Richards) provide the emotional core of the film, the film's drama derives from the relationship between Matt and John, especially when John says that he won't go through with the marriage without Matt's blessing, and Matt believes that the difficulties for an interracial couple will not only tear them apart but destroy the lives of their future children. The movie does try to cram a lot into its story, and it's really only a half serious film. Many of the situations are treated as comedy, so in hindsight, it seems that what appeals to seemingly-liberal white folks could be construed as somehow racist, even when the white family's black cook (Isabel Sanford) tries to protect the girl she raised (Joey) from some uppity... shall we say, handsome and famous doctor-researcher. So much for the plot. Let's see what I can muster about the meaning after a word from our next photo op.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/11/arts/Harris600.jpg
(1967's Best Picture Nominees)
Compared to groundbreaking films released in 1967 (The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner does seem staid and safe in many ways. It's essentially all filmed on a set with fake backdrops and isn't very cinematic. However, it does have a superlative cast, and they are all given plenty to do. Spencer Tracy, who died two weeks after filming was completed, is especially strong, not only in his comedy, but in his powerful words at the movie's climax. For any scenes which may appear patronizing, there are probably two which appear heartfelt, honest and surprisingly moving. For every dated, hokey affectation, there is something which actually makes one laugh out loud at the human comedy. In fact, watching it last weekend, it definitely reminded me that things do change, often for the better, and even if there has never been a good reason to be racist, there may indeed be less racists alive now than ever before (although I might want to use percentages, since there has never been so many humans alive in history). In fact, somehow the film seemed more pertinent than ever after America's Presidential election a week ago today. Normally, I smile at the movie and tear up a couple of times. On Saturday, I must have teared up a half a dozen times, and all for what's basically a romantic comedy with some airs of social commentary.

Gone in Sixty Seconds (Dominic Sena, 2000) 2.5

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/bejmaf/goneinsixtyseconds.jpg

I watched H.B. Halicki's original film back in 1974 and wasn't very impressed. Sure, there were a lot of crashed cars, but no characters and no cinematics. Therefore, I really had no desire to watch this remake and I never did until yesterday. My wife and daughter both had to go to school, but my district had a four-day weekend, so while I graded some math tests for my wife, I watched this Nic Cage epic. I found it pretty superfluous, yet actually superior to the original. They saved most of the action for the final half, and there was a pretty good ending, even if it wasn't a surprise. The acting was also pretty decent, even if nothing to phone home about. Basically, what I can say about this film is that it's about as cliched as my review. I never planned on watching it and it turned out about what I expected, but I cannot understand why films such as this are somehow targeted by studios to be big-budget, big-grossing summer hits.

Pork Chop Hill (Lewis Milestone, 1959) 2.5

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XTSZW2WZL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Growing up, this was one of my favorite films. Director Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front) certainly understands hopeless war scenarios, and this is one of the better flicks from the '50s about the Korean War. Although it still has plenty of drama and action, the film is a little bit underwhelming in the "in-your-face, war is hell" sweepstakes. It's certainly no Paths of Glory, which I didn't watch until my late teens. The strength of Pork Chop Hill though, and why it's an appropriate Veterans Day film, is that it's based on a true story. While American soldiers were fighting and dying on the utterly-non-strategic Hill, diplomats and military officers were trying to negotiate a cease fire and an end to the Korean War. There was a horrible problem with communications at Pork Chop Hill on the American side, and none of the military commanders would authorize any reinforcements because they were afraid that the war would immediately end and more men would die uselessly. It's both a fitting tribute to men who fight and die for their country and its ideals and a reminder that war needs to be killed off, once and for all.

Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi, 1992) 3

http://www.ugo.com/movies/alternate-endings/images/army-of-darkness.jpg

I much prefer the original title, The Medieval Dead, but Ash (Bruce Campbell) is a cult character and Campbell is certainly a cult actor, so I can live with the revised title. Although the film is fun and contains some great lines and effects, my rating is really on the low side. I still think Evil Dead II is the best of the trilogy, and that the best movie with Bruce Campbell in the lead is Bubba Ho-tep. But any movie which has a one-handed, chainsaw and shutgun-toting, working-class "madman" crash land along with his '73 Olds Delta 88 (Sam Raimi's own car) in some medieval land where he has to use the words from The Day the Earth Stood Still on Lovecraft's Necronomicon to try to return to his crummy job at the S-Mart has to be worth a peek, especially if you throw in an homage to Ray Harryhausen in your FX. It's just that a little of it goes a long way; yeah, even if you love the Three Stooges!

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (Aviva Kempner, 1998) 3

http://cache.thephoenix.com/i/OldBlogs/SoxBlog/Ted%20Williams,%20Eddie%20Pellagrini,%20JFK,%20and%20Hank%20Greenberg.JPG

Hank Greenberg was one of the first baseball players who was exposed to race prejudice, but basically it was only at away games and it only happened on the field. That's where he'd be called all manner of racist names by the opposing players and their fans in the stands, but when the Jewish Greenberg went out after a game, he didn't have to worry about sitting on the back of the bus or drinking at a segregrated water fountain. He was an inspiration for all the fans in Detroit, Jew and Gentile, and he later became one of our national pastime's ambassadors for the desegregation of the game. In fact, Jackie Robinson called Greenberg his idol when he came up to the Big Leagues as the first Black player of the 20th century in Major League Baseball.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/csr4/PSU3/Jewish-Americans/HankGreenberg.jpg

When Greenberg came up to play first base for the Detroit Tigers, he was an immediate success and led his team to two pennants in 1934 and 1935. While utilizing some of the greatest jazz music of the '30s and '40s, this film shows old newreels, interviews with Greenberg, his family, his teammates, his friends and his fans (including Walter Matthau who cites him as a personal hero), who all tell how much they love the man and what he stood for. Greenberg was not a religious man, but he was proud of his heritage, so even in the middle of a pennant race, he refused to play baseball on Yom Kippur. Greenberg was drafted into the military in 1940 and served until the rule was changed to allow older men to not have to serve after they turned 28. However, immediately after Pearl Harbor, he reenlisted and served throughout the remainder of WWII. He even came back in the summer of 1945 to lead the Tigers to another pennant. Greenberg fell just short of breaking some prominent records involving home runs and RBIs in a season, but many people attest that he never fell short of being a good man and role model. This is a very interesting film from many perspectives, and you don't have to care about baseball to get a lot out of it.

linespalsy

11-12-08, 01:37 PM

I don't think you have to be a cynic to dislike Guess Who's Coming to Dinner even though I am opportunistically cynical sometimes (when it serves my purposes to justify disliking something that I, well, that I dislike). I kind of hate the structure of that movie though because it makes me feel like I'm back in 12th-grade US History II, getting graded on my emotional response to the Emmett Till story by some stunted baby-boomer derelict.

Some more of my patented kvetching:

The hand-holding walk to the predictable speech with its predictable moral at the end kills any chance that I'd trust or enjoy or sympathize with any of these people enough to surrender my heart to them. Meanwhile the humor in that movie feels half-hearted to me, like they wanted to jazz it up, but were afraid that young people would miss the message and that old people would have a heartattack-brainhemorrhage, so they hired some Hummels to phone in innocuous quasi-jokes.

I don't know, you've seen it many more times than I have (or ever will) and can probably trot out specifics to contradict me, but the whole thing just left me feeling that it was very smug, self-satisfied and disconnected from reality (not to mention dated, trite, dried-up, pasty, withered, tired, uncomprehending, rickety, vacant, lamebrained, mushy, dandruff-encrusted and boring) which to me is pretty close to the ultimate cynicism. I've cried at some pretty corny **** so if you found it that dramatically effective I won't judge you and I think 4 is a fair rating (though I'd be hard-pressed to give it more than a 1.5, and I think I'd start vomiting blood if you gave it anything higher than a 4), but I think it's even worse than Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (heh).

Like the special fx in Army of Darkness (guys in skeleton costumes, guys throwing plastic skeletons at Bruce Campbell from off camera) and I didn't realize the magic words were a reference to 'Earth Stood Still'. Even though I hate 3-Stooges style comedy, that one's probably a 2.5 for me. Which ending do you prefer (assuming you've seen both)?

Sedai

11-12-08, 01:46 PM

http://www.chucksconnection.com/sincity/sincity03.jpg

linespalsy

11-12-08, 01:48 PM

Oh yeah, the last movie I saw was 'Death Spa' (1988). The movie itself isn't as good as the cover or the trailer (which appears on the VHS of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer).

http://i2.iofferphoto.com/img/item/482/704/31/o_ds_004.jpg

Sedai

11-13-08, 10:43 AM

http://movies.radiofree.com/photos/sin_city_05350.jpg

BadaBing

11-13-08, 12:27 PM

Planet Terror, my favorite zombie movie.
http://www.canaltcm.com/myfiles/escritopor/planet-terror-rose-mcgowan.jpg

This was so badass.

Swedish Chef

11-13-08, 04:33 PM

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/040213/11659__dawnod_l.jpg

Dawn of the Dead (Zach Snyder, 2004)

There's a lot of things I flat-out love about this movie. The fact that a film like this has a cast headlined by Sarah flippin Polley and Ving Rhames with a shotgun is beautiful. The rest of the cast is pretty horrible (except for this one other guy who played a mall security cop) but every zombie movie should have Ving Rhames toting a humongously big gun around. The flick's shot very well and the music is perfect and it really should've been great, but it just never clicked for me. I think horror is the hardest genre to capture the right tone with and that's this movie's biggest problem. It never sets the right tone; the comedy and horror is always out of whack. Too bad.

2.5

http://cm1.dotspotter.com/media/0/28/57/S3_sandman_punch.0.0.0x0.270x182.jpeg

Spider-Man 3 (Sam Raimi, 2007)

I enjoyed the heck out of the first two Spidey flicks and maybe that's why I find this one so very painful to watch. This movie taints the other two for me in such a horrible, horrible way. It happened very subtly (or maybe not so subtly), but the series now feels like a really bad cartoon. My rating might even be worse if not for those Bruce Campbell hijinks, but even Bruce Campbell couldn't reverse the horrible tide ol' Peter Parker and company wound up taking. And I don't even wanna talk about the special effects. Blech.

1

http://bp3.blogger.com/__mO8RTY1FAs/SGfXyeVF4lI/AAAAAAAABZo/zubQ_Fm_dIk/s320/Wall-E+on+earth.jpg

WALL·E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

Wonderful movie. Some pretty dark areas that I don't think many Disney/Pixar/Whatever films have traversed before and I loved it. It's a testament to those Pixar folks that the central romance in this movie is more believable than in any other flick I've seen in quite a while. Plot takes more unexpected twist and turns than any kid or adult would think of and yet it somehow manages to stay relatively simple in the grander scheme of things. Fred Willard has never been more perfectly cast. This is my favorite Pixar movie.

4.5

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/upload/films/img_Hellboy2_300.jpg

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo Del Toro, 2008)

The Hellboy flicks, especially this one, are the thinking man's (or woman's) shoot 'em up comic book popcorner. They're really spectacular to look at and of course Ron Perlman is and always will be Hellboy. Del Toro has turned into this sort of Spanish-language, fable-spinning Peter Jackson (albeit with a lot more heart, imagination and creativity) and it's very appropriate he'll be helming the upcoming Hobbit flick. I look at a movie like this and it just makes me wanna live inside that guy's brain. At least for a little while.

3.5

I also re-watched Pineapple Express recently and it was just as good as I remember it being on that hazy midnight all those months ago. Or whenever it came out. Good stuff

ash_is_the_gal

11-13-08, 04:51 PM

good reviews Swedish Chef. i agree about the Dawn of the Dead remake, i think it could have been really good, but it just gave me a headache and turned out to be a stupid action movie. the original is so much better.

and Wall-E <3

adidasss

11-13-08, 09:33 PM

How can people like Wall-e better than Finding Nemo or The Incredibles?!http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/cupakosu.gif

Swan

11-13-08, 09:40 PM

How can people like Wall-e better than Finding Nemo or The Incredibles?!http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/cupakosu.gif

Because it's better.

Powdered Water

11-13-08, 11:09 PM

Well I've been pretty busy the last few weeks and have gotten way behind on my tabbing. Much to everyone's chagrin I'm sure. ;)

Anyway, here's several in no particular order...

To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks-1944) 5

Simply put, this movie is the bees knees. I love it very much. I just picked it up in a 4 movie Bogey/Bacall set. They aren't remastered or anything but I don't care. DVD's are much harder to wear out than VHS tapes and mine was pretty much on its last legs. Good stuff indeed. Bogey and Bacall were truly a "movie couple" and they were also very fun to watch together. Really about the only duo I enjoy watching more together are Powell and Loy, especially in the Thin Man movies. They were just terrific together.

Key Largo (John Huston-1948) 4

It's funny, but as I watched this right after To Have and Have Not I realized that they used the exact same boat from To Have and Have Not. Or at least they sure looked the same to me. I bet they are the same. I'm sure one of you historians will know for sure. I may even look it up.Anyway, what a great flick. Edward G. Robinson was also really good in this flick. I need to track down some more of his movies.

Suggestions please?

The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks-1946) 4

I'm kind of in the bag for Bogey. Is this as good as Key Largo? I think so. I actually think this is almost as good as The Maltese Falcon. Is that wrong? It doesn't matter. These are all good and we still have Dark Passage to go.

I've got a lot more to tab, but I have to run for now, more to follow...

rice1245

11-14-08, 12:19 AM

How can people like Wall-e better than Finding Nemo or The Incredibles?!http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/cupakosu.gif

Finding Nemo is my favorite, i'll never understand the hype over The Incredibles though

mark f

11-14-08, 12:39 AM

That's OK. The Incredibles is knockin' on the door of my Top 10 since it's sitting at #11. I like all three of those enough to list them in my Top 100 eventually.

ash_is_the_gal

11-14-08, 12:40 AM

How can people like Wall-e better than Finding Nemo or The Incredibles?!http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/diezelpower/cupakosu.gif

i like both Wall-E and Finding Nemo--both are in my Top 100, and to be honest i don't think you can really compare them. they're both really cute, sweet movies but in totally different ways, but i think they are both really lovely and candy colored. The Incredibles, though... :|

rice1245

11-14-08, 01:20 AM

That's OK. The Incredibles is knockin' on the door of my Top 10 since it's sitting at #11. I like all three of those enough to list them in my Top 100 eventually.

really? did you do a review about it? i wanna know why lol

Powdered Water

11-14-08, 01:29 AM

Some more if you please...

Felon (Ric Roman Waugh-2008) 2

Meh, kind of a ho-hum affair about a guy who commits a murder when a burglar breaks into their home one night. The guy ends up in prison and then gets the shaft and gets all this extra prison time. Val Kilmer was in this and he was OK. He didn't have a very big part though. Bottom line; there are a ton of better prison movies out there if you're into that sort of thing.

Street Kings (David Ayer-2008) 2

Another relatively ho-hum flick. I do kind of like Keanu though. Maybe there's something wrong with me, I don't know. A totally unoriginal story and no real surprising twists. There was some pretty decent action though.

The Invasion (Oliver Hirschbiegel-2007) 3

Now this was pretty good. Not nearly as good as both of the older versions, but still it was pretty entertaining. I may be biased though. I seem to have a thing for bad sci-fi flicks and am willing to cut them more slack than say a mediocre thriller or comedy. So maybe its a 2.5.

Hellboy 2 The Golden Army (Guilermo Del Toro-2008) 3.5

I can't remember if I rated this the first time around or not but this is a solid follow up to the first one. I really enjoyed myself (again) and I higly recomend this flick. Man, I can't wait to see what he does with The Hobbit!

Kung-Fu Panda (Mark Osborne, John Stevenson-2008) 4.5

I really liked Wall*E. This was more fun for me. Maybe because I like Kung-Fu. I don't know any Kung-Fu, but I like movies about it, dig? Don't get me wrong, this is a good flick and I look down on the guys at work who were flipping me crap today and calling it a kids movie. Whatever... People are stupid.

Speed Racer (The Wachowski Brothers-2008) 4

Obviously I like this flick. 3 times I've seen it now and my rating hasn't changed. Its really a shame that more folks haven't seen it.

mark f

11-14-08, 01:47 AM

really? did you do a review about it? i wanna know why lol

This (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showpost.php?p=404364&postcount=59) is from my Top 100 list. :cool:

rice1245

11-14-08, 01:48 AM

Another relatively ho-hum flick. I do kind of like Keanu though. Maybe there's something wrong with me, I don't know.

It's okay. I feel it too.

rice1245

11-14-08, 01:52 AM

This (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showpost.php?p=404364&postcount=59) is from my Top 100 list. :cool:

It must be personal.

Now i have to read your entire list instead of going to bed :(

adidasss

11-14-08, 08:04 AM

Batman - The dark night - About 40 minutes too long. 3.5

Lol@ the 9.1. at imdb.

Silas

11-14-08, 10:28 AM

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

I thought it was very good. Shia put in another impressive performance. Shows a lot of deep anger in it which i thought was imperative.

Would give it 8.5/10

ash_is_the_gal

11-14-08, 10:30 AM

i enjoyed Saints too, a lot more than i thought i would. i hope to see more from Shia other than Indiana Jones...

Holden Pike

11-14-08, 10:51 AM

Key Largo (John Huston-1948) 4

Anyway, what a great flick. Edward G. Robinson was also really good in this flick. I need to track down some more of his movies.

Suggestions please?

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:vdbbQ73iZf-_iM:http://www.einsiders.com/features/columns/images/immortal24.jpg http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Fx0_Ltva7Q4f5M:http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews23/a%2520bullets%2520or%2520ballots%2520edward%2520g%2520robinson/a%2520bullets%2520or%2520ballots%2520edward%2520g%2520robinson%2520PDVD_009.jpg http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:5juDXqyYI5zrYM:http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_03_img1312.jpg http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:VS4sIH9Lh-yAqM:http://www.ultimatedisney.com/images/q-s/stranger-01.jpg http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:xP8Zx-8cZCVXAM:http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/Cincinnati%2520Kid%2520pic2.jpg

Little Caesar (1931), of course. But also Blackmail (1939), Kid Galahad (1937), Bullets or Ballots (1936), The Sea Wolf (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), Manpower (1941), Unholy Partners (1941) and The Stranger (1946). And while he was best known as that iconic Gangster and tough guy type, he also had a blast playing comedy as in A Slight Case of Murder (1938), Larceny, Inc. (1942), Brother Orchid (1940), Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944) and The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938). He also did straightforward dramas like Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945) and Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940), and don't forget some of his great supporting roles like Double Indemnity (1944) and The Cincinnati Kid (1965). You can't really go wrong with any of those Warner Brothers movies from the '30s and '40s, because even in the most formulaic ones the casts are always great and they always entertain.

Otth

11-14-08, 11:02 AM

Speed Racer (The Wachowski Brothers-2008) 4

Obviously I like this flick. 3 times I've seen it now and my rating hasn't changed. Its really a shame that more folks haven't seen it.

Whit the average moviegoers preference I mind I can understand why it didn’t do so well there, but I have always imagined it would do very well when I came out on DVD. I haven’t seen any number of its sales, but I don’t think it’s all that.

It’s a weird, quirky and stylistic movie. I may set most people off, but I like it; the best popcorn-movie I have seen in quite a while, and the best anime-to-live-action I have seen up to date.

Daffodil

11-14-08, 09:09 PM

Get Smart - 3.5

Anne Hathaway was a great Agent 99. Just finished it, credits still rolling. :)

Sedai

11-14-08, 10:30 PM

Lost Highway (Lynch, 1997)

4

http://www.celluloid-dreams.de/content/images/kritiken-filmbilder/lost-highway/lost-highway-2.jpg

ash_is_the_gal

11-15-08, 09:56 PM

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0217.jpg

i liked it.

Powdered Water

11-16-08, 03:17 AM

Laptops are cool, I've had movies on all day while cruising around the web and stuff. Sci-Fi channel mostly, funny though... The commercials don't seem to bother me as much when I'm not watching the flick super intently. Anyway...

In The Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter-1994) 3.5

I don't know why I hold this Carpenter flick on such a high pedestal. It just agrees with me I guess. I like it a hell of a lot more than Halloween, but that's probably just me. Maybe its because at times it doesn't feel like a Carpenter flick you know? Carpenter really made his hay during the 80's and this flick came during the 90's when many feel he started to fall off his game. I disagree with that. I think this is one of his better films. Good stuff.

The Thing (John Carpenter-1982) 4

If you held me down and forced me I would probably have to admit that this is his best flick. I don't really know why I seem to have such a love/hate relationship with Carpenter, I just do. This flick really does have a damn fine cast and the effects even now don't fail to impress. If I ever see this flick on the cheap racks I think I'll add it to my ever growing DVD collection.

There was a few others as well, one called Blade Runner but I'm sure no one has even heard of that flick so I won't bother to give it a "mini".

Tacitus

11-16-08, 04:58 AM

Mrs Carpenter once told me that she also never tires of looking at John Carpenter's Thing.

Regular readers will probably know that I don't tire of that gag easily. ;D

mark f

11-16-08, 05:00 AM

Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh, 1996) 4

http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/6/A70-3092

This isn't the easiest film to discuss, even if it ranks as Branagh's best. I'm not sure where he got the guts to push for this film to be shot in 70 MM and be a completely uncut, four-hour version of the play, even if there was no way for it to ever recoup its costs, but kudos to Branagh the Negotiator. As far as the play/movie goes, it's wonderful. The resetting of it in some 19th century, seemingly-Bohemian country adds some subtext and spectacular color, costumes and sets which none of the other versions ever had. For the record, I still enjoy Olivier's version as the best Shakespearean cinematic adaptation HE ever made, and I think Zeffirelli did a wonderful job stripping down Mel Gibson's Hamlet. But this version is basically supposed to show off and be in your face for four whole hours, and although it slightly weighs upon one, it succeeds very well.

http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/1872/1211/lo/co5.jpg

This Hamlet has to be discussed in the context of its cast. It's a wonderful collection of veteran Shakespearean actors and some others who have never, ever dabbled in Shakespeare, and that's part of the reason that it's so interesting to watch and such a successful film. Let's start with some actors you'd never expect to see in Hamlet. I enjoyed most all of them, even if some could be objectively construed to be better than others. I'll mention Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Gérard Depardieu. Then you have others which seem to be up to Shakespeare, but have they ever actually done it? I'm talking about Kate Winslet, Julie Christie and Rufus Sewell. Then, there are the Shakespeare actors par excellence, so this is where Branagh can do no wrong. He's got arguably the greatest Shakespearean actor, John Gielgud, and then he adds Derek Jacobi, Richard Briers, Brian Blessed, and Charlton Heston (in one of his greatest perfomances). The first half of the film is probably stronger overall, but the entire thing is well worth-watching, for multiple reasons.

The Castle of Cagliostro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1979) 3.5

http://www.magicketchup.com/blog_pic/dvd_lupin3_cagliostro.jpg

I could well be underrating this flick, but I at least want to mention it since I watched it last week, one day when I was sick. I'll admit that I missed some details, but it started out so exciting, and the mystery, action, suspense and humor seemed so genuine that it's difficult for me to believe that it's worth less than my rating, even if I took a nap trying to recover from illness and bodyaches. More in the future after I've rewatched it.

Get Smart (Peter Segal, 2008) 3.5

http://especiality.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/getsmart.jpg

The thing which really gets your attention when watching this film is that rocker Trevor Rabin's musical score is consistently melancholy and it makes the viewer realize that they're not just watching a "comedy" based on the '60s "Get Smart" TV show, but they're also watching a film which takes the entire concept very seriously and doesn't want to turn it into the unfortunate buffoonery that something like The Nude Bomb (with Don Adams!!) turned out to be.

http://cloggedgears.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/get_smart_movie_dancing.jpg

I don't know. If I was going to classify this flick by genres, I'd probably say it's about 30% doomed romance, 25% comedy, 25% action-adventure (a la James Bond), 10% homage to What's Up, Tiger Lily?, and 10% unpredictable thriller. It really doesn't seem like something you'd see on the "Get Smart" TV show, but it's strongly inspired by it and certainly loves it. There are enough wacko supporting characters for people who know and love the show, and those who've never seen it to find equal amounts of enjoyment here, so I actually find this film worthy of a future sequel.

The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (James Neilsen, 1964) 3

http://radiation-sickness.net/images/scarecrow.jpg

When I was seven years old, I pretty much gave up on Fess Parker's Davy Crockett being my hero and decided it had to be Disney's "Scarecrow" (Patrick McGoohan). This thing was shown on three consecutive Sundays on the Disney "Wonderful World of Color", and I was glued to the set, even if it was B&W! I started playing Scarecrow with my friends just like we played Civil War and baseball, but Scarecow was just so much cooler. The Scarecrow was a smuggler who hung out near the White Cliffs of Dover and was able to exchange the merchandise he amassed into money for all the poor citizens who lived around Romney Marsh but couldn't afford King George III's outrageous taxes. The Scarecrow was something similar to a Robin Hood of the 1770s. The fact that the Scarecrow was actually a pious vicar called Dr. Syn, who has never really harmed anybody, made him an attractive hero and a supercool anti-hero at one and the same time. Plus he, and his best buds, had the coolest costumes and masks of all time!

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj214/telb6/2316710450_ea0121a57a.jpg

This made-for-TV flick was released in Europe in 1964 and eventually released in the U.S. as an edited feature with about one-third cut out. Needless to say, that version is weaker than the original TV show which was just released on DVD last week. This full-blooded version offers up plenty of suspense and character development, along with a catchy theme song. Watch it and tell me what you think.