A few films recently watched.

well HD-DVD is virtually the same as bluray, same codec etc...

Hable Con Ella (2002) Wanted to see another Almodóvar movie. But couldn't get into this one at all. I didn't care for any of them. 2/5

Marie Antoinette 3/10

What a mess of a movie. There was an interesting story in there somewhere but they forgot to concentrate on it. instead trying to make you turn off/walk out with a jarring 80s soundtrack. plus some really out of place aphex prepared piano.

Seems like the whole film was based around this scene at the ball where they dance to some 80s music. and that scene was ok but the rest didnt really work.

It wasn't deep enough of a character study or entertaining enough as pure fluff.

A sign of a bad film is when it feels too long. By 1:30 in I was done with it but it still have 30mins for me.

talking of overlong films i also saw la danse about paris ballet which i walked out of after 2 hours and the guy said it still had 40mins left. fuck that. some interest in the modern dance parts but i cannot stand classical ballet. i give it 2/10 mostly because my dog didnt piss on the floor before my return

The Perfect Getaway - 6.8/10

It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

Precious - 7.5

Monique blew me away, she was so believable. The cinematography and editing were awkward and distracting.

Edit: lol, it doesn't look like anyone else watched it.

I saw Shawshank Redemption last night. Really good 8.5/10

Saw Moon for the first time... good movie 7/10

  On 12/30/2009 at 8:14 PM, Yegg said:

 

Precious - 7.5

 

Monique blew me away, she was so believable. The cinematography and editing were awkward and distracting.

 

Edit: lol, it doesn't look like anyone else watched it.

I did and I didn't really like it...

Monique was good as an evil mother but I don't like watching shit like this...

perpetuates stereotypes (Precious envisioning herself as a skinny white girl and/or wealthy)

too depressing for me....

The theatre I work at had a shit ton of children seeing this, parents thinking it was ok to show their kids because, they thought, it was a film celebrating african-american culture....

no celebrating in this film....

Zombieland 5/10

it was sort of fun, i had a couple chuckles. there are some really facepalming moments, some surprisingly funny moments, and some stuff that made me wonder if some studio exec said, "okay, that's kinda cool but i think it needs the most retarded thing my son can think of, *zzzt* Sheila, be a good girl and bring charlie in here please, thanks." it's probably even worse than that because i was pretty high.

i actually thought that was michael cera in zombieland

  On 12/30/2009 at 11:28 PM, Atop said:

  On 12/30/2009 at 8:14 PM, Yegg said:

 

Precious - 7.5

 

Monique blew me away, she was so believable. The cinematography and editing were awkward and distracting.

 

Edit: lol, it doesn't look like anyone else watched it.

 

I did and I didn't really like it...

 

Monique was good as an evil mother but I don't like watching shit like this...

 

perpetuates stereotypes (Precious envisioning herself as a skinny white girl and/or wealthy)

 

too depressing for me....

 

The theatre I work at had a shit ton of children seeing this, parents thinking it was ok to show their kids because, they thought, it was a film celebrating african-american culture....

 

no celebrating in this film....

It's supposed to be "redemptive" but bringing children to see this is retarded.

  On 12/30/2009 at 11:28 PM, Atop said:

  On 12/30/2009 at 8:14 PM, Yegg said:

 

Precious - 7.5

 

Monique blew me away, she was so believable. The cinematography and editing were awkward and distracting.

 

Edit: lol, it doesn't look like anyone else watched it.

 

I did and I didn't really like it...

 

Monique was good as an evil mother but I don't like watching shit like this...

 

perpetuates stereotypes (Precious envisioning herself as a skinny white girl and/or wealthy)

 

too depressing for me....

 

The theatre I work at had a shit ton of children seeing this, parents thinking it was ok to show their kids because, they thought, it was a film celebrating african-american culture....

 

no celebrating in this film....

I've gone back and forth about seeing this because I've read good things about some of the performances in the film but I think Lee Daniels is a hack. I find most of the stuff I've seen of his to be about exploitation and courting controversy but not in any informative or interesting ways. I'll probably just wait for the dvd.

Miracle at St. Anna - Made it about 10 minutes into this before I turned it off. Fucking terrible.

has spike lee really gone that shitty?

Spike Lee is more concerned with dissing other people's movies than making a good movie himself.

I wonder if he talked any shit about Eastwood's last movie "Invictus".

Fuck Spike Lee

hes done more shit than hes done good films, but the three or four good films hes done well are worth mentioning

do the the right thing

x (the last 5 min are bad)

he got game

did he do clockers?

A Dangerous Man 9/10

This movie is horrible but a really awesome Seagal flick. This time he's a man with a checkered past and nothing left to lose that must save an attractive (straight on, not from the side) girl from some asian looking guys who fight in a style that choreographs well with Aikido. Along the way he doles out justice wherever needed or to just kill time. Excessive justice. Stabbing a guy in the face with a disassembled gun justice. Repeatedly. Like 10 times. Maybe even more... I think everyone at the house where we watched this locked eyes to make sure this was really happening. Maybe 20 times. And he stabs some guy in the back of the neck, slowly, while he's already subdued. And people keep describing him as "indian-looking" in the movie. And there's titties in the beginning.

In general his "message" movies are shit (except the early ones) and his "hollywood" movies are great.

It's like he gets so worked up about his message he forgets his filmmaking skills. Hey Spike, it doesnt matter how worthy the message is if no one hears it cos you made a shitty movie. It shouldnt be this way but generally the less "race" stuff is in a Spike Lee movie, the better a movie it is.

Also he was briefly posessed by the spirit of Ed Wood. This is the only explanation I can think of for Bamboozled.

Good Spike:

She's Gotta Have It

Do The Right Thing

Those music videos he did

Clockers

Summer of Sam

The 25th Hour

Inside Man

25th hour was decent. i need to re watch clockers

  On 12/31/2009 at 4:20 AM, analogue wings said:

In general his "message" movies are shit (except the early ones) and his "hollywood" movies are great.

 

It's like he gets so worked up about his message he forgets his filmmaking skills. Hey Spike, it doesnt matter how worthy the message is if no one hears it cos you made a shitty movie. It shouldnt be this way but generally the less "race" stuff is in a Spike Lee movie, the better a movie it is.

 

Also he was briefly posessed by the spirit of Ed Wood. This is the only explanation I can think of for Bamboozled.

 

Good Spike:

 

She's Gotta Have It

Do The Right Thing

Those music videos he did

Clockers

Summer of Sam

The 25th Hour

Inside Man

I don't know. Bamboozled was all over the place for sure but there were parts of the satire that rang true for me. I'd add a few movies to your Good Spike list:

School Daze (examined colorism on a historically Black college campus in the form of a musical)

Mo' Better Blues (plays around with some interesting themes like how artists are exploited, deal with how their audiences change and have to isolate themselves for their art)

Crooklyn (I enjoyed this, it's the closest he's come to a kids film, and all the child actors don't come off as cutesy)

When the Levees Broke (extremely thorough Katrina doc. that I can only watch in small sections it pisses me off so bad)

I thought the ad parodies in Bamboozled were fucking great, but when the earnest talky bits happened, I was seriously reminded of the lecture scenes in Glen or Glenda. I found it hypnotically, obsessively bad in the same way...

I havent watched the musical cos I'm scared it's gonna be like Bamboozled

I watched Stalker again and it was even more awesome than I remember. 9.25/10, but this will probably just go up every time I see it.

i find it funny how the stalker looks like woody harrelson.

Pan's Labyrinth - 9/10

So I watched Pan's Labyrinth on blu-ray for the first time yesterday and I was blown away. Such an amazing movie - the visuals, the fantastical characters, the cinematography, the colors, the textures etc etc were just some of the best. I wished he would have showed a bit more of the imaginary world because that's what left the biggest impression on me.

Also it was great to see Maribel Verdu again after so many years. She was also in Y Tu Mama Tambien.

the innocents (1961)

just watched this for the first time and i'm very impressed. it's an absolutely chilling film with subtlety that you rarely see today, as now there's little need to only hint at subjects. some of the scares are a little ropey, but the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up just thinking about some shots. a couple of images will be lingering in my head for a while i think. there are a few ways which you can interpret the film, each pretty unsettling. as a bonus it includes this eerie song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsivB0a_ZKk

Bullitt - 8/10: really really enjoyed this! never watch that much of those 70s detective/crime flicks so i don't have a reference, but this felt totally contemporary! what other films like this should i check out?

edit: the title is spelled with a double "t"