A few films recently watched.

blow out - 9/10

dressed to kill - 9/10

early 80s was de palmas prime period. the climactic scene in blow out with the fireworks is nothing short of stunning..

Jumanji -10/10, yeah...

From Paris with Love - 1/10 (but 10/10) on a purely entertaining level because it was so shit.

Lost Highway - 8/10

definitely see what Lynch was trying to achieve upon a second viewing... its quite brilliant really... some of a most terrifying scenes in the first section, pure dread.

oh, also the new herzog film 'my son my son..' - 8/10

i really feel like hes been revitalized as far as his fiction work is concerned. seems like in recent years his major successes have all been with his "documentary" films but between this and bad lietenant, i feel like hes on form again. so many weird, oddly emotional scenes...i loved the strange mix of absurdest humor and madness/tragedy..and i liked the oddly hopeful ending..

Life During Wartime - 6/10 - extremely weak quasi sequel to Happiness. I think after Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness the filmmaker used most of his good ideas. there are a couple of funny moments, and for no reason all of the characters are played by different actors ie: Phillip Seymour Hoffman from Happiness is played by Omar from 'the Wire' in Life during Wartime.

hint: i love you Philip morris is not out on DVD yet but screener bootleg exists

I watched I Love You Phillip Morris on your recommendation and did not enjoy it very much. Didn't hate it but it felt wrong seeing Ewan as a gay housewife. I am a big fan of several of Carrey's films but he makes me nervous in most of his recent films. I feel a strong sense of neurotic undertones to his performances that seem to stem from his real life. I also felt the film portrayed homosexuals in a very unsavory light. Making gays out to be their stereotypes which is offensive. I did laugh at some parts of the film, but for the most part it felt very plastic. But you continue to like what you like.

interesting, i thought it was one of the strongest Carrey performances i've seen since the Truman Show, i also loved Ewan mcgregor playing that role. I really wasn't convinced of his acting abilities until i saw this movie.

  On 8/14/2010 at 9:39 PM, Z_B_Z said:

oh, also the new herzog film 'my son my son..' - 8/10

 

i really feel like hes been revitalized as far as his fiction work is concerned. seems like in recent years his major successes have all been with his "documentary" films but between this and bad lietenant, i feel like hes on form again. so many weird, oddly emotional scenes...i loved the strange mix of absurdest humor and madness/tragedy..and i liked the oddly hopeful ending..

Must see that... absolutely loved Bad Lieutenant, very strong script with very strong cinematography = quality film making...

He's bringing out a 3D documentary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams

There were some interesting interviews with him on youtube, but can't find them :/

  On 8/14/2010 at 10:21 PM, Awepittance said:

interesting, i thought it was one of the strongest Carrey performances i've seen since the Truman Show, i also loved Ewan mcgregor playing that role. I really wasn't convinced of his acting abilities until i saw this movie.

I think he has performed good before this movie but it sure showed it good, i enjoyed the movie quite much but not as a comedy but more a drama/romance

  On 8/14/2010 at 10:31 PM, Billov said:

  On 8/14/2010 at 9:39 PM, Z_B_Z said:

oh, also the new herzog film 'my son my son..' - 8/10

 

i really feel like hes been revitalized as far as his fiction work is concerned. seems like in recent years his major successes have all been with his "documentary" films but between this and bad lietenant, i feel like hes on form again. so many weird, oddly emotional scenes...i loved the strange mix of absurdest humor and madness/tragedy..and i liked the oddly hopeful ending..

Must see that... absolutely loved Bad Lieutenant, very strong script with very strong cinematography = quality film making...

 

He's bringing out a 3D documentary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams

There were some interesting interviews with him on youtube, but can't find them :/

herzog goes 3d, i love it. will certainly see this if i get a chance..

'my son, my son..' is more restrained than bad lieutenant (tho i like both films equally.) also shot in digital so it has a very different feel for that reason alone...plus what great casting, i like the idea of michael shannon, udo kier, brad dourif and willem dafoe all being in the same film.

Watched the original 'Bad Lieutenant' last night and it makes me think less of Herzog for producing such a film or feeling that the idea could be any more interesting than the original....Keitel is brutal in this, so much more than Cage

'My Son My Son....' is a much better Herzog film imo

i still say theres no point in comparing the two. herzog never saw ferraras original and hadnt even heard of him until he 'remade' it.

Tetro - 5/10 - Beautiful cinematography but that's about it. I didn't think the story was very strong but the performances by the secondary characters (like Gallo's wife) were pretty good. Gallo plays a convincing asshole but he's had his whole life to practice. The script felt like a parody of a foreign film about ex-patriots, so cliched. The beauty of the images is really the only reason I even finished this film.

Street Fight - 8/10 - Documentary about Cory Booker fighting the incumbent candidate to become mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Really well done but the makers of the documentary would have done themselves a service in criticizing Booker a bit more.

The Expendables 7.065/10

Lots of action, little plot, pretty much exactly what I thought it would be

INCEPTION TOMOROW!!! Will i enjoy it?

heima - 2/10 - too precious, too overproduced, too "wattm's post your recent art" photography, too canadian, too homosexual. nice musics.

"we're actually here to protest the building of a dam to produce electricity so we thought it would be a good idea to play acoustically"

oddsac - 3/10 - blarghlr, lol. liked the sequence with a boy setting up a drum kit. good music here too.

the expendables - god this fucking sucked a dick. probably the shittiest possible version of this film.

thirst - underwhelming

Vengeance is Mine (1979) - 10/10 About on Bluray now. Sociopath evades police in mid '60s Japan while conning and killing. One of the best I've seen this year.

La moustache - although it doesn't make any sense at all it's a beautiful and captivating film

Scarecrow - 1/10

35 cents well spent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvZ63A3ynzg&feature=related

Ljubavni slucaj ili tragedija sluzbenice (aka Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator) (1967) - Godard-inspired Yugoslavian cinema. A joy to watch. 4/5

Le souvenir d'un avenir (2001) - Documentary about the amazing pictures shot in the 30s and 40s by French photographer Denise Bellon. The narration written by Chris - Sans Soleil - Marker is fantastic. 5/5

Jumpin Jack Flash - The internet was so cool in the 80s.

  On 8/16/2010 at 12:31 AM, eugene said:

La moustache - although it doesn't make any sense at all it's a beautiful and captivating film

agreed. such a great idea. infact it happened to me recently when i cut my chin length hair and no-one noticed. makes you realise that people don't see you they see their version of you.

Winter's Bone - 9/10

The Ten - 2/10

Batman : Under the Red Hood - 8/10 - if you are a fan of batman chances are you will enjoy the shit out of this. my favorite animated batman feature since Mask of the Phantasm. Some of it is updated to have some similarities to the new chris nolan batman stuff. imagine a hybrid between the normal animated series but with actual killings and a very sadistic joker with long hair. About to check out 'public enemies' now, i must have missed that one it's about Lex Luthor becoming president of the united states.

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) - 7/10 - a very psychedelic and convoluted interpretation of the original story by Edgar allen poe, extremely colorful and packed with surreal imagery. they try to mash another poe story 'hop-frog' in the mix with interesting results, the climax of that story arc was my favorite part of the movie.