A few films recently watched.

the scene where michael breaks down whilst confessing could have been a great scene but it was wasted.

the scene on the steps when michael is wailing. what the hell is his sister doing? she wailing at kay or something. made me laugh.

andy garcia!!!

al pacino to robert de niro to andy garia

Just when I thought I was out.. They pull me back in!

Andy Garcia did get a nomination for best supporting actor.

Macgruber - 4/10

it's been a long time since a comedy literally put me to sleep. Minus a few funny scenes the movie was extremely boring. I can safely put it in the same category of films as Night at the Roxbury, Superstar and Ladies Man

it was more vulgar than all 3 of those, ill give it that but only because its been 10 years since those films. I feel bad for Will Forte who is a funny man but this will leave a stain on his career forever.

the american - i liked this minimalist reduction of the spy genre, but the audience i saw it with seemed totally baffled by it. some really good cinematography.

a few exceptional films ive seen recently:

a brighter summer day

l'annee derniere a marienbad

barry lyndon

Watched Rosemary's Baby last night. Creepy, claustrophobic, frustrating at times. 8/10

I couldn't quite tell if it was about the old sucking the life out of the young, or a big metaphor for a pregnant woman's prebirth distraught and fevered emotions.

Maybe it's both, good film at any rate.

  On 9/8/2010 at 1:21 PM, AJW said:

Watched Rosemary's Baby last night. Creepy, claustrophobic, frustrating at times. 8/10

 

I couldn't quite tell if it was about the old sucking the life out of the young, or a big metaphor for a pregnant woman's prebirth distraught and fevered emotions.

 

Maybe it's both, good film at any rate.

I saw it again too, and what I basically took away from it was that it was a thinly-veiled autobiographical account of Polanski's rape MO

but that film is from 68, the buttrape occurred in 77...wait a minute, do you imply that...holy shit !

robin hood - /10

I hope that means 'yawn'/10

skeleton key 6/10

this gained stars for a non-happy ending. quite surprising. i only half watched the rest of it though whilst my wife watched it. on netflix play instant.

Paranormal Activity - 2/10

It got 2 points only because it was somewhat entertaining cause we spent the whole film predicting what the ghost was up to... ie fapping in the closet, going for a shite etc...

Was NOT scary in the slightest, even had the lights turned off but I guess alcohol only made it funny.

Where the Wild Things Are - 8.5/10

Second time watching and its still got the magic, Alexander the goat and the buffalo/bull were my favourite characters...

Watching Cutey Honey...actually...It was suppose to be the live version but Netflix sent me the anime. 6/10...i have to see the other disc.

will someone who doesn't believe in the myth of sleeper cell al qaeda be into Four Lions? im going to watch it soon.

I don't believe in Al Qaeda and wasn't into the film, not my kind of humor...

Warp X is putting out films that I don't enjoy at all....

very disappointing

Antichrist

Misread -and thus underrated- by many. This movie fits perfectly in the Lars Von Trier anthology. Once again we have a female idealist who sacrifices everything (her sanity and physical health) for a greater cause (to fully undergo the grief she feels she deserves), only to be brutally abused in her vulnerability (in this case by the cold hard reason of the know-it-all husband). He tries to degrade the complexity of her mourning to mere phases (the fear-phase, anger-phase, etc). A bit further into the movie, when the much-discussed torture scenes kick off, I could imagine her thinking "Well, what would you call *this* phase, motherfucker?".

Apart from all of the character/psychology/ethics stuff, this is a damn fine moodpiece. Amazing visuals and a very nice creepy-drone-laden soundtrack.

And the scene with the fox is by far the funniest moment in recent film history.

Hot Fuzz

This is one of those films one loves to revisit every once in a while. Amazingly detailed. It uses pretty much every trick in the book, but in a marvellous tongue-in-cheek kinda way. Favourite moment is Timothy Dalton with a smug smile suspiciously driving by a house that is burnt to the ground, whilst Arthur Brown's "Fire" plays on the car radio.

  On 9/10/2010 at 2:25 AM, Panthroid said:

Antichrist

Misread -and thus underrated- by many. This movie fits perfectly in the Lars Von Trier anthology. Once again we have a female idealist who sacrifices everything (her sanity and physical health) for a greater cause (to fully undergo the grief she feels she deserves), only to be brutally abused in her vulnerability (in this case by the cold hard reason of the know-it-all husband). He tries to degrade the complexity of her mourning to mere phases (the fear-phase, anger-phase, etc). A bit further into the movie, when the much-discussed torture scenes kick off, I could imagine her thinking "Well, what would you call *this* phase, motherfucker?".

Apart from all of the character/psychology/ethics stuff, this is a damn fine moodpiece. Amazing visuals and a very nice creepy-drone-laden soundtrack.

 

And the scene with the fox is by far the funniest moment in recent film history.

Well said but still the feet? I didn't find her to be someone capable of healing, I guess that makes the husband even more of idiot. Otherwise I agree, good moody movie

  On 9/9/2010 at 11:11 PM, Atop said:

I don't believe in Al Qaeda and wasn't into the film, not my kind of humor...

 

Warp X is putting out films that I don't enjoy at all....

 

very disappointing

I have to agree. I found it disjointed and unsuccessful as either A. comedy or B. off-handed drama.

I laughed at a few things, but it was really disappointing.

  On 9/5/2010 at 1:12 AM, Awepittance said:

  On 9/5/2010 at 1:10 AM, Fishtank said:

Machete 6.6/10

pretty much like The Expendables

it's stupid and it takes itself too seriously at times

it knows its stupid which is good but it falls a little flat most of the time

 

how would you compare it to Planet Terror? was it the same level of taking itself seriously?

yes but I enjoyed Planet Terror more mostly because of Brolin playing the Doc and the plot was a little better

Dirty Harry: Magnum Force – 6.5/10

Slowly working my way through all the Dirty Harry’s again since finding the blu-ray box set a few months back. This one is still as disappointing as I remember. Spare the always awesome soundtrack (sampled a pretty awesome break), this was nothing but poor writing with a bit of glorified violence sprinkled on top.

The Last Emperor – 8/10

Beautiful film! A visual splendor to say the least. I really enjoyed this… Bertolucci’s attention to detail, especially in set design, extends far past excellence, plus I have a real soft spot for Peter O’Toole and his delightful murmurings.

Vengeance Is Mine – 9/10 (Imamura fanboi)

It’s always nice to watch an Imamura film. His films always seem to have a certain unembellished/unexcessive feeling to them…. He is very modest with his knowhow and can be brutal and polite, all at the same time, even the same breath as I have seen in interviews. He takes these abasing subjects, a serial killer in this instance, and doesn’t exploit them, but rather sits them down for a cup of tea and lets the progression naturally flow.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – 7/10

I almost shut this off 30 minutes in. I just didn’t see, or want to see rather, where Gilliam was going to take it. It was too cheesy, too operatic, too shiny… I would say too all over the place, but that is what Gilliam is known for… but I held on, even through all the (intentionally??) bad CGI. Eventually I got past the usual Gilliam ambiguity and found a nice spot between here and there to enjoy it/try to understand it.

Un Prophete – 7/10

I really enjoyed this. It had a lot of interesting idea’s/tools but none of them felt fleshed out. It almost had too much story for what it really needed… I even got lost at some points trying to remember all these different, faceless characters. I wanted to know the main character more fuck all these subplots… I don’t think the director justifiably got away with the resolution of the story. I just didn’t buy it all.

Out of the Blue (2006) – 6.5/10

Interesting little film… visually not too shabby either. About that massacre that happened in New Zealand many years back. I would probably have scored it higher if it weren’t for seeing Vengeance Is Mine a few nights prior because this was just lazy in comparison. Not that I was expecting something of Imamura quality, but this film was just the typical portrayal of said subject.

Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema – 5/10

This was very bad… every bit of it. Fuck.

2010: the year we make contact

since people have always told me it's shit compared to 2001, i've never seen it until now, and while it is a very different kind of movie than 2001 (not nearly as abstract, much more hollywood in script and the way it explains itself), i really liked it. 7.9/10

land of the dead

watched it AGAIN tonight. i seriously can't get bored of zombie movies... this movie might not be textbbook classic but it's always entertaining

30 zombie brains out of 40 walking dead

  On 9/10/2010 at 5:01 AM, goffer said:

Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema – 5/10

This was very bad… every bit of it. Fuck.

no offense, but this reads more like 1/10.

Have just accumulated a handful of John Carpenter films that passed me by back in the day (They Live, Starman, Escape From LA, Escape From New York)

They Live 8/10

What a great film!! fits the bill "they don't make 'em like this anymore" perfectly. Brilliantly paced, no bullshit, us (the humans) against them (the capitalist aliens invading earth from the planet Andromeda) romp.

Delightfully cheesy with plenty of decent action and one liners. I liked the way the one liners often came at really awkard points, like when he walks into the bank laden with guns, he seems taken aback, but then rears up and calmly announces "I come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass" but the way Roddy Piper shoots them off is so dry it just comes off as hilarious. I was hoping they would play a bit more on this side of his character as the film progressed, like when he takes the woman hostage in her house and she goes into the kitchen I was waiting for a "and make me a fuckin sandwich while you're out there" or something like that.