A few films recently watched.

I watched Alice and Little Otik back to back years ago and as much as I enjoyed the visuals of Alice, it was honestly a bit boring. I very much preferred Little Otik.

mr. nice - oh god why was i so naive to think that such an interesting and eventful life such as howard marks' must make for at least a half-way watchable film.

stupid ol' me

Deception - 5/10. McGregor and Jackman had decent on-screen chemistry; as did McGregor and Williams. The movie started rather promisingly but soon fell back on thriller cliches.

Dolemite-67/10

  On 2/21/2011 at 5:42 PM, patternoverlap said:

Deception - 5/10. McGregor and Jackman had decent on-screen chemistry; as did McGregor and Williams. The movie started rather promisingly but soon fell back on thriller cliches.

this movie was an astoundingly bad thriller

  On 2/21/2011 at 9:06 PM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/21/2011 at 5:42 PM, patternoverlap said:

Deception - 5/10. McGregor and Jackman had decent on-screen chemistry; as did McGregor and Williams. The movie started rather promisingly but soon fell back on thriller cliches.

 

this movie was an astoundingly bad thriller

I think it got some extra points from me for some subtle things they did (in the beginning how Jackman's character is interacting with all of these people in the office but they all seem annoyed/repulsed by him) and because of the potential directions they could have taken with the plot. Albeit, I figured out what was going on pretty early in the film but there was a bit of doubt (around the time William's character disappears in the hotel room in Chinatown) whether it was going to be a figment of his imagination (being a loner accountant who mostly worked at night, etc) or if "The List" was going to be some kind of subversive/mysterious group that comes after him. The simple swindle/blackmail/murder scenario that played out was very standard/ham-fisted.

Enter the Void - I watched this based off a number of WATMMers recommendations. It was ok, I'd say 6-7/10. Way too many long/extended shots that did absolutely nothing but force me to look at blurry light at the end of a long hall, or the visual hallucinations of DMT (they're cool, but ffffffuuuuuuuuu... way too long). It was an interesting watch with some beautiful scenes, but I doubt I'll do it again.

The Sunset Limited - 9/10 - Really enjoyed this... kind of reminded me of The Man from Earth, but with a great cast and production value.

  On 2/21/2011 at 4:46 PM, The Overlook said:

I very much preferred Little Otik.

  On 2/22/2011 at 12:09 AM, goffer said:

The Sunset Limited - 9/10 - Really enjoyed this... kind of reminded me of The Man from Earth, but with a great cast and production value.

Very glad to read that...I have it DVR'd and I'm looking forward to it now.

  On 2/22/2011 at 12:11 AM, The Overlook said:

  On 2/22/2011 at 12:09 AM, goffer said:

The Sunset Limited - 9/10 - Really enjoyed this... kind of reminded me of The Man from Earth, but with a great cast and production value.

Very glad to read that...I have it DVR'd and I'm looking forward to it now.

is that not a cormac macarthey 2 person play?

Yeah they (HBO and Jones) adapted it into a film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1510938/

  On 2/21/2011 at 10:15 PM, patternoverlap said:

  On 2/21/2011 at 9:06 PM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/21/2011 at 5:42 PM, patternoverlap said:

Deception - 5/10. McGregor and Jackman had decent on-screen chemistry; as did McGregor and Williams. The movie started rather promisingly but soon fell back on thriller cliches.

 

this movie was an astoundingly bad thriller

 

I think it got some extra points from me for some subtle things they did (in the beginning how Jackman's character is interacting with all of these people in the office but they all seem annoyed/repulsed by him) and because of the potential directions they could have taken with the plot. Albeit, I figured out what was going on pretty early in the film but there was a bit of doubt (around the time William's character disappears in the hotel room in Chinatown) whether it was going to be a figment of his imagination (being a loner accountant who mostly worked at night, etc) or if "The List" was going to be some kind of subversive/mysterious group that comes after him. The simple swindle/blackmail/murder scenario that played out was very standard/ham-fisted.

maybe im thinking of a different movie, wasn't hugh jackman some sort of high end male prostitue who lets Mcgregor fuck some of his clients

  On 2/22/2011 at 12:11 AM, The Overlook said:

  On 2/22/2011 at 12:09 AM, goffer said:

The Sunset Limited - 9/10 - Really enjoyed this... kind of reminded me of The Man from Earth, but with a great cast and production value.

Very glad to read that...I have it DVR'd and I'm looking forward to it now.

I think you will enjoy it... not sure what your opinions of Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada are, but I thought it was a beautifully executed film.

  On 2/22/2011 at 1:01 AM, goffer said:

I think you will enjoy it... not sure what your opinions of Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada are, but I thought it was a beautifully executed film.

  On 2/22/2011 at 1:24 AM, The Overlook said:

  On 2/22/2011 at 1:01 AM, goffer said:

I think you will enjoy it... not sure what your opinions of Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada are, but I thought it was a beautifully executed film.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper

Released: 2005

Synopsis: When a ranch hand finds out his Mexican friend is murdered by a border patrol agent, he makes a rash, principled decision to torture the bastard. Bring lots of popcorn, 'cause he takes his time.

 

Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams), the writer of Three Burials, has a well-established affinity for nauseating misery. He writes narratives for the tormented; moralist tales of stubborn protagonists and their gruesome, entangled destinies. In first-time director Tommy Lee Jones he found a willing agent to represent his cinematic afflictions.

 

Let's get something straight. There's nothing complicated about Three Burials. Its story, its photography, and most importantly, its characters, are no more elaborate than the requirements of the story being told. That story is of Mike Norton, a swaggering, violent border patrol agent played by Barry Pepper, who kills an illegal immigrant, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo), in a trigger-happy "accidental" shooting. Tommy Lee Jones is Pete Perkins, a ranch hand who's recently befriended Melquiades and takes his death very, very personally. It's never revealed why ole Pete, nearly mute, took the death of Melquiades so hard, but we get the idea soon enough. That's because Perkins tracks down Norton at gun point, handcuffs him, then forces him to dig up the body of Melquiades so the two of them can transport the corpse, on horseback no less, over several hundred miles of sun-scorched, inhospitable land between the border town of Van Horn, Texas and a fictitious Mexican village called Jimenez. Upon arrival, they're to provide Melquiades with a proper burial and Norton is then commanded, at gun point again, to beg forgiveness lest he be shot between the eyes.

 

Again, it's simple. During their odyssey, Norton is treated like an insurgent arab in Guantanamo, forced to dine with and sleep next to the quickly decomposing body of Melquiades. Norton eventually makes a run for it only to find no reprieve in an indifferent desert. Perkins tracks Norton on horseback, mocking his prisoner's futile attempt to outrun the script he's stuck in. Wouldn't ya know it, Norton gets bit by a rattlesnake and is eventually rescued by a band of Merry Mexicans. In a twist of fate, the sort of pseudo-canny writing Arriaga is renowned for, Norton is brought back to health by the very same Mexican woman he viciously assaulted earlier in the film. During all of this, Perkins says not a lot and smiles idly at the prescience of his scheming.

 

Get it? Ole Pete's got a point to make and that's bad news for Norton. What that point is, exactly, Arriaga means to elucidate by whatever means necessary, so long as it gives an audience ample compulsion to retch. That's accomplished primarily by extended scenes of Perkins playing with the decaying body of Melquiades. I dare you not to laugh.

 

Anyway, the basic moral goes something like this. The dispute over illegal immigration, specifically related to Texas and Mexico, would break the hearts of all of us if we only paid it any attention. Luckily, we've found a shepherd in Guillermo Arriaga. In this particular tale, Mexicans are hard-working, benevolent, trusting folks. They're collectivist in spirit and quick to forgive. Americans, conversely, are bigoted, lazy, child-like hedonists.

 

In the eyes of Hollywood, what this issue apparently needed was a good folk tale. The ingredients call for Pete Perkins, this Don Quixote of South Texas and champion for mistreated border-jumpers; a writer with Arriaga's appetite for the revolting; a supporting cast of evil white idiots; and of course, a suitably credulous audience. Put all that crap in a blender and the results are The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

 

There is a gimmick, by the way. Without any indication, flashbacks are edited into the proceedings just to mindfuck people into an intellectual stupor. If you get it soon enough not to need the rewind button, I suppose you should feel rewarded. If you don't, well you're fucking stupid; Tommy Lee Jones and Guillermo Arriaga don't want you watching this film to begin with. Dumbass.

 

A couple absurd scenes worth calling attention to:

 

- Mike Norton's wife, a trophy piece of ass from Ohio, becomes something of a prostitute and ends up sleeping with Melquiades. I know that sounds silly because it is; in fact, it's fucking retarded, but it satisfies Arriaga's twisted sense of social justice. This character, whose name is Lou Ann, is played by January Jones, a former Abercrombie & Fitch model (she very much looks like one). It's just a horrible piece of casting unless it was done merely as a stunt. Jones is a cross between a pinup fantasy and the sorta girl you'd expect to see in Milan wearing the latest from Versace. If hookers in Van Horn, Texas might look anything like that, I'd move yesterday.

 

- During their trek into Mexico, Perkins and Norton happen upon yet another band of Merry Mexicans (this was like something out of a video game). They're ranch hands sitting around the middle of a prairie valley. Propped up on a stool is a television, broadcasting an American soap opera. Where'd they get the power for this thing? How'd they even get reception out there? Hilarious. Nevermind that. Near starvation, Pete asks if he can buy some food. The foreman of the group reaches into the back of his pickup truck and pulls out a pristine backstrap from a freshy killed black bear. The meat is of butcher quality and condition. Apparently, Mexico is veritable fountain of human spirit.

 

  On 2/22/2011 at 1:31 AM, goffer said:

  On 2/22/2011 at 1:24 AM, The Overlook said:

  On 2/22/2011 at 1:01 AM, goffer said:

I think you will enjoy it... not sure what your opinions of Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada are, but I thought it was a beautifully executed film.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper

Released: 2005

Synopsis: When a ranch hand finds out his Mexican friend is murdered by a border patrol agent, he makes a rash, principled decision to torture the bastard. Bring lots of popcorn, 'cause he takes his time.

 

Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams), the writer of Three Burials, has a well-established affinity for nauseating misery. He writes narratives for the tormented; moralist tales of stubborn protagonists and their gruesome, entangled destinies. In first-time director Tommy Lee Jones he found a willing agent to represent his cinematic afflictions.

 

Let's get something straight. There's nothing complicated about Three Burials. Its story, its photography, and most importantly, its characters, are no more elaborate than the requirements of the story being told. That story is of Mike Norton, a swaggering, violent border patrol agent played by Barry Pepper, who kills an illegal immigrant, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo), in a trigger-happy "accidental" shooting. Tommy Lee Jones is Pete Perkins, a ranch hand who's recently befriended Melquiades and takes his death very, very personally. It's never revealed why ole Pete, nearly mute, took the death of Melquiades so hard, but we get the idea soon enough. That's because Perkins tracks down Norton at gun point, handcuffs him, then forces him to dig up the body of Melquiades so the two of them can transport the corpse, on horseback no less, over several hundred miles of sun-scorched, inhospitable land between the border town of Van Horn, Texas and a fictitious Mexican village called Jimenez. Upon arrival, they're to provide Melquiades with a proper burial and Norton is then commanded, at gun point again, to beg forgiveness lest he be shot between the eyes.

 

Again, it's simple. During their odyssey, Norton is treated like an insurgent arab in Guantanamo, forced to dine with and sleep next to the quickly decomposing body of Melquiades. Norton eventually makes a run for it only to find no reprieve in an indifferent desert. Perkins tracks Norton on horseback, mocking his prisoner's futile attempt to outrun the script he's stuck in. Wouldn't ya know it, Norton gets bit by a rattlesnake and is eventually rescued by a band of Merry Mexicans. In a twist of fate, the sort of pseudo-canny writing Arriaga is renowned for, Norton is brought back to health by the very same Mexican woman he viciously assaulted earlier in the film. During all of this, Perkins says not a lot and smiles idly at the prescience of his scheming.

 

Get it? Ole Pete's got a point to make and that's bad news for Norton. What that point is, exactly, Arriaga means to elucidate by whatever means necessary, so long as it gives an audience ample compulsion to retch. That's accomplished primarily by extended scenes of Perkins playing with the decaying body of Melquiades. I dare you not to laugh.

 

Anyway, the basic moral goes something like this. The dispute over illegal immigration, specifically related to Texas and Mexico, would break the hearts of all of us if we only paid it any attention. Luckily, we've found a shepherd in Guillermo Arriaga. In this particular tale, Mexicans are hard-working, benevolent, trusting folks. They're collectivist in spirit and quick to forgive. Americans, conversely, are bigoted, lazy, child-like hedonists.

 

In the eyes of Hollywood, what this issue apparently needed was a good folk tale. The ingredients call for Pete Perkins, this Don Quixote of South Texas and champion for mistreated border-jumpers; a writer with Arriaga's appetite for the revolting; a supporting cast of evil white idiots; and of course, a suitably credulous audience. Put all that crap in a blender and the results are The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

 

There is a gimmick, by the way. Without any indication, flashbacks are edited into the proceedings just to mindfuck people into an intellectual stupor. If you get it soon enough not to need the rewind button, I suppose you should feel rewarded. If you don't, well you're fucking stupid; Tommy Lee Jones and Guillermo Arriaga don't want you watching this film to begin with. Dumbass.

 

A couple absurd scenes worth calling attention to:

 

- Mike Norton's wife, a trophy piece of ass from Ohio, becomes something of a prostitute and ends up sleeping with Melquiades. I know that sounds silly because it is; in fact, it's fucking retarded, but it satisfies Arriaga's twisted sense of social justice. This character, whose name is Lou Ann, is played by January Jones, a former Abercrombie & Fitch model (she very much looks like one). It's just a horrible piece of casting unless it was done merely as a stunt. Jones is a cross between a pinup fantasy and the sorta girl you'd expect to see in Milan wearing the latest from Versace. If hookers in Van Horn, Texas might look anything like that, I'd move yesterday.

 

- During their trek into Mexico, Perkins and Norton happen upon yet another band of Merry Mexicans (this was like something out of a video game). They're ranch hands sitting around the middle of a prairie valley. Propped up on a stool is a television, broadcasting an American soap opera. Where'd they get the power for this thing? How'd they even get reception out there? Hilarious. Nevermind that. Near starvation, Pete asks if he can buy some food. The foreman of the group reaches into the back of his pickup truck and pulls out a pristine backstrap from a freshy killed black bear. The meat is of butcher quality and condition. Apparently, Mexico is veritable fountain of human spirit.

 

Of course, I wrote that 5 years ago, but I don't think I've changed my mind on it much. I'm really not a fan of Arriaga, or by extension, Iñárritu.

I saw it about a year ago and enjoyed it just as I would a home made pie. It felt homey, comfortable, and humbling for whatever reason, as some sort if vague Herzogian walkabout; the absurdism is what really turned me on about it.

I also like it. Just sayin.

Enter The Void

7/10

Interesting.. the last 15 minutes was just fucked up though

  On 2/22/2011 at 12:39 AM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/21/2011 at 10:15 PM, patternoverlap said:

  On 2/21/2011 at 9:06 PM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/21/2011 at 5:42 PM, patternoverlap said:

Deception - 5/10. McGregor and Jackman had decent on-screen chemistry; as did McGregor and Williams. The movie started rather promisingly but soon fell back on thriller cliches.

 

this movie was an astoundingly bad thriller

 

I think it got some extra points from me for some subtle things they did (in the beginning how Jackman's character is interacting with all of these people in the office but they all seem annoyed/repulsed by him) and because of the potential directions they could have taken with the plot. Albeit, I figured out what was going on pretty early in the film but there was a bit of doubt (around the time William's character disappears in the hotel room in Chinatown) whether it was going to be a figment of his imagination (being a loner accountant who mostly worked at night, etc) or if "The List" was going to be some kind of subversive/mysterious group that comes after him. The simple swindle/blackmail/murder scenario that played out was very standard/ham-fisted.

 

maybe im thinking of a different movie, wasn't hugh jackman some sort of high end male prostitue who lets Mcgregor fuck some of his clients

It might have seemed that way if you weren't paying attention. Jackman is a conman/murderer pretending to be a lawyer who's on some kind of rich people sex club list.

it's been a long time since i've seen a good new thriller movie. I harken back to an era not too long ago where movies as good as Basic Instinct and Misery were coming out regularly

cube 2/10

another nice idea ruined by too many ideas , bad dialogue and bad acting.

note to writers/directors/actors: if you're trying to escape a box which moves and the entrance is currently open for a short time, realistically your characters would fucking run and jump through the whole, not take a sit down, hug etc. fucks sake.

i haven't seen saw but this seems like saw for (canadian) girls

  On 2/22/2011 at 11:28 PM, Awepittance said:

it's been a long time since i've seen a good new thriller movie. I harken back to an era not too long ago where movies as good as Basic Instinct and Misery were coming out regularly

I agree. Seems to be becoming a lost art. I was trying to remember one I had seen that was made in the last decade or so that I would consider good. Couldn't think of many offhand. Maybe Zodiac, if you consider that a thriller.

  On 2/23/2011 at 7:49 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

cube 2/10

another nice idea ruined by too many ideas , bad dialogue and bad acting.

note to writers/directors/actors: if you're trying to escape a box which moves and the entrance is currently open for a short time, realistically your characters would fucking run and jump through the whole, not take a sit down, hug etc. fucks sake.

 

i haven't seen saw but this seems like saw for (canadian) girls

Yeah, try watching Cube 2: Hypercube

Even bigger ideas with even worse dialogue and acting.

I really wanted to like Hypercube, the story is a neat idea it's just horribly executed.