A few films recently watched.

meek's cutoff - 9/10

this is some high quality, auteur cinema.

Rise of The Planet of the Apes.

Most of the film is set-up for the oncoming ®ape ®evolution, and it's surprising how much they wanted you to care for the actual characters and their motivations. Though Frieda Pinto is literally only in this movie so that there's some hot Indian chick to look at, there's quite a bit of payoff and satisfaction once the ape starts getting his revenge. I loved the orangutan. Loved him.

6.5 or 7/10

The Clink of Ice - 7/10

  On 8/8/2011 at 3:52 AM, Candiru said:

®ape ®evolution

That's either an evolution of apes or a revolution of rapes

But yeah, I thought the apes were characterized quite well for nonverbal characters. Some of the humans not so much.

La Jetée (Chris Marker)

10/10

A 30 minutes sci-fi movie using only b&w photography, direct inspiration for both 12 monkeys and Alphaville. French with English subtitles and it's available as a two part on youtube. Go see it right now.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July)

fast-food/10

Vaguely irritating masturbatory fantasy but I really liked watching John Hawkes. Avoid unless you're into 500 days of Summer, Mike Nichols, Garden State type stuff. Yes it is worthless.

Généalogies d'un crime (Raul Ruiz)

8/10

Ok this was fun. I can't believe how beautiful Catherine Deneuve is. Crime story with lots of flashy intellectual mindgames, great camerawork and awesome portrayal of dangerous charlatans disguised as psychoanalysts.

Hitler: A Film from Germany Part 2 A German Dream (Hans Jurgen Syberberg)

7/10

Sooo... This is the second part of an Eight Hour Epic. It was really interesting and looked great, it is arranged as some sort of Wagnerian opera. Im afraid of sounding stupid talking about something so vast and high culture so ask Susan Sontag instead. Oh and the whole thing is available for free online too.

Beginners - 9/10. Excellent.

finally got around to seeing helvetica 10/10, rekindled an interest in design, further fueled my interest in typography, and watching massimo vignelli talk shit about david carson was a real treat.

cowboys and aliens

entertaining but some cringe moments and a feeling of having seen it all before.

also game of thrones rip off much? if it had just been one moment then i'd have ignored it but two major ripoffs.

1. gold pour head death.

2. fire rebirth naked chick.

shameless.

tangled

disney

wimbledon

lols

Shutter Island. Oaky I suppose. 6.5 out of 10

  On 8/8/2011 at 3:52 AM, Candiru said:

Rise of The Planet of the Apes.

 

 

Most of the film is set-up for the oncoming ®ape ®evolution, and it's surprising how much they wanted you to care for the actual characters and their motivations. Though Frieda Pinto is literally only in this movie so that there's some hot Indian chick to look at, there's quite a bit of payoff and satisfaction once the ape starts getting his revenge. I loved the orangutan. Loved him.

 

 

6.5 or 7/10

I saw it last night. I give it a 4.5

It was entertaining but was filled with unlikeable characters. also, for science fiction, it could have been a bit smarter.

I was impressed with andy serkis' monkey acting. james franco is always a bit dull to me.

I liked the end when apes started fucking shit up. that should have been the whole film.

  On 8/1/2011 at 10:23 PM, essines said:

I am almost through Event Horizon for the first time in years and i still love it.

saw it again recently too, hasn't dated much in 14yrs

ive seen a lot of mainstream movies over the past weeks, so bear with me

CrazyStupidLove-6/10

Considering how nauseatingly horribly and lazy comedies have become in America (Im looking at you, Hangover), this rom-com actually was pretty enjoyable. Sure there are the usual sappy parts but for fucking once it was well written. There was even a "twist" towards the end of the movie that I actually got a kick out of.

That said, I wouldn't really recommend anyone spend money to see it, especially you reknowned cinephiles here....but compared to Horrible Bosses and the Hangover, this was good.....not saying much.

Transformers 3 or whatever the fuck its called- 1/10

WTF 7TH HIGHEST GROSSING MOVIE OF ALL TIME? WTF IS THIS???

it was so bad it even failed to be funny in its badness. i could seriously make a Mr.Plinkett review of this movie, at least 70 minutes long, such is the length of my grievances.

To name a few:

-Horrible CGI inclusion of JFK within the opening segment

-A scene involving a Decepticon and a child's tea party that is so mind-numbingly bad I completely missed Bay's attempt at "humor" and instead projectile vomited onto my 3D glasses

-3D itself (WTF a normal movie on the bigscreen is infinitely cooler, and doesn't hurt your eyes)

-the inclusion of the John Malkovich boss/Shia's new job segment. anyone that can't fit john malkovich's talents successfully into a movie needs to get punched in the cock.

-horrible script

-explaining everything ONLY because it is just now integral to justifying any character actions

-horribly awkward and manic transitions from comedy to action to horror to romance

-the soundtrack was probably the most inappropriate soundtrack for any movie i have ever seen

-Shia LeBeouf suddenly able to move under and over falling debris like an international parkour champion

-the FUCKING ENDING

You know, I think I can safely say this movie is the worst movie of all time. Now, I know I would be met with rebuttals such as "But what about Plan 9 or The Room?"

My justification for this being the worst movie ever made is upon the following points:

-Plan 9 is horrible but was practically intentionally schlock given Ed Wood's reputation

-Plan 9 is delightfully camp, dated, and has pretty much always been regarded as such

-The Room is so fucking awful its hilariously charming

-Tommy Wiseau made it out of his own pocket

-Thus, the psuedo-indie credentials justify its badness in an enjoyable moviewatching experience

For Transformers, none of the above is true.

-Gigantic budget

-"Acclaimed" director, though I use that VERY grudgingly

-Big name actors (It made John Turturro look like a bad actor...what. the. fuck..?)

-Ridiculous amounts of CGI/intense promotional art, marketing, blah blah blah explosions that were not intended to be ridiculous, and yet a scene 10 seconds later suggests to us that yes, Bay was being ironic, how dare you not pick up on how edgy that was

i could go on and on about how much a suckfest this shitpile was. first and last transformers movie for me. Fuck you Michael Bay.

oh, and no offense to the Watmmer Soundwave reading this right now, but fucking SOUNDWAVE WASNT A BOOMBOX

that was probably Bay's most criminal offense.

one more thing I have to get off my chest, and its harsh but true.

if you enjoyed Transformers 3 Revenge of the Metal Fuckwads on the Shitside of the Moon you are mentally retarded. I am serious. If you enjoyed this movie in any sense, whether from an aesthetic or ironic analysis, you are mentally handicapped and are capable of sub-human intelligence.

rise of the planet of the apes - 7/10

better than i thought it would be. cgi is getting insane.

tommyknockers - 7/10

hilariously corny made for tv stephen king miniseries. sucks so bad it good.

tree of life - 8/10

Hitchcocks "Notorious". 6/10. This was one of those movies that is filmed really well but plot wise was really boring. The constant air of slow building melodrama was probably the most interesting aspect, the pacing and haze around the story helps make more sense of what he was doing with vertigo, whose pacing was very similar, and with a similar love story(but is about 10x a better movie). I can't help but love the movie anyways, these kinds of slow, tense movies always suck me in. Whether it is something like magnolia, or blue velvet, or vertigo(three of my favorite movies). I can't quite put my finger on what this quality is but I love it. Otherwise the film is pretty awful, I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really trying to nerd out on hitchcock(i am marathoning), or you really enjoy melodrama without much else in terms of depth(although there are a number of subtle hitchcock plot nuances that are pretty entertaining, it is nothing amazing, just a new perspective on hitchcock for me).

I also just watch Heart Of Darkness,. 8/10. an amazing documentary, which I've been meaning to see for a long time, but haven't. I just love the intimacy you get with coppola and his process. It must have been really something to be on set for the filming of this movie. If you liked apocalypse now you are going to enjoy this.

I'm excited to see his new film "Twixt" which is apparently a murder mystery(one of my favorite genres). I really need to catch up on his other films though(i just watched the conversation which was a very very good movie, released between godfathers 1 and 2). I'll probably watch Dracula first as it is one of my favorite books and I don't think I have seen his adaptation yet.

  On 8/9/2011 at 2:27 AM, Bubba69 said:

Hitchcocks "Notorious". 6/10. This was one of those movies that is filmed really well but plot wise was really boring. The constant air of slow building melodrama was probably the most interesting aspect, the pacing and haze around the story helps make more sense of what he was doing with vertigo, whose pacing was very similar, and with a similar love story(but is about 10x a better movie). I can't help but love the movie anyways, these kinds of slow, tense movies always suck me in. Whether it is something like magnolia, or blue velvet, or vertigo(three of my favorite movies). I can't quite put my finger on what this quality is but I love it. Otherwise the film is pretty awful, I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really trying to nerd out on hitchcock(i am marathoning), or you really enjoy melodrama without much else in terms of depth(although there are a number of subtle hitchcock plot nuances that are pretty entertaining, it is nothing amazing, just a new perspective on hitchcock for me).

 

I also just watch Heart Of Darkness,. 8/10. an amazing documentary, which I've been meaning to see for a long time, but haven't. I just love the intimacy you get with coppola and his process. It must have been really something to be on set for the filming of this movie. If you liked apocalypse now you are going to enjoy this.

 

I'm excited to see his new film "Twixt" which is apparently a murder mystery(one of my favorite genres). I really need to catch up on his other films though(i just watched the conversation which was a very very good movie, released between godfathers 1 and 2). I'll probably watch Dracula first as it is one of my favorite books and I don't think I have seen his adaptation yet.

Just to warn you, Coppola's Dracula kinda stank something fierce... Gary Oldman's performance is about the only thing that kept me going. Its a very over dramatized and cheesy adaptation of dracula as far as i'm concerned. Also... Keanu Reeves with an overthetop english accent... oh dear.

I'm a big fan of Apocalypse Now... but I really could barely believe that it was coppola who directed Dracula after I'd seen it. Watch Herzog's Nosferatu if yer looking for a genuine, atmospheric dracula.

i firmly believe that dracula would have been decent without winona ryder and keanu reeves. gary oldamn was great, as usual, and the direction was interestingly stylized.

are any of his other post apocalypse now movies worth watching. I was also thinking about watching Tucker.

  On 8/9/2011 at 3:36 AM, Bubba69 said:

are any of his other post apocalypse now movies worth watching. I was also thinking about watching Tucker.

'rumble fish' is really good. thats the only one i can think of. hes made more shitty films than good ones..

very good

bit weird to see paul dano in this though, he looked and sounded a bit too much like his character in there will be blood. also, shirley hendersons voice gets annoying after a while. still though, top stuff.

  On 8/9/2011 at 12:24 AM, soundwave said:

  On 8/1/2011 at 10:23 PM, essines said:

I am almost through Event Horizon for the first time in years and i still love it.

 

saw it again recently too, hasn't dated much in 14yrs

You guys made me watch this! I thought it was about finding evil Egyptians on the other side of the portal but it turns out I was thinking of another film so I had to ask imdb and torrent stargate next. EH was cool but I had more fun with the racist comedy and lovely romance between Kurt Russell and the kid on stargate, not to mention the queer dude playing god, what about his tween servants, and why did he only have two spacecrafts? what a weird movie. I want a sequel.

oh I read that they cut 30 minutes of a satanic orgy on EH, would love to see that lost footage.

Event Horizon was always how i imagined as a kid a Doom the movie would be like, and in a way the movie almost works better for me if i think of it that way. because otherwise it does seem too much just like a more hollywoodified hellraiser in space

watched a couple of harry potters recently, they are kind of fun in some ways but fuck me do they feel rushed sometimes. I've never come across films that so regularly just thrust you into things and leave you completely flummoxed. I watched the Prisoner Of Azkeban ages ago and remember becoming completely confused towards the end despite having read the book, and it being a childrens film.

I watched Goblet of Fire last week and that was actually quite good, or at least it broadly made sense and kept you in the loop of what was happening. Then Order Of The Phoenix was okay but got a bit jumbled. Last night I watched Half Blood Prince which was fairly solid up to a point when I swear I felt like I'd left the room for 20 minutes or been hit in the head with something and I suddenly didn't know what anyone was talking about, had to pause and read the plot on wikipedia for five minutes. I know they are working with a big fat book and it already ran to 2.5hrs but that really shouldn't happen.

I'll probably power through since I want to see what happens and they are pleasant enough to stick on in the evenings while ironing my pants

Un, deux, trois, soleil - Did you say assholes? Here I am in my tracksuit/10

  On 8/9/2011 at 7:45 AM, m u st co n t r ol t h o 4 said:

oh I read that they cut 30 minutes of a satanic orgy on EH, would love to see that lost footage.

The blood orgy was definitely the most memorable scene for me, though I suspect part of why it was effective is because we only see split second shots of nasty stuff going down.