A few films recently watched.

so i finally tried to watch the Descendents, couldnt finish it. I know there is a lot of shit talk about Alexander Payne on this board, but i really loved Election and About Scmidt (less so but still probably Nicholson's best later period movie).

George Clooney just fucking sucks sometimes. He won me over a little bit in movies like Burn After Reading but this is just non-starter, he's just not a very good actor, i said it.

I was disappointed with Descendants too... more so for the fact that I paid theater prices for it and I chose it over The Skin I Live In due to being too lazy to read subtitles that evening… One of my poorer decisions of 2011.

  On 3/27/2012 at 11:20 PM, zaphod said:

Punch Drunk Love - Decent, but would not watch again. Probably PTA's worst movie (haven't seen Hard Eight). 7/10

 

Come and See - Watched this like five years ago based on Mirezzi's recommendation on this very forum. It's pretty harrowing. "Tarkovsky makes a war film" is probably an obvious reference point, but for the first hour it seems pretty apt. Liked it a lot, would never watch it again. 9/10

 

Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie - Listen guys, I don't know. It was a mistake, I was fucked up on cold medicine. 1/10

PDL - Harsh, but likely fair. I loved it 10 years ago. Then again, I loved the remake of Solaris ten years ago. My, how times have changed...

Come and See - Yeah, I have meant to watch it a second time and, shock of shocks, have not done so. Likely never will. Still one of the best though.

  On 3/27/2012 at 11:30 PM, Awepittance said:

so i finally tried to watch the Descendents, couldnt finish it. I know there is a lot of shit talk about Alexander Payne on this board, but i really loved Election and About Scmidt (less so but still probably Nicholson's best later period movie).

George Clooney just fucking sucks sometimes. He won me over a little bit in movies like Burn After Reading but this is just non-starter, he's just not a very good actor, i said it.

I didn't want to finish it, but did...why? I thought it would pull an About Schmidt and make a turn in the 3rd act that resonated or at least, in part, subverted the first half of the film. Instead, it just kept piling on the shittiness, reaching fevered pitch as Clooney cries on a corpse only moments after he stares at photos of his rich fucking family of ultra privileged cunts on the walls of some random Hawaiian villa which was only moments after he declared these aforementioned cunts would keep their half a billion dollar property. Fucking terrible. Anyhow, I'm not ready to write him off completely, because Clooney plays Clooney well enough to keep my interest. I think he's charming despite his inability to act. Still, I once thought he was good in the remake of Solaris. Boy was I was wrong. He wasn't terrible, but he wasn't good either. Furthermore, the movie itself was bad. Great music and pretty images do not a good movie make. Bleh.

  On 3/27/2012 at 11:25 PM, goffer said:

Yes! loved Senna....

^5

One of my favorites of many years, regardless of genre.

Yeah dude, the Solaris remake really doesn't hold up. I don't think the score is that great either. Funny how opinions change.

la havre - did absolutely nothing to me which was extremely disappointing as i really liked everything i've seen by kaurismaki. maybe his thing loses its charm in french language and context, i dunno.

Went to see Friends with Kids with the gf; it was light-hearted and enjoyable. Something to watch when you feel like relaxing. Some of the dialogue was a bit "in your face" and not suited for the film, but other than that, enjoyable.

6.5/10

Some other shit I watched:

Fish Tank - Actually really liked this. Felt like a great first novel. Nice to see an angry young woman as a protagonist. Fassbender was good as well. 8/10

Hunger - I guess Mcqueen is asking us to look at how context affects how we view history. Despite the cinematography being painterly and most of the shots being very carefully composed, the film itself seems weirdly objective and affectless. I'm not sure how I feel about that, given the subject matter and how manipulative the IRA was, but still, very good. 8/10

Shame - A little melodramatic. There's some great shots in this, and nothing is really wrong with it technically, but the moral underpinning is pretty thin and obvious. Dare I say, romantic. 6/10

I too, was unimpressed.

-100000000000000000000000/10

fffuuu, most frustratingly shit film i've sat through in ages

WHAT FILM DID YOU SEE DATA!?!?!?!?

  On 3/28/2012 at 3:18 AM, Atop said:

WHAT FILM DID YOU SEE DATA!?!?!?!?

yeah, can't see the image but that does sound horrendous. thanks for the link.

  On 3/28/2012 at 12:01 AM, The Overlook said:

  On 3/27/2012 at 11:20 PM, zaphod said:

Punch Drunk Love - Decent, but would not watch again. Probably PTA's worst movie (haven't seen Hard Eight). 7/10

 

 

PDL - Harsh, but likely fair. I loved it 10 years ago.

Welcome back, Zaphod. I think Punch-drunk Love still holds up. I watched it again about a month ago and I probably don't love it as much as I used to but I think it's one of PTA's best films. I like that it doesn't feel like most of PTA's other films where he's trying to tackle some huge subject and make some grand statement. Doesn't hurt that the film doesn't have the same bloat that a lot of his films have and the score is neat too.

Tin Tin - 6.5/10 - I kept waiting for this to become terrible, because of what I read about it but I kinda liked it. The more I think about it Spielberg is a natural candidate to direct an animated movie. He knows how to fill a frame and direct an action sequence and the movie is basically a few action scenes strung together. Overall, the ending was terrible and it was bit long but the action was good and the facial animations weren't too creepy.

wow, zaphod's back!

*sheds single tear of joy*

Get him to the greek, couldn't get past the first 10 minutes. torture/10

  On 3/27/2012 at 7:36 PM, goffer said:

It doesnt really stand out in comparison to other road films of it's era, such as Easy Rider... but I don't know, I enjoyed Two Lane Blacktop.... it certainly hasnt aged very well but I enjoyed the ambience and the freedom it embraces. I'll probably never watch it again but was glad I did make it through it.

yeah two lane blacktop doesn't have the charismatic characters to compare to easy rider - fonda, hopper and nicholson are just engaging as hell. dennis wilson, james taylor and the girl were so wooden i just couldn't care what they got up to... warren oates was great though - only saving grace imo.

I watched Battle Royale a couple of days ago for the first time. Didn't like it.

I think I've had it with Japanese movies. Never more.

  On 3/28/2012 at 12:01 AM, The Overlook said:

  On 3/27/2012 at 11:20 PM, zaphod said:

Punch Drunk Love - Decent, but would not watch again. Probably PTA's worst movie (haven't seen Hard Eight). 7/10

 

PDL - Harsh, but likely fair. I loved it 10 years ago. Then again, I loved the remake of Solaris ten years ago. My, how times have changed...

home sick for the week, good time to catch up on some movies.

actually watched Punch-Drunk Love yesterday morning. it was alright, but nothing too special. but it wasn't bad. 7/10 seems fair:)

watched Barry Lyndon yesterday. hot damn, that was a lovely looking film. just about every scene was a delight to look at. and it may have been a 3 hour film on 18th century fiction, but it had enough of kubricks personality and humour to keep me interested. like, 9/10 or something. good film.

umm. i've seen solaris and stalker, whats some good Tarkovsky to continue with?

or um, if anyone would like to recommend any other well filmed Tarkovsky/Kubrick style films, i'd be pretty happy. i'll investigate Come and See, as posted above, but it looks a little horrible.

Nostalgia from Tarkovsky. It has my favorite scene of all time. But I'm not telling you which one!

  On 3/28/2012 at 1:07 PM, Squee said:

I watched Battle Royale a couple of days ago for the first time. Didn't like it.

I think I've had it with Japanese movies. Never more.

boo

  On 3/28/2012 at 2:08 PM, kaen said:

  On 3/28/2012 at 1:07 PM, Squee said:

I watched Battle Royale a couple of days ago for the first time. Didn't like it.

I think I've had it with Japanese movies. Never more.

 

boo

It's the acting, man. So fucking over the top. Plus, the fact that I met a Japanese movie director a couple of years ago who I've been working for a couple of times and it has completely destroyed my love for Japanese movies. Korean movies on the other hand...

  On 3/28/2012 at 2:14 PM, Squee said:

Plus, the fact that I met a Japanese movie director a couple of years ago who I've been working for a couple of times and it has completely destroyed my love for Japanese movies.

You can't say that and not tell the story...

  On 3/28/2012 at 2:17 PM, Obel said:

  On 3/28/2012 at 2:14 PM, Squee said:

Plus, the fact that I met a Japanese movie director a couple of years ago who I've been working for a couple of times and it has completely destroyed my love for Japanese movies.

 

You can't say that and not tell the story...

  On 3/28/2012 at 2:17 PM, Obel said:

  On 3/28/2012 at 2:14 PM, Squee said:

Plus, the fact that I met a Japanese movie director a couple of years ago who I've been working for a couple of times and it has completely destroyed my love for Japanese movies.

 

You can't say that and not tell the story...

I did the soundtrack for a short anime movie about a year and a half ago and it was a fucking pain in the ass. I met up with the director and she was cool. We liked the same kind of music, we agreed on how the soundtrack should sound and so on and so on. But from there on it was like a migraine that wouldn't stop. She had a really hard time speaking her mind. It was almost as if the word 'no' didn't exist in her vocabulary which meant that she couldn't give me or anyone else who worked on her movie a straight answer. Every word that came out of her mouth was like a riddle. I was in an anime hell for 4 months and now it gives me the chills every time I watch an anime or a Japanese movie.