A few films recently watched.

i saw the guard last night. had very low expectations and actually really enjoyed it. some of my enjoyment may have come from my wife not understanding a word or any of the cultural references that I got some of. I really liked the self awareness of the drug smugglers. problem is if i recommend it you will go in with higher expectations than i did.

Im taking a film appreciation class this semester and we are going to watch these movies:

The Artist

Vertigo

A Seperation

He Who Gets Slapped (silent movie with live piano)

Pans Labyrinth

A Clockwork Orange

Holiday

Martha Marcy Mae Marlene

The Exorcist

Barton Fink

Hair

Chinatown

Harold and Maude

I've seen a handful of these films. What do you guys think of the list?

That's the least challenging film appreciation list I've ever seen

Oh, I also rewatched Inland Empire a few days ago. Seriously, if anyone has seen this one, could you perhaps help me understand what the shit this movie is about?? I REALLY don't get it.

The music is great though.

  On 8/24/2012 at 8:11 PM, Friendly Foil said:

Oh, I also rewatched Inland Empire a few days ago. Seriously, if anyone has seen this one, could you perhaps help me understand what the shit this movie is about?? I REALLY don't get it.

 

The music is great though.

  On 8/24/2012 at 7:47 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

Im taking a film appreciation class this semester and we are going to watch these movies:

The Artist

Vertigo

A Seperation

He Who Gets Slapped (silent movie with live piano)

Pans Labyrinth

A Clockwork Orange

Holiday

Martha Marcy Mae Marlene

The Exorcist

Barton Fink

Hair

Chinatown

Harold and Maude

 

I've seen a handful of these films. What do you guys think of the list?

I appreciate those films. but i would expect a film appreciation class to show things I haven't seen already.

  On 8/24/2012 at 8:19 PM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

  On 8/24/2012 at 8:11 PM, Friendly Foil said:

Oh, I also rewatched Inland Empire a few days ago. Seriously, if anyone has seen this one, could you perhaps help me understand what the shit this movie is about?? I REALLY don't get it.

 

The music is great though.

you're doing it wrong if you wanna know what's it about...

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

didn't you had the chills when laura dern accidentally mistakes real life with the movie?? oh my the chills...

 

I really like the opening, the ending scene and the stuff with the rabbits. It's the stuff in the middle that bothers me. I mean, Mulholland Drive was pretty confusing too, but it still makes more sense than Inland Empire.

Bernie 7/10 , One of jack blacks better roles, pretty funny in parts.

  On 8/24/2012 at 9:10 PM, compson said:

Bernie 7/10 , One of jack blacks better roles, pretty funny in parts.

I will likely be in the minority here, because I really enjoy movies about fucking weirdos, but I thought Bernie was absolutely brilliant. In fact, it's in my top 5 films of the last couple years.

To me, it was more or less the perfect film to explore (and yes, critique) capitalism, religion, and morality in the U.S.

Jack Black was fucking amazing. Even when he couldn't manage more than crocodile tears, it worked because you'd expect Bernie Tiede - the mysteriously hybrid altruist and charlatan - to struggle with genuine tears.

I could go on and on, but I think Bernie is Linklater at the top of his game and IMO his best film.

Yeah Jack Black was fucking awesome in it... only problem I had with it was the interviews were good but not as funny as some of Christopher Guests stuff... so I cut it some points in originiality... but how the story unfolds is very interesting... maybe a bit hard for people to get into until the main conflict arises.... but I really enjoyed it and am gonna watch it again soon.

weren't the interviewees real people?

  On 8/24/2012 at 9:42 PM, compson said:

Yeah Jack Black was fucking awesome in it... only problem I had with it was the interviews were good but not as funny as some of Christopher Guests stuff... so I cut it some points in originiality... but how the story unfolds is very interesting... maybe a bit hard for people to get into until the main conflict arises.... but I really enjoyed it and am gonna watch it again soon.

  On 8/24/2012 at 9:43 PM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

weren't the interviewees real people?

I specifically enjoyed that it wasn't aping Christopher Guest's over the top films. If it had, my opinion of it would have been much lower. Linklater's style was neither Guest nor Coens nor Jarmusch. By today's standards of cashing in on well-trampled territory, it was a very unique dark comedy.

The interviewees were comprised of equal parts actors and real (non-actors) people from Texas.

Here's a nice interview with Linklater where he talks about all manner of things:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/moviemom/2012/04/interview-writerdirector-richard-linklater-of-bernie.html

  On 8/24/2012 at 9:51 PM, The Overlook said:

  On 8/24/2012 at 9:42 PM, compson said:

Yeah Jack Black was fucking awesome in it... only problem I had with it was the interviews were good but not as funny as some of Christopher Guests stuff... so I cut it some points in originiality... but how the story unfolds is very interesting... maybe a bit hard for people to get into until the main conflict arises.... but I really enjoyed it and am gonna watch it again soon.

  On 8/24/2012 at 9:43 PM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

weren't the interviewees real people?

I specifically enjoyed that it wasn't aping Christopher Guest's over the top films. If it had, my opinion of it would have been much lower. Linklater's style was neither Guest nor Coens nor Jarmusch. By today's standards of cashing in on well-trampled territory, it was a very unique dark comedy.

 

The interviewees were comprised of equal parts actors and real (non-actors) people from Texas.

 

Here's a nice interview with Linklater where he talks about all manner of things:

 

http://blog.beliefne...-of-bernie.html

Yeah perhaps my first viewing was just a bit misguided because I saw it had Jack Black and it started off functioning as something akin to Guest's work. When the tonal shift happened it definitely took me a bit by surprise and was refreshingly unpredictable there after. So the first half will probably be better on second viewing. It still wasn't as laugh out loud funny as some stuff that does use the mockumentary outline, but Jack was highly amusing throughout while not being too ridiculous. So there was a nice feeling of realism as compared to Guest's more absurd characters.

Yeah, living in Texas makes you appreciate Bernie a lot as well, fucking love it.

Linklater's best film, imo.

Really reminded me of The Thin Blue Line but a lot less depressing.

Jack Black will be nominated, not that it matters.

He is my hero.

Moonrise kingdom: 8/10

Not a top Anderson movie for me, but I enjoyed it all the way through. It felt like a youth film and I dig that kinda. I love how his films feel kinda magicy feeling all kinds of shit can happen.

Martha Marcy May Marlene - Not that it matters much, but I neither understand nor like the title. It's the sort of title where one thinks, before the first frame, they're probably trying too hard. It's beyond me how or why this film was compared with Take Shelter. They're leagues apart in terms of quality and purpose.

Perhaps, limited story and all, MMMM would have been better served by a linear edit. The parallel edit of her life at her sister's and her life with a bunch of weirdos didn't work. In fact, it merely disrupted emotional momentum, repeatedly, until I neither cared nor understood what the fuck was going on, let alone why. I guess it's not a good sign when a scene involving a crooning serial rapist singing a love song to one of his rape victims makes me laugh. The filmmaker was likely going for creepy with the Weird Cult People, but instead it was all just very funny. Funny as in over-directed and over-acted.

Alas, Lizzy Olsen aka. Younger Sister of the Pedo Bait Twins, seems pretty talented. Her boobs are also ample and perky and frequently bared. For that reason alone, I give MMMM 2 semi-rigid boners out of 5.

What was with the Michael Clayton-esque wannabe Deep Thoughts stupid fucking ending? Sometimes, and take it from me as I know firsthand, ambiguous arty endings are the security blanket of chicken shit writers with no idea what the fuck is at stake.

I completely disagree. Watch the Sound of my Voice for the your review to fit a film.

I thought the cinematography alone was enough to make it a great film.

The dichotomy of her cult life vs her life with her sister/brother in law was amazingly compared.

The end is an art house ending but how can that be a bad thing? when life has many typical art house film endings.

hm, what was so art housy about the ending of michael clayton ? seemed pretty straightforward and believable to me.

Are you sure you didn't just fall in love with Olsen and her Boobs?

How could you think Take Shelter was boring but think MMMM great? Very odd!

Internets.

Opinions.

(Agreed re: the cinematography, which was very beautiful for the most part.)

  On 8/25/2012 at 9:08 PM, eugene said:

hm, what was so art housy about the ending of michael clayton ? seemed pretty straightforward and believable to me.

Three minutes of James Newton Howard piano and Clooney walking, riding an escalator, and getting in a cab, and staring out window of said cab?

Okay, maybe not Art House per se, but not Barry Levinson either.

Tony Gilroy mostly sucks.

lol ok, and i'm torrenting duplicity as we speak because you reminded me of clayton, which i really liked, so i wanted to see something else by this guy.

internets indeed.

  On 8/25/2012 at 9:25 PM, eugene said:

lol ok, and i'm torrenting duplicity as we speak because you reminded me of clayton, which i really liked, so i wanted to see something else by this guy.

 

internets indeed.

Yep, and by mostly, I'm thinking of Duplicity undoubtedly, which was pretty terrible.

Michael Clayton was a mixed bag, but I liked it. The ending / microphone gimmick was very generic and disappointing, but I liked the performance of Clooney and Wilkinson quite a bit.

yeah i agree that that part was bad, it was like they had to cut the real ending and put something unabashedly crowd-pleasing instead which just felt wrong given the logic of the film.

the wilkinson assassination scene is the first thing that i remember when this film is mentioned, simply amazing..

For what it's worth, I thought Take Shelter and Marcy were both flawed films, but I guess I liked MMMM better. I really hated the ending of Take Shelter. If you want an example of filmmakers not knowing how to end a film, there you go.

Just got back from watching Cosmopolis... 7/10