A few films recently watched.

Naussica

the art/animation looked dated but it was fun and i saw past that. that probably is quite an old ghibli anime, no?

good fun, gotta love the ghibli stuff

Yeah it's older, I think it still looks pretty good but some of the music annoys me. The manga is great, I highly recommend it, it's a lot longer and more detailed, really epic.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: I'm not a potter fan - only read the first book which I thought was pretty mediocre - but I thought this one was pretty good. It was a bit too dark though - literally dark, couldn't see what was going on half the time - and the tone seemed to swing wildly between the teen romance segments and the dramatic ones. This was particularly jarring at the climax, when Hermione says something like "Harry, you just shouldn't snog your girlfriend in front of Rupert, and oh by the way due to our headmaster's recent horrific death we're going to have to band together to fight the forces of darkness." Was weird. Still I liked the overall tone of the film, it captures some of the Winter Solstice/horned god/druid circle feeling that I think should be part of any story dealing with magic. Thought the acting was generally good, liked the young Voldemort. Though will someone shoot Helena Bonham Carter already? 7/10

Gomorrah - Thrown right in at the deep end from the outset in this one, but once you get your bearings its a gripping look Italian gangsta style. The narrative and camerawork really reminded me of City Of God and Amorres Perros, but it really works in this films favour. The acting and direction are excellent, the actors are almost too kool for skool at times. It's not all drugs and guns in the mafia, we also get to see the more unglamourous criminal pursuits of an organastion hell bent on money making (toxic waste dumping, dressmaking).

Maybe i would have liked to have seen some of the loose ends tied up a little bit tighter but maybe my mind will change after watching this again.

I think this will become a classic in a few years, in the meantime i'm giving it 9/10

  On 10/25/2009 at 2:12 AM, lumpenprol said:

Yeah it's older, I think it still looks pretty good but some of the music annoys me. The manga is great, I highly recommend it, it's a lot longer and more detailed, really epic.

 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: I'm not a potter fan - only read the first book which I thought was pretty mediocre - but I thought this one was pretty good. It was a bit too dark though - literally dark, couldn't see what was going on half the time - and the tone seemed to swing wildly between the teen romance segments and the dramatic ones. This was particularly jarring at the climax, when Hermione says something like "Harry, you just shouldn't snog your girlfriend in front of Rupert, and oh by the way due to our headmaster's recent horrific death we're going to have to band together to fight the forces of darkness." Was weird. Still I liked the overall tone of the film, it captures some of the Winter Solstice/horned god/druid circle feeling that I think should be part of any story dealing with magic. Thought the acting was generally good, liked the young Voldemort. Though will someone shoot Helena Bonham Carter already? 7/10

you thought the acting was "generally good?" i can't agree with this.

the scene in the beginning, in ron's room, when ron makes a shitty pun on dumbledore being old and they laugh for like twenty seconds straight during a slow and painful zoom out killed the entire movie for me. and the chick that plays luna lovegood cannot act worth a shit. every scene with her was like slowly dripping sulfuric acid in my eye.

i also did not like the habit of putting random shit in the movie that i'm expected to understand without any explanation. wtf was up with that girl that was in love with ron? WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT!? I NEED EXPOSITION!

ugh. what an awful movie. you're totally right about the "can't decide whether i want to be a teenage romance flick or a fantasy action flick."

the only reason why i hit reply is because i'm perturbed about your rating. it suggests the movie was slightly above mediocre, possibly even good. i'd give a good (but not mind blowing) movie like ocean's 11 a rating of 7/10. harry potter and the half blood prince? 3/10. it's bad.

ok, maybe I was too generous, I agree with your point about the scene where they laugh at Dumbledore's age, it was weird as hell but I assumed I must have missed a long-running joke or something. And also, I'll just throw this out there - there were several moments where I couldn't understand what people were saying due to the accents or magic terminology. It wasn't quite Trainspotting bad, but it could have been a lot clearer. It's sort of an ambient film - I watched it once through and then watched bits and pieces of it a second time as I was just zoning out on the couch, fast forwarding through the "action sequences" which I thought weren't very good. But 3/10? Jim Broadbent was very good, and any film with Alan Rickman in it gets an automatic 4/10 from me...

edit: in reading the comments on IMDB I can see why, if you're a fan, you'd hate it - sounds like a bad adaptation.

Moon - 8/10

  On 10/26/2009 at 12:12 AM, lumpenprol said:

ok, maybe I was too generous, I agree with your point about the scene where they laugh at Dumbledore's age, it was weird as hell but I assumed I must have missed a long-running joke or something. And also, I'll just throw this out there - there were several moments where I couldn't understand what people were saying due to the accents or magic terminology. It wasn't quite Trainspotting bad, but it could have been a lot clearer. It's sort of an ambient film - I watched it once through and then watched bits and pieces of it a second time as I was just zoning out on the couch, fast forwarding through the "action sequences" which I thought weren't very good. But 3/10? Jim Broadbent was very good, and any film with Alan Rickman in it gets an automatic 4/10 from me...

 

edit: in reading the comments on IMDB I can see why, if you're a fan, you'd hate it - sounds like a bad adaptation.

yeah, i agree about broadbent and rickman. i love alan rickman, i absolutely do, but even he could not save that movie.

maybe i'm just bitter because i spent $10 to see it at a theater when i could've just ignored it for the rest of my life and been no worse off.

Inside - 7.5/10. Some proper dark moments, other moments that are just a bit too over the top. As in all horror films the cops are also surprisingly fucking stupid. The end was cool though, and the final shot was well and truly disturbing.

@ hoodie

oof! ten bucks?

i think HP has gone down the drain. Chamber of Secrets is awesome though

wtf are you saying? harry potter was good. better than the order of the phoenix anyway!

i'm a harry potter fan and i think it's a rather good adaptation. ok it's not as good as the book but what did you expect? it's a fucking adaptation! same goes for LOTR. can't top the books, but the films are great! IMO IMO

  On 10/26/2009 at 12:25 AM, Calx Sherbet said:

Chamber of Secrets is awesome though

WTF? shittiest harry potter film if you ask me

what would you say is the best? i definitely wouldn't say i hate any of them. haven't seen 6

i'm not a harry potter fan. i just thought it was a shitty movie.

It's after the watershed. Can we start talkin about films like Paranormal Activity & Pride & Glory?

  On 10/26/2009 at 12:30 AM, Calx Sherbet said:

what would you say is the best? i definitely wouldn't say i hate any of them. haven't seen 6

harry potter 1 of course, and harry potter 3.

1>3>4>6>5>2

3 felt short!

  On 10/26/2009 at 12:43 AM, Dr Clitterhaus said:

It's after the watershed. Can we start talkin about films like Paranormal Activity?

how is this movie? my friend texted me from the theatre telling me the ending ruined the whole thing.

  On 10/26/2009 at 12:43 AM, Dr Clitterhaus said:

It's after the watershed. Can we start talkin about films like Paranormal Activity & Pride & Glory?

please no talk about paranormal activity

i watched disc 1 of paranormal activity and it held my attention

i trust that disc 2 has an epic payoff and makes it all worth it

i just don't have the time

4 / 10 (assuming the 2nd half is amazing)

  On 10/26/2009 at 1:06 AM, Awepittance said:

  On 10/26/2009 at 12:43 AM, Dr Clitterhaus said:

It's after the watershed. Can we start talkin about films like Paranormal Activity & Pride & Glory?

 

please no talk about paranormal activity

i was thinking about watching this. is it bad?

  On 10/26/2009 at 1:12 AM, Adjective said:

i watched disc 1 of paranormal activity and it held my attention

i trust that disc 2 has an epic payoff and makes it all worth it

i just don't have the time

 

4 / 10 (assuming the 2nd half is amazing)

oh i guess it is.

Revolutionary Road _ I love a good drama. Good actors and good writing. This delivers the goods.

Plus it features one of my favourite actors i've seen this decade, Michael Shannon, from William Friedkin's epic masterpeice Bug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I-56Xyr0Bw

Performances like this draw you in

Year One - 8/10 almost everyone in this was in top form , especially David Cross. it kind of fell apart at the end though.

Away We Go - 10/10 i don't usually go for romantic comedies, but this one was done excellently, someone will probably get an oscar nomination.

Hardware - 9/10 just got the blu-ray for this. hadn't watched it in years but it's still as fucked up as i remember.

  On 10/26/2009 at 1:23 AM, Hoodie said:

i was thinking about watching this. is it bad?

 

WATMM isn't fond of it, so far. I think it might be an achievement versus entertainment issue.

  On 10/26/2009 at 3:01 AM, Dr Clitterhaus said:

Revolutionary Road _ I love a good drama. Good actors and good writing. This delivers the goods.

Plus it features one of my favourite actors i've seen this decade, Michael Shannon, from William Friedkin's epic masterpeice Bug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I-56Xyr0Bw

Performances like this draw you in

this movie made me feel like shit for about 72 hours. good performances, although kate winslet is in such a different league from dicaprio here. fuck though, really, what a god damn useless downer (as opposed to, say, synecdoche ny)

the inventon of lying 0/10

oh god make it stop. the trailer makes it look awful but turns out all the best bits are in the trailer. wow what a fail. merchant was the funny one all along!

'25th Hour', 'Fighting' and 'Tyson'.

  On 10/26/2009 at 10:05 AM, Rubin Farr said:

Year One - 8/10 almost everyone in this was in top form , especially David Cross. it kind of fell apart at the end though.

 

Away We Go - 10/10 i don't usually go for romantic comedies, but this one was done excellently, someone will probably get an oscar nomination.

 

Hardware - 9/10 just got the blu-ray for this. hadn't watched it in years but it's still as fucked up as i remember.

'Away We Go' was fircking tits. i laughed till i threw up