A few films recently watched.

Happy Go Lucky.

Fuck me that was shit. If I ever meet a human being like Poppy I'll shoot myself.

  On 12/7/2009 at 3:21 AM, Alex C said:

Happy Go Lucky.

 

Fuck me that was shit. If I ever meet a human being like Poppy I'll shoot myself.

Hahaha, it was the only movie nominated for an Oscar 2009 that I didn't watch. The trailer was horrible, I hated the main character and yes if I ever meet someone like Poppy I'll shoot her, everyone in the room and then myself.

i just watched Terminator Salvation again, and actually enjoyed a few of the scenes in it. I thought the whole giant robot chase/ bridge sequence was probably the best one. Christian bale though jesus christ, i can;t believe how bad of a job he did in the film, but again the script and his lines were not what i would classify as well done. I actually didn't watch it through to the entire end either time i saw it for some reason. After Conner fights the CGI arnold i lost interest both times. Can somebody tell me what happens in a spoiler?

The Changling (1980) - 7/10

Gets some points for nostalgia from me as this film scared me as a child. Lots of good mood and atmosphere but suffers a bit from both stiff acting from George C. Scott and some over-acting from Trish Van Devere and Melvyn Douglas. Though many would argue that overacting is a hallmark of horror films in this time period, I don't think it always worked in this one. The score is good and some of the parts were pretty spooky.

adaptation 7/10

nick cage last great movie? but is it great? hmmm he's great in it but is the movie great? i watched it when it first came out (2003?) and really enjoyed it. but i remember it being a lot more twisty and more of a mindtrip. it played pretty straight when i watched it this time. its either great or a complete mess. i need to research whether donald kaufman exists and whether 'the 3' exists too, both are in the filmography (shit extras on the dvd)

edit:

kinda what i figured:

  Quote

Kaufman wrote about his experience adapting the script through exaggerated events, and created a fictional "brother" named Donald Kaufman. Charlie even went as far as putting Donald's name on the script and dedicated the film to the fictional character.

  On 12/7/2009 at 5:38 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

adaptation 7/10

nick cage last great movie?

Bad Lieutenant : Port of Call : New Orleans = Great

  On 12/7/2009 at 9:59 PM, sneaksta303 said:

  On 12/7/2009 at 5:38 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

adaptation 7/10

nick cage last great movie?

 

Bad Lieutenant : Port of Call : New Orleans = Great

yeah i wanna see it. anyone up for it?

Last Night. A great film about the last night on Earth before being destroyed.

Alexandra's Project

This is a weird one, I rather liked it. It is a bit on the unnecessary-amounts-of-vulgarity-and-nudity side and its a drama by all intents and purposes, a bit dark and twisted and what started as some random noise to put me to sleep had me glued to the screen until it ended. Theres a fine line for this sort of movie between great and horrible, many people would probably hate it but I really appreciated it for what it was.

Deadwood Season 1 - 8.5/10 - I wanna be Al Swearengen when I grow up. Some of the "Shakespearian language" gets to be a bit much at times but overall I love this series. It's good to see a lot of older character actors get great roles like these.

Pigs and Battleships - 8/10 - An interesting little film set in post-war Japan that dwindled into yakuza gang life, poverty, and the early workings of western civilization in the eastern world. It is beautifully shot and editing... my only gripe was some of the over acting (though it was expected) that kind of brought me out of the undressed atmosphere Imamura crafted so nicely. I also watched a hour long interview with Imamura afterward which was a treat.

Brief Encounter - 10/10 - This is a brilliant film... beautifully crafted in all respects. I really hope Criterion gives this Blu Ray treatment since it's already been digitally restored on Blu Ray in the UK.

history of violence. wanted to see this for quite a long time and i was hugely disappointed. a lot of the time, it's so close to being a corny 80s made for TV human interest / true story kind of shit you get on channel 5 in the afternoon. with some no mark from As the world turns or the dad from Wonderyears in the lead role... made me question if Kronenberg was ever really any good at all.....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226681/

pontypool

really bad movie. about a sickness that travels through language, fuck it

  On 12/8/2009 at 9:30 PM, LUDD said:

history of violence. wanted to see this for quite a long time and i was hugely disappointed. a lot of the time, it's so close to being a corny 80s made for TV human interest / true story kind of shit you get on channel 5 in the afternoon. with some no mark from As the world turns or the dad from Wonderyears in the lead role... made me question if Kronenberg was ever really any good at all.....

Yup, it easily could have finished halfway through and probably should have done. Thankfully I went back to Videodrome and realised that he is still completely awesome, which was further backed up when I saw Eastern Promises.

viggo wang ftw (for the win)

a serious man - 9/10 - good movie, even if you're not jewish. it probably helps though.

precious - 7.5/10 - some unfortunate cliches, but it's powerful.

zombieland - 7/10 - funny and entertaining.

inglourious basterds - 8/10 - fun concept, effectively executed. entertaining.

rachel getting married - 8/10 - good, sensitive drama. i liked the extended shots of just the wedding's goings-on, with no dialog. also: tunde!

27 dresses - 3/10 - katherine heigl is pretty good-looking.

the bourne series - 8, 7, and 6 out of 10 - first one was rad. not usually into the action/suspense stuff, but it was very well done, and tasteful. scores decline as the tastefulness declines. compare the principle car chase in "identity" to the car chases in the others for a good example of this phenomenon. and wtf is with the CIA leaving all their windows entirely uncovered in a NY highrise? psh!

twilight - 4/10 - i can see the appeal. it's insidiously crafted to tap into basic cultural discomforts and longings. some brownie points for that. and cause jakob is HAWT.

pan's labyrinth - 1/10 - i actually saw this a long time ago and i already ranted about it on here, but i see it so often on folk's "favorite" lists and it aggravates the hell out of me so much that i'm adding it to the list out of spite.

  On 12/7/2009 at 4:41 AM, Awepittance said:

i just watched Terminator Salvation again, and actually enjoyed a few of the scenes in it. I thought the whole giant robot chase/ bridge sequence was probably the best one. Christian bale though jesus christ, i can;t believe how bad of a job he did in the film, but again the script and his lines were not what i would classify as well done. I actually didn't watch it through to the entire end either time i saw it for some reason. After Conner fights the CGI arnold i lost interest both times. Can somebody tell me what happens in a spoiler?

the ending was SUPPOSED to be

but it was leaked online by a film rumour page that thought it was too out there to be true, so they changed it

Dexter Spoilers

  On 12/9/2009 at 9:31 AM, Squee said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So I've finally caught up with Dexter and I've just finished the newest episode. Someone at HBO should seriously consider giving some of the cast extra acting lessons. Micael C. Hall is not bad but Jennifer Lynch (his sister) and that Masuka-guy are horrible, horrible actors. Luckily they killed off James Doake in season 2 because he was probably the worst actor ever to appear on television. He might even have been worse than Andy from Twin Peaks. And don't get me started on Dexter's wife and her god awful kids.

Season 4 is pretty exicting so far though and I love John Lithgow as the Trinity killer. It's just a shame there are so many useless actors on board this show.

 

Dean Spanley - 8/10 - One of the better films of '08 I say. Peter O'Toole did an excellent job. It was a film I came into without knowing a thing about which might have been to its advantage. It's beautiful, subtle film making with an excellent witty script and great performances all around. My only gripes had to be its score which seemed all too traditional and also the ending put me off a bit.

watched district 9. i enjoyed it. i'll give it an 8/10. the main character was sympathetic when trying act cool and savvy in the documentary bits, but came of as goofy. pretty well done movie for 30million.

from beyond - 8/10 - 80s horror at its finest. hilarious.

bad lieutenant: port of call - 8/10 - herzogs best fictional film in 20 years.

marathon man - 7/10 - decent 70s thriller.

the witches - 5/10 - nic roeg did a childrens film with jim henson?

what is it? - 7/10 - crispin glovers film thats almost entirely cast with people that have down syndrome. probably the most pretentious thing ive ever seen but some parts really stay with you.

zombieland - 6/10 - entertaining enough

in the mouth of madness - john carpenters last decent feature film.

the stepfather (1987) - 6/10 - decent 80s slasher flick with terry o'quinn from lost as a crazed killer.

  On 12/8/2009 at 9:30 PM, LUDD said:

history of violence. wanted to see this for quite a long time and i was hugely disappointed. a lot of the time, it's so close to being a corny 80s made for TV human interest / true story kind of shit you get on channel 5 in the afternoon. with some no mark from As the world turns or the dad from Wonderyears in the lead role... made me question if Kronenberg was ever really any good at all.....

i think cronenberg, because of his background in low budget exploitation, is always going to come off a bit 'movie of the week' in certain areas. but whats so great about that is that underneath theres still the classic subversive cronenberg themes lurking. i quite liked history of violence. jg ballard had an excellent take on it, worth reading if you have the time - link

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover - 7.5/10

A little too dry and "theater-y" for me.

  On 12/10/2009 at 2:56 AM, Z_B_Z said:

jg ballard had an excellent take on it, worth reading if you have the time - link

lol, JG Ballard needs to take a lesson on how to write movie reviews. And Ed Harris rivaling Hopper? Please...