Films Recently Watched

children of men

still a 10/10, goddamn.

yeah she really does. She looks like some kind of creature wearing an (ill-fitting) human mask. More than a few Deliverance genes floating around in there. I'm sure she'll look like Honey Boo Boo's mom when she gets a bit older, but she's in her prime now.

lol you two

weird movie that takes full advantage of robert z'dar's chin to sketch a messy plot about a... maniac cop.

  On 1/24/2013 at 11:03 PM, Awepittance said:

new coen brthers movie trailer

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/movies/joel-coen-on-inside-llewyn-davis.html?_r=0

so apparently it's not really based on van ronk, but uses his music. weird. and carey mulligan seems to be playing karen dalton, at least that's who she looks like. i hate movies that are biographical but use fake names and blend real people together. oh and apparently justin timberlake is in this.

  On 1/28/2013 at 12:41 AM, zaphod said:

chungking express

This.

  On 1/28/2013 at 3:07 AM, zaphod said:

 

  On 1/24/2013 at 11:03 PM, Awepittance said:

 

new coen brthers movie trailer

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/movies/joel-coen-on-inside-llewyn-davis.html?_r=0

 

so apparently it's not really based on van ronk, but uses his music. weird. and carey mulligan seems to be playing karen dalton, at least that's who she looks like. i hate movies that are biographical but use fake names and blend real people together. oh and apparently justin timberlake is in this.

yeah, agree 100%. I feel like even though the last handful of Coen brothers movies are still really good, especially A Serious Man something about every movie since O Brother seems like a more 'casual' version of their old style. It just doesn't feel as air tight or something, it's hard to explain. Fargo for me was their last perfect film

and check my comment above, what you said is part of the reason why half of Gus Van Sant's movies are borderline unwatchable to me, another good example of this style movie is Primary Colors (which has Billy Bob thorton playing a faux James Carville whom brandishes his penis to a woman in the office in front of everybody)

Just finished watching Django Unchained. (missed the beginning though)

While the acting is good, I think the movie is more focused on sensationalism than plot. There's plenty of gratuitous blood spilled at the hands of the protagonist, but I've seen this formula in Tarantino's previous post-2000 movies - over a half hour of drawn-out dialogue followed by a five-minute bloodbath. This has a similar theme to Inglorious Basterds, in that the good guys kill off every bigoted racist they can find, which I find entertaining nonetheless.

I'll give this one an 8/10.

Dark Blue : 9/10 Great cop movie with a lot of nice grey areas throughout. Kurt Russell does an excellent job as a drunk.

Audition : 9.5/10 The ending is probably one of the hardest scenes to watch in a film. Extremely disturbing, the flashbacks/dream sequences kind of convoluted the flow a little in some parts but worked overall. Female actress does a great job at being hot and creepy.

Killing Them Softly : 7.5/10 Good stuff here and there but kind of too meandering in execution. Concept was sound in that it worked as a metaphor for the financial crisis but I agree with whoever said the amount of scenes with C-Span on was unrealistic and cheap. It seemed to have a bit of a No Country For Old Men vibe going on which would have worked better if the themes weren't overly cheapened by the political plugs. Perhaps only having Obama's speech at the end would have sufficed.

Rango : 8/10 First half was pretty funny and I dug the animation style compared to Pixars stuff of late. But I felt the second half lost a bit of its steam by becoming too predictable with conflict. I enjoyed the first half's more chaotic and spontaneous flow. Was refreshing to see for a modern kids film. Didn't feel as if they were just cut/copying plot devices on top of the style/context of the characters but that the characters were real wild animals living wild lives together in this absurd fantasy land kind of atmosphere.

Aladdin : 7/10 Nothing much to say other than it wasn't nearly as good as I remember as a kid (duh).

Samsara

strange scene of business man rubbing his face in mud/thom yorke as a war veteran/chickens being hoovered up and sprayed out again.......

Top marks for visuals, which yielded some nice screen captures. Although I found the constant - people like ants - time lapsing got weary after a while.

God Bless America

Turned off after around 30mins. Awful. Not sure who the film seemed to mock more; its perceived enemies, the "brainwashed conformist consumerists" or the "brainwashed self proclaiming victims of such a society" ie the two idiotic protaganists.

  On 1/18/2013 at 5:05 PM, keltoi said:

anyone seen 'searching for sugar man'?

Holy fucking shit, didn't see that coming. What a truly incredible story, even if you totally ignore all the labored efforts of the filmmakers to manipulate the material. It's like they tried hard to ruin the story but the story and the man himself were just too damned awesome.

I am now a HUGE fan of his music, as is my wife. I immediately turned to the internets, sure that this story was bullshit or at least partly bullshit. It turns out it's almost entirely true. WTF.

Mind. Blown.

One of the best stories ever documented by a filmmaker. Unfortunately, the film itself was just...very good, but not quite great. We didn't need all the tracking shots of Sixto walking through fucking snow. JESUS CHRIST.

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:39 AM, compson said:

Dark Blue : 9/10 Great cop movie with a lot of nice grey areas throughout. Kurt Russell does an excellent job as a drunk.

YES!!! Such an underrated film.

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:39 AM, compson said:

Audition : 9.5/10 The ending is probably one of the hardest scenes to watch in a film. Extremely disturbing, the flashbacks/dream sequences kind of convoluted the flow a little in some parts but worked overall. Female actress does a great job at being hot and creepy.

Yes. Miike never been better, before or since.

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:39 AM, compson said:

Rango : 8/10 First half was pretty funny and I dug the animation style compared to Pixars stuff of late. But I felt the second half lost a bit of its steam by becoming too predictable with conflict. I enjoyed the first half's more chaotic and spontaneous flow. Was refreshing to see for a modern kids film. Didn't feel as if they were just cut/copying plot devices on top of the style/context of the characters but that the characters were real wild animals living wild lives together in this absurd fantasy land kind of atmosphere.

Completely agree. It was 80% amazing, but the 2nd half of the film fell flat as Verbinski just resorted to his usual bag of tricks and spent far too many minutes on action and chase sequences. Really disappointing turn in what was otherwise a genius setup and premise. Still very much enjoyed it, but damn, could have been much better.

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:39 AM, compson said:

Aladdin : 7/10 Nothing much to say other than it wasn't nearly as good as I remember as a kid (duh).

Never seen it, not at all interested.

You've never seen Aladdin? Well.. don't bother now lol.

End of Watch : 7/10 This had some nice suspenseful sequences and the camerawork did capture the hectic environment cops in those kind of districts deal with all the time. But the main story lacked something beyond just two cops who get along. There seemed to be hints at a broader theme dealing with the War on Drugs, but nothing came from it. (spoilers) Predictable that one of them died, which was fine as that probably had to happen, but how it went down seemed poorly executed. Unbelievable how they evaded all that machine fire and equally absurd how they managed to get away but couldnt find a place to lay low until backup arrived. It just seemed rushed. Too much time also spent on the marriage. Fine that they had the side story of romance and friendship bonding, but the whole relationship, pregnancy seemed rushed for manipulative purposes. More focus should have been put on the mystery surrounding the Cartel and some kind of climatic end that showcases how ruthless and endless the Cartels are with the revenue stream they get from drugs. Something grander was going on around them and that should have been investigated and looked at more seriously by the main characters.

To quote Slate:

"End of Watch is pure frat-boy video game fantasy. Gyllenhaal and Peña's chemistry makes the proceedings watchable and occasionally funny, but their bromance often descends into self-reflective musings about heroism and loyalty. Like most of End of Watch, these truncated bits of humanism are short-sighted and incredibly hollow, filler to intersect first-person actions scenes populated by grown children who have but one question on the mind: When can I shoot again?"

Nothing more needs to be said. It was shit.

is like picking on a B/W movie because it lacks reds... a deep hollywood movie? there's no such thing... compson is on the spot!

Harsh. Although it was inexplicable that they would dodge bullets like that. Infact it would be impossible. However, I didn't let reality get in the way of a rather compelling narrative structure. The love story held it together like glue, man.

Flight - Decent film, the most 'adult' orientated film I have ever seen from Zemeckis. Some VERY obvious music choices though. 'Sweet Jane' and 'Under The Bridge' for heroin OD's and Scorcesesque Rolling Stones tracks for coke snorting. Really?

Most inappropriate choice of music since the hip hop pop in Django.

Premium Rush - Meh

This is 40 - Meh

The Sweeney - So, so shite

Gonna watch The Imposter tomorrow, looks good. I was amazed by Man On Wire, it was beyond comprehension. One of my fave documentaries was on Channel 4 about 10 years ago and hasn't been repeated since, Hardcore..its about a young english mother who goes to America to take on the porn world but is forced into submission by the harsh reality of the life she has chosen in the form of two of the shadowiest characters in existence...Dick Nasty and Max Harcore. They are like Ringwraiths.

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:14 PM, Schlitze said:

Harsh. Although it was inexplicable that they would dodge bullets like that. Infact it would be impossible. However, I didn't let reality get in the way of a rather compelling narrative structure. The love story held it together like glue, man.

By love story, do you mean the bromance? This was, indeed, the second time some lovestruck man wished he could quit Jake G.

LOL, indeed. I guess they were pretty much eating eachothers butts out. I dont think even Randy Quaid could have kept them apart. Thats just the way they were. they researched the roles by going out on the street with real police. Apparently thats what all cops are like. Confronting those cartel fux like they did would be crazy in real life, intense. No wonder they needed eachothers buttcheeks to nuzzle on now and again.

The Watch

Watched this to see why Richard Ayoade was in a film with ben stiller and vince vaughn. so expected very very little. and i actually laughed. would have been painful to see in the cinema but at home it was alright. easily the worst thing about it was jonah hill, who is terrible in it but I've never noticed how bad he is before.

The Shining

A deserved classic rewatch. Showed it to my wife who hadn't seen and I think she expected so much she was disappointed. I understand her complaints (even though it doesn't ruin my enjoyment) - the black guy does nothing and then dies so white people can survive and wendy is unbelievably pathetic to the point of farce

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:53 PM, The Overlook said:

Is that someone reading the rules?

  On 1/29/2013 at 12:04 AM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

The Shining

the black guy does nothing and then dies so white people can survive

That's an incredibly dumb/wrong read of that character. Try harder. Do better!

  On 1/29/2013 at 12:04 AM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

Shining

A deserved classic rewatch. Showed it to my wife who hadn't seen and I think she expected so much she was disappointed. I understand her complaints (even though it doesn't ruin my enjoyment) - the black guy does nothing and then dies so white people can survive and wendy is unbelievably pathetic to the point of farce

thank god an un-biased opinion...

  On 1/29/2013 at 12:04 AM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

The Shining

the black guy does nothing and then dies so white people can survive

lol

  On 1/29/2013 at 12:08 AM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

 

  On 1/28/2013 at 11:53 PM, The Overlook said:

 

Is that someone reading the rules?

I think he was saying that Gyllenahall may have researched his character online.