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Post by Vercetti on Jan 6, 2006 3:33:27 GMT
Last Days - (Gus Van Sant;2005;USA) The last days of a burnt-out rock musician.The best film of 2005 and one of the best to come out of the last several years. Gus Van Sant direction is mesmerizing, making the audience seem like they're simply spying on a life, especially with it's distant shots and tracking shots. At times the film feels like a modern revival of Romanticism, especially with it's nature theme, which adds to the beautiful cinematography. Michael Pitt's performance is very good, working mostly through body language and mumbling. Like Elephant Van Sant uses off-beat sound mixes to establish a very disturbing mood in some moments, while using other music to amplify moods wonderfully. The best scene is of course the "Death to Birth" scene, which is a very good song from Pitt. Unfortunately, it’s a very misunderstood film this year. One of the most haunting portraits of loneliness and mental isolation in cinema.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 6, 2006 13:22:17 GMT
eXistenZ David Cronenberg 1997 Canada/GB/France 1st time; VHS A games designer escapes an assassin at her new testing convention, and acquaints a friendly PR trainee who has never played any of her games before. A clever, highly enjoyable Chinese box affair all about reality and unreality, and asks whether the two are actually co-existant--the actual narrative arc is a predictable one, though getting there is another matter.Spider David Cronenberg 2002 Canada/GB 1st time; DVD A mentally disturbed man arrives at a half-way house, and is left free to roam the local streets, where he pieces together his childhood memories. The kind of underwhelming film one watches, admires for what it is, and then rediscovers years later as a true masterpiece; it's a well-crafted film which almost implodes upon itself with, like its main character, nowhere to go--and indeed it goes nowhere.
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Post by thug on Jan 6, 2006 15:31:06 GMT
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Post by Mike Sullivan on Jan 6, 2006 16:31:26 GMT
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 6, 2006 18:40:19 GMT
Pity about Spider, Capo. I thought you'd like that. I wonder how you'd feel about Naked Lunch and Videodrome. Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser / Every Man for Himself and God Against All Werner Herzog 1974, West Germany[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- Quite disappointing, given that the premise fascinates me. Herzog appears more interested in mocking and criticising reductionist psychological theory and pure logic than in evoking an aura of mystery or profundity around the sudden materialisation of Kaspar Hauser. The scene with the logician is funny and sarcastic, and the final resolution--that Hauser was what he was because of a cerebral abnormality--is an attack on exactly that sort of thinking. The film's images, with a few notable exceptions (the fog-shrouded mountainside especially), are rather flat, and I think making Hauser more of an enigma, by not showing his 'keeper' or previous lifestyle at all, would have made his subsequent treatment as a mere scientific curio far more unreasonable than it actually seems.[/size]
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 6, 2006 18:58:38 GMT
The Adjuster Atom Egoyan 1991, Canada[/color] 1st viewing; download- Egoyan is amazing. He takes a compelling theme, abstracts it into a complicated metaphorical structure where all his ideas are refracted through a prism of disparate characters, and lets their interactions form his non-linear, often circular, always self-reflexive narrative. It's incredibly precise and controlled, I'm always worried it's on the cusp of unwieldiness, but it never, ever unravels. I'm not about to attempt a summation of this film, it's far too complex. Just see it.[/size]
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 6, 2006 19:01:47 GMT
My memory of Kaspar Hauser doesn't really go all that beyond the opening scene, of a snorting, grunting animal in human form playing with a toy. It's a captivating, gripping, strangely frightening opening. Other than that, I can't really remember much about the film, other than thinking it was fascinating.
Herzog's insistence to make period features (I've never looked into why he does this, as opposed to, say, Fassbinder) renders them, for me, not entirely accessible right away. He's one of my favourite filmmakers for sure, and yet I never rush to see his feature work whenever I obtain it. His documentaries, however, are another matter.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Jan 6, 2006 22:22:13 GMT
The Searchers John Ford 1956, USA[/color] 2nd viewing; DVDThis movie was a lot better on the second viewing. Instead of focusing on the basic story, of two men searching for a girl, I can see the movie a lot more for its purposes, including its undertones of racism. The screwball comedy aspect was not only much more tolerable this time, it was funny. Maybe I just wasnt in the mood my first time Run Lola Run Tykwer 1998, Germany[/color] 1st viewing; DVDStory about a woman who desperatly needs a car. Lola must collect 100,000 marks in 20 minutes or else her boyfriend will be killed. Creative, but some parts that were in there to make the movie look cool and weird are just kind of lame. Doesnt deserve its IMDb rating of 133rd best of all time....but few movies on that list are reasonably placed. Solid movie, worth seeing
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 7, 2006 17:44:42 GMT
The Matador(2005/Richard Shepard) [First Viewing] An American business man befriends an Irish hit-man in a hotel bar in Mexico City.Very funny and stylish comedy/thriller, that has many moments of observant character study and surreal situations. Pierce Brosnan gives one of the best performances of 2005 in his successful attempt to destroy his Bond image. He is brilliant. Unlike several character studies of this past year (i.e. 'The Weatherman'), this film actually succeeds with an indie feel and the depth to support it.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 8, 2006 20:51:49 GMT
A slow weekend for us all, unless Proviews are forthcoming. Night of the Living Dead George A. Romero 1968 US 1st time; VHS A group of people in Pittsburgh become stranded in a house when unburied corpses come to life. Always worth watching due to its influence and odd effective moments here and there, most of which involve the sherriff in charge of the rescue mission; otherwise, its interest does not go beyond the now-dated premise of evil winning over good.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 8, 2006 22:04:54 GMT
Sånger från andra våningen Songs from the Second Floor Roy Andersson 2000, Sweden / Norway / Denmark[/color] 1st viewing; download- A true original. Shot almost entirely in static takes, it's a confidently surrealistic and mordantly funny portrait of modern life and the torment of the working stiff. Real sense of space, and therefore the invented world, in cinema is dictated by motion and montage, so the near total lack of motion here (the camera moves once and is moved once), and the fact that no location is viewed from more than one perspective, projects, intuitively, a very strange reality.[/size] Revenge of the Creature Jack Arnold 1955, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- Interminable sequel in which the Creature is captured and moved to a Sea World-like facility in Florida. Probably influenced Jaws 3, and it's about as good. There's only so many times a shot of the ungainly Gill Man can be punctuated by a spike in the score and have it be at all effective.[/size] Woodshock Richard Linklater / Lee Daniel 1985, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- Stylised, documentary-esque short depicting the 1985 Austin 'Woodshock' music festival.[/size]
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 8, 2006 22:09:39 GMT
I've been wanting to revisit Songs from the Second Floor for weeks now. I was lucky enough to pick up a Canadian DVD from Amazon's third-party sellers last year. I'm thrilled you saw, and loved, it.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 8, 2006 22:22:14 GMT
Fitzcarraldo(1982/Werner Herzog) [First Viewing] An eccentric opera lover dreams of building an opera house in the middle of the jungle.Thanks mainly to the outstanding performance of Klaus Kinski, this film is a masterpiece. He perfectly captures the madness and determination of a man with a dream. Herzog's direction is more polished this time around, but there are moments of uncertainty that make you feel like you are watching a documentary.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 8, 2006 22:55:25 GMT
Toute la mémoire du monde All the World's Memory Alain Resnais 1956, France[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- I didn't even realise this was on my Marienbad DVD. It's a beautiful short film, exploring, explaining and pondering the space, function and meaning of the French National Library, a converging point for the consciousness and memory of billions.[/size] Hua yang de nian hua Wong Kar Wai 2000, Hong Kong / China[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- A pastiche of scenes from old Chinese nitrate films. Whatever resonance these images might have to those versed in early Chinese cinema is lost on me.[/size] A Day with the Boys Clu Gulager 1969, USA[/color] 1st viewing; DVD- A group of boys play in the hills through the morning, then an adult joins their game. One of the best short films I've ever seen. Mixing still photography, paintings and all manner of cinematic flourishes in service of a finale that simply exceeds genius.[/size]
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 8, 2006 22:59:02 GMT
A Day with the Boys can be found on the Criterion DVD of David Gordon Green's George Washington (2000), which is also a wonderful film.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 8, 2006 23:09:53 GMT
I think it's a brilliant idea to include directors' short films as extras on feature DVDs. In fact, I'd rate it as top priority, even over a commentary.
Godard's short, and Belmondo's first film, I believe, Charlotte et son Jules is on the region 2 A bout de souffle DVD. The region 1, however, has a commentary, I think.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 8, 2006 23:20:36 GMT
Yeah. I think it's a great idea, too. Criterion's release of Polanski's Knife in the Water includes all his extant short films. I watched them all yesterday, it's fascinating to see his progression.
The George Washington DVD features Green's two student shorts and then Gulager's short as a bonus because Green cited it as an inspiration for his film.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 9, 2006 1:13:36 GMT
Burden of Dreams(1982/Les Blank) [First Viewing] A documentary centering around the disastrous production of Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo".A film every film lover should see. It showcases Herzog's vulnerable production, and how everything possible seemed to go wrong. It also reveals another layer to "Fitzcarraldo" presenting Herzog as an eccentric dreamer just like Kinski's character. An absorbing and fascinating documentary.
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