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Post by Vercetti on Nov 6, 2006 0:34:42 GMT
Don''t you mean a housewife turned junkie?
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Nov 6, 2006 0:39:02 GMT
Junkie-turned-housewife-turned-junkie.
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Post by Vercetti on Nov 6, 2006 0:42:29 GMT
Or junkie-turned housewife-turned junkie-turned Episcopalian?
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Nov 6, 2006 0:54:41 GMT
?
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 6, 2006 1:21:56 GMT
There's a line in the film that Penn says to his wife. I can't remember it exactly, but it's when he's leaving in the middle of the night to see Naomi Watt's character. She says she thought he would change after the operation, and he says (para-phasing), "And I thought you would too, but we didn't." I wish I could remember the line exactly, but I felt that it perfectly summed up the film and it's characters. They all seemed to relapse into who they were, and only then could they move on.
I don't get the Episcopalian reference, but I don't think I'm supposed to.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 6, 2006 2:02:22 GMT
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tim Burton 2005 UK / US / Australia 2nd time; DVD A down-to-earth boy living with his family in a poverty-stricken house wins one of five tickets to visit Willie Wonka's chocolate factory. What is often a colourfully sumptuous work, glistening with an appropriately candy-like feel (if the opening credits look edible, you can almost taste the actual factory scenes), is also an unbearably preachy, moralistic one. It is set up very much in the vein of Amelie, but the comparison is unfavourable. Characters are superfluous, not least of all the Bucket family, and are set up with an ill-timed voice-over and acting which, if it is supposed to be like Dahl's cartoonish caricatures, is also very annoying. Depp's facial expressions are sufficient enough even if his accent has an awkward theatricality to it, and an horrendous script lets him down - the best bits are the various ways in which the despisable kids and their parents are discarded... though, sadly, the title character survives.
Terrible, terrible film.
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Post by Vercetti on Nov 6, 2006 3:29:18 GMT
You're not supposed to. Just a retarded exaggeration of the "turned-to's"
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 6, 2006 12:35:42 GMT
V for Vendetta (2006/McTeigue)Visually sumptuous, has something fairly relevant to say as well. The performances were nothing special, but a great story. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006/Charles)For some reason I had trouble giving 3 stars to a film with this mockumentary style, I kind of prefer straight up narrative fiction comedies I guess, but this is the most I've laughed in the theaters in a while.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 7, 2006 2:00:39 GMT
Blue Velvet David Lynch 1986 US Nth time; DVD A young man discovers a severed ear, and, investigating with the help of the local policeman's daughter, uncovers the darkness beneath the innocence of his suburban town. Lynch creates a believably dangerous, surreal world by presenting it as a sort of nightmare, zooming into and out of, respectively, a rotten ear at the beginning and a healthy ear at the end. Told entirely from the point of view of its young male protagonist, it is a complex film, not least due to the disturbing voyeurism which drives the hero's investigations and thus the narrative. It means that there is always a tension present, not in the way which, say, Carpenter creates in Halloween, with points of view from the killer, but instead by filtering the narrative, and thus visual composition, through its hero's perceptions. A fantastic, multi-layered thriller, always dark, often funny, and very unique.Caché Hidden Michael Haneke 2004 France / Austria / Germany / Italy 2nd time; big screen When a bourgeois couple start receiving video tapes of their home under surveillance, the husband relates to an incident from his childhood. A slow, riveting, austere work which explores cinematography to the point that the plot is almost irrelevant, though some might find it of interest as a reflection of Franco-Algerian relations, and the implications of guilt stemming from the Algerian War. Shooting in long-takes and without music, Haneke keeps his audience at arm's length throughout; the result is a cool, deeply ambiguous film which offers no (or many) solutions, ultimately as empty or as deep as you want it to be: it involves you insofar that you wish to be involved, and so many will no doubt walk away in confusion if not fury. Either way, to those interested in cinematic form, it will likely make you think about what and how you watch Cinema.Sexy Beast Jonathan Glazer 2000 UK Nth time; DVD A retired thief now living in Spain is visited by a vicious gangster who wants him to do one last job. Primarily of interest as a lesson in acting, and the ways in which Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley subvert their previous expectations to create two contrasting characters; the first a man whose past comes back to haunt him, and who is no longer interested in the life he left behind, the second a disturbed, violent psychopath obsessed with his own pride and reputation. As an exploration of male egos clashing, or on masculinity, it might not offer anything you can't find in, say, Scorsese's work, but there is much to be dug out of these characters, and whereas Scorsese's masculinity is measured only by its implosive self, here we have two female characters which lend weight, and happiness, to the retired men who do not wish to lead a life of crime anymore.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 7, 2006 9:58:12 GMT
I feel like I may've expressed this to you before, but I love Sexy Beast.
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Post by Michael on Nov 8, 2006 0:37:13 GMT
I'm interested in seeing if Stalker makes your 4-star list on your next viewing, Capo.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 8, 2006 1:40:45 GMT
Monty Python's Life of Brian Terry Jones 1979 UK 1st time; DVD A Jew in Roman times is mistaken to be the Messiah. To envisage this deliberately noisy mess of a film, imagine one which drains, from every image, from every line, from each and absolutely every molecule of aesthetic or production value, the folly of human life. The comedy has a regurgitative rhythm, to the point that it might, given a chance and the right mood, be generally very funny, if only because humans can only go so far in resisting crude, cheap and frankly annoying humour.
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Post by The Ghost of LLC on Nov 8, 2006 2:36:21 GMT
Spun (2002) - Director: Jonas Åkerlund A speed-freak embarks on a drug enduced odyssey upon agreeing to be a meth-cook's personal driver in exchange for six weeks worth of productFucking excellent... Clearly the best film I've fallen upon in months. This is easily in my top ten, already. Maybe my top five. It was like a super intense, west coast caricature of the grim shadows of Requiem for a Dream. Better yet, it was like a PCP hungry love child of Monty Python and Hunter S. Thompson loaded Requiem up on barbituates, and sexually took advantage of it. God damn, what a mindfuck. I loved every bit of it. The cinematography, obviously influenced by a number of previous momentous pieces of American cinema (most notably an ommage to Lost Highway) was spectacular and innovative. The cast was saddeningly hilarious and great. John Leguizamo grabbed my attention by the throat and would not relinquish. Jason Swartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittney Murphy and all the others did an amazing job pulling it all together... If anything but an great satire on the drug world, Spun is a great piece of black comedy that is due artistic credit where shown.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 9, 2006 0:43:29 GMT
The Queen(2006/Stephen Frears) [First Viewing] In the week following Princess Diana's death, the Queen of England faces a battle with her public image.I was pleasantly surprised with this film. It was not the Oscar bait I thought it would be. As a docu-drama, it works very well, but unlike most films that deal in that area, it has a remarkable sense of humor to go along with it. Themes of tradition verses modernization are perfectly displayed through the engaging performances of Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen. Boogie Nights(1997/Paul Thomas Anderson) [Nth Viewing] The ups and downs of a family of pornographers in southern California from 1977-1984.I absolutely love this film, and I have no clue why. I certainly found it entertaining, even after so many viewings, and even though it's often been compared to the work of Altman, I believe it is more in the style of Scorsese, all the way down to the "Raging Bull" homage in the closing moments. Essentially, it's an old fashioned story about the rise and fall of a young boy who always wanted to be a star; and the story of a visionary who wanted to do the impossible, and then has to compromise his vision in the end. It's a film about film-making, set among the porn industry. Anderson's camera is all over the place, and the performances are incredible. Alfred Molina's turn as a cracked out eccentric is brilliant; that whole sequence is one of the most bizarrely tense scenes I've ever experienced.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 9, 2006 3:14:57 GMT
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Larry Charles 2006 US/UK 1st time; big screen A TV reporter from Kazakhstan travels to New York with his agent, and thence to California, in search of cultural enlightenment and Pamela Anderson. It is perhaps too lazy to defend Sacha Baron Cohen's shameless anti-Semitism here by guarding him with the fact that he is devoutly Jewish himself. Similarly, it might also be naïve to assume his intention is to expose the ignorance in general, or racism in particular, of those unwitting individuals he confronts in the course of the film - or indeed, that of those who laugh at the film. As a mockumentary, it works a whole lot better than Ali G inda House, and, regardless of the (deliberately) difficult questions arising from possible racism, its best moments are its visual gags - Borat 'settling into' his new hotel room, an elevator; causing disastrous, expensive havoc in an antiques store; and a lengthy naked wrestle with his obese agent in the hotel at which they're staying, with Borat's penis covered with an exaggeratedly long censor.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 9, 2006 12:38:44 GMT
The Queen(2006/Stephen Frears) [First Viewing] In the week following Princess Diana's death, the Queen of England faces a battle with her public image.I was pleasantly surprised with this film. It was not the Oscar bait I thought it would be. As a docu-drama, it works very well, but unlike most films that deal in that area, it has a remarkable sense of humor to go along with it. Themes of tradition verses modernization are perfectly displayed through the engaging performances of Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen. Boogie Nights(1997/Paul Thomas Anderson) [Nth Viewing] The ups and downs of a family of pornographers in southern California from 1977-1984.I absolutely love this film, and I have no clue why. I certainly found it entertaining, even after so many viewings, and even though it's often been compared to the work of Altman, I believe it is more in the style of Scorsese, all the way down to the "Raging Bull" homage in the closing moments. Essentially, it's an old fashioned story about the rise and fall of a young boy who always wanted to be a star; and the story of a visionary who wanted to do the impossible, and then has to compromise his vision in the end. It's a film about film-making, set among the porn industry. Anderson's camera is all over the place, and the performances are incredible. Alfred Molina's turn as a cracked out eccentric is brilliant; that whole sequence is one of the most bizarrely tense scenes I've ever experienced. I've always noticed the Boogie Nights/Scorsese connection as well, much more than an Altman comparison. Either way, a really really fantastic film. Do you like Magnolia? And I went to see The Queen yesterday, or rather I attempted to. Fucking Pittsburgh bus system leaves me hanging.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 9, 2006 13:25:35 GMT
When I first saw "Magnolia", I loved it, but it's been a very long time. I really need to re-watch it soon.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 9, 2006 19:14:51 GMT
Romanzo criminale Michele Placido 2005 Italy/UK/France/US 1st time; big screen In 1970s, three childhood friends decide to take over Rome's underworld, and are undone by their own ambition and greed. It sounds like familiar stuff, and for the most part it is, but this epic film, full of dingy, washed-out settings and brilliant acting, has a drive and sustained energy which must be admired, given its two-and-a-half hour running time. It isn't as romanticised as, for example, the Sicilian scenes from The Godfather Part II, which works in its favour, and the music, a mixture between American funk records and an original, composed score, lends it a weight it would otherwise miss. If anything, it could have been even longer, with deeper explorations into these characters, who find themselves, in the course of the film, at the mercy of the ebb and flow of likeable and expendable.Regarding the above: Wet Dog, I'd avoid; those who migrated from the Gangster BB, I recommend glowingly. I know for a fact that I would have loved this film more five years or so ago.
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Post by Vercetti on Nov 10, 2006 6:14:56 GMT
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Post by The Ghost of LLC on Nov 10, 2006 16:46:49 GMT
I've always noticed the Boogie Nights/Scorsese connection as well, much more than an Altman comparison. I've always described Boogie Nights to my friends as "Goodfellas if Ray Liotta had a 13 inch member." No joke. The cinematography seems to ommage the technique used to make Goodfellas and Casino almost constantly.
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