Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 22, 2006 23:42:40 GMT
I enjoy it all. Werckmeister Harmonies (less reliance on editing) and Departed (extreme dependence on editing). Yeah, Scorsese once said he was torn between the styles of Mizoguchi and somebody like Eisenstein or Hitchcock. I agree.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 23, 2006 4:54:51 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. Spun (2002/Åkerlund) Basically a west coast, slightly more comical version of Requiem. Alone it'd be mightily impressive but in comparison there isn't much new here. Unoriginal but still great.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 25, 2006 1:22:48 GMT
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michel Gondry 2004 US 3rd time; DVD A man decides to get his memory erased of his ex-girlfriend, and, halfway through the procedure, realises he still loves her. Extraordinarily resonant exploration of memory, love and flawed relationships. Gondry's direction has a loose feel, very casual and very immediate, and Kaufman's script is so tightly concerned with itself, with its own narrative, that the result is a film which evokes an unusual intimacy without really concentrating on its central relationship... at least not in the conventional sense. It seems, for instance, to relish and concentrate more on those moments of embarrassment, those awkward silences which often speak more than conversations, and since it starts at the bitter end and works its way back, the ending, at once tragic and hopeful, couldn't be more explosive. Together, Gondry and Kaufman grasp these memories and wrap them together as a kind of recollection of dreams, and the real revelation of the film, the real winner, is the undying endurance of love itself. Remarkable.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 26, 2006 23:51:39 GMT
Lost In Translation Sofia Coppola 2003 US/Japan Nth time; DVD Two Americans in Japan, one an actor, the other a lonely wife over on her husband's business, meet up and enjoy each other's company. The loneliness of life, communicated via two people, both frustrated by their respective inert marriages, who find one another in the same alien world. Two notable points, then: the excellent performances carry the film with remarkable weight, and the vision of a new culture, a new way of life, daunting at first and warming at the finish, is wonderfully achieved. Coppola's style is unique, both hip and invididual, accessible and obscure; it's a massively popular film, for instance, but her narrative might fit best in what academics - however outdated they are - define as 'Art Cinema': an accumulation of situations which might not add up to much as a story, which invites us to explore the central relationship, to connect to it, on a much deeper level than otherwise allowed. Perceptive, brave, and utterly fantastic.Marie Antoinette Sofia Coppola 2005 Japan/France/US 1st time; big screen An Austrian princess is wedded, at 15, to a French Dauphin in the hope of bringing together Versailles and Vienna. At 19 she becomes Queen of France, but trouble is brewing amongst the public. Ambitious and misunderstood, a tragic, rather quiet film about a girl entering a world completely alien to her, and becoming slowly seduced by it. Seduction is the key word - it's visually fantastic, meticulously designed, and overall irresistible. It's probably going to be remembered (if at all) as a hideously inaccurate biopic with an out-of-place soundtrack. But Coppola continues to impress, as a deceptively bold director who moves on with each film. She has a fine sense of pace, and her control of actors is brilliant; the two can be seen together most evidently when the title character is deflowered, and we cut to the birth of her first child - it might seem too pacy and convenient for some, but Dunst's facial expression lends a weight other directors would have missed (and her performance in general is another lesson in subtlety). Arresting from start to finish, and the final shot, a very brief coda, is haunting and implicit.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Nov 27, 2006 1:48:00 GMT
I havent been keeping up with these all that much, Ill try to get back in the habit Casino Royale Probably ranking in the top 4-7 of the series, Daniel Craig makes a good enough debut. Sadly, the movie breaks some of the favorite traditions: the gunshot that is at the beginning of each film is spun in differently, there are no naked woman shiloettes in the opening song, Monneypenny and Q are gone....all little touches Ive gotten used to throughout the 20 other films. Shrek 2 Agree with Capo on this one. Why these movies succeed more then Pixar at the box office is a mystery to me, they are far worse in every sense. I heard Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz both made like 10 mil for there voices. Why shell out this much for some one that isnt even seen? Swingers Pretty funny movie with fun dialouge throughout. Had never seen it in its entirety before, but I liked it
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 27, 2006 21:22:45 GMT
Many updates: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan(2006/Larry Charles) [First Viewing] A journalist from Kazakhstan seeks to discover the American way of life.Funny and smart, but not very consistent. Some instances work much better than others. One can not, however, deny the talent of Sacha Baron Cohen. The Prestige(2006/Christopher Nolan) [Second Viewing] Two rival magicians struggle to discover each other's secrets in turn-of-the-century England.Extremely well done film on obsession, full of layers of meaning and craftsmanship, all the way down from Nolan's skill behind the camera, which is better than ever, to the extraordinary performances from the two male leads. MASH(1970/Robert Altman) [Nth Viewing] A group of doctors on the front lines of the Korean War struggle to keep their sanity.What Altman has done here is throw out any standard reason for a script, created the black comedy, and set the precedent for the teen sex comedy, all at once. The ensemble cast is brilliant, as is Altman's complete disregard for anything resembling a "normal" film. McCabe & Mrs. Miller(1971/Robert Altman) [First Viewing] A "business man" sets up a brothel in a small western town, but soon pays for his ignorance.I never really understood what was going on in the film, and maybe I was not supposed it. Either way, the cinematography is striking, as is the soundtrack by Leonard Cohen. Altman works with some unique symbolism to destroy the idea of the Western genre. A film that will no doubt reward on repeat viewings. Fast Food Nation(2006/Richard Linklater) [First Viewing] The lives of several people in a small Colorado town are all effected in some way by the fast food industry.Along with "Tape" and probably "Before Sunset", this is Linklater at his most serious. The ensemble cast is great, especially Bruce Willis in a scene stealing cameo. The stories slowly intersect, and may only feel loosely connected, but there are moments when you are reminded that you are watching a Linklater film, i.e. a scene between Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette where they argue whether or not an afternoon at a 'Sunglass Hut' is a wasted one, and a scene where several college students get together and decide to start a letter writing campaign. I liked it a lot, but many won't, and haven't already.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 28, 2006 4:14:40 GMT
Crimen ferpecto Ferpect Crime(2004/Álex de la Iglesia) [First Viewing] A slick salesmen in a Madrid department store loses control of his life after not being promoted.The film begins wonderfully and is very promising, mainly because of Guillermo Toledo's charismatic performance, but as soon as the film ventures into Hitchcockian territory, it begins to lose all the promise it had. Still, it's very enjoyable to watch, in a Scorsese's "King of Comedy" kind of way.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 28, 2006 20:26:25 GMT
Mies vailla menneisyyttä The Man Without a Past(2002/Aki Kaurismäki) [First Viewing] A man is beaten and robbed, and awakes with amnesia.A slow paced, observant film, very much in the vain of Jarmusch. The depiction of bureaucracy and existentialism counter balance the main character's struggle for identity. A quietly beautiful film.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Nov 29, 2006 1:53:35 GMT
Scrubs Season 4 Not on par with previous seasons. Still funny Watched some Buster Keaton, a full and two shorts Steamboat Bill Jr. Not as good as his other famous works Ive seen: The General, Our Hospitality, and Sherlock Jr., but still a lot of fun once it picks up. Overall, I think Keatons best films blow Chaplins best films out of the water Convict 13 Daydreams Some parts have spliced in still photographs (think the 4 hr version of Greed), which is too bad, because this was a strong short film otherwise, and 10 more minutes wouldve been great
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 29, 2006 4:45:24 GMT
Casino Royale Martin Campbell 2006 US/UK/CzechRepublic 1st time; big screen James Bond is given his Double-O status and is entered into a high stakes card game to track down a rich funder of terrorism. Generally very good: less about saving the world than saving the franchise, which it does sufficiently - but in doing so, it creates a hell of a lot of potential for other directions. Comparisons with Batman Begins are easy yet unfavourable, since that film was revitalised by Christopher Nolan... With a more confident, less "in-the-box" director, these Bond films could perhaps venture down what would probably be considered a more "artistic" route, with an emphasis more on the character's psychology. Let's not kid ourselves, after all: not only are the villains becoming more and more unmemorable with each film, but the most intriguing scenes here are those in which Bond finds himself in a sort of character crisis, first when he meets the MI6 accountant who offers a character analysis of him, and then as he frantically washes himself of an ememy's blood following a gritty, not-so-clean kill. He's ruthless, brutal, very interesting because of his charm, and begs further exploration as a born-again phenomenon.Les hurdes Land without BreadLuis Buñuel 1933 Spain 1st time; big screen Documentary on the Hurdanos, a remote area of Spain inhabited by peasants. Excessively didactic and with too much of an agenda - arousing pity from images and social comment - to be comfortably placed as a documentary. The English voice-over, added after the film was banned in Spain, is horrid.Festen The Celebration Thomas Vinterberg 1998 Denmark 2nd time; big screen At a formal gathering to celebrate his 60th birthday, a patriarch's eldest son drops a bomb when he makes a speech and a very serious accusation. Few films have achieved the sustained energy of Festen, the aggressive aesthetic, the ferocious narrative, or the fierce rollercoaster of emotions. Essentially, it's a black comedy, at times uncomortable to watch because it is so well handled, tackling a disturbing subject theme with much confidence. Sharp and perceptive, with tremendous acting and a daring script, it must be continually praised for confronting its major, and awkward, scenes instead of avoiding them. Gutwrenching, powerful, and quite possibly one of the best films ever.Crash David Cronenberg 1996 US/Canada 2nd time; big screen A married couple become involved with a group of people with an overwhelming fetish for car crashes. Cronenberg often begins his movies in the thick of it - little exposition, no real closure, and in between there's an endurance-testing, patience-requiring exploration of whatever theme is being tackled. Here, we have a succession of sex scenes in and around cars, increasing each time in disturbing, almost de-eroticised frankness. There are some incredible, brief explosions of intensity - Ballard having sex with Helen Remington for the first time, Ballard meeting Vaughan in the hospital for the first time, Vaughan's car ramming Ballard's wife from the rear ... in fact, as Vaughan, Elias Koteas steals the entire film.
I think everybody here should see Festen as soon as possible. I had to gatecrash a third-year lecture on Sci-fi Cinema to view Crash. There was a group of four boys, I can only assume third year students and regulars on the course, who were quite happy to sit through a violent film full of sex scenes and car-crashes and other profane language, but as soon as Vaughan and Ballard started to kiss, out came the damned giggles. I couldn't believe it, but wasn't surprised.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 29, 2006 4:54:01 GMT
Festen The Celebration Thomas Vinterberg 1998 Denmark 2nd time; big screen ...quite possibly one of the best films ever. Where's that 4th star then? I think everybody here should see Festen as soon as possible. Expect a proview within a few days.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 29, 2006 4:59:44 GMT
I never give out four stars before a third viewing.
Regarding the aggressive hand-held camerawork - stick with it.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 29, 2006 17:36:04 GMT
The Defiant Ones(1958/Stanley Kramer) [First Viewing] Two escaped convicts, one black and one white, are chained together as they travel across the deep south.I'm sure the film had a lot to say upon it's initial release, and was probably controversial, but now the race relations plot and other elements are dated. But thanks to some striking cinematography, good performances from an able cast, and some tense sequences, the film manages to hold up wonderfully today.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Nov 29, 2006 23:29:19 GMT
On the Beach(1959/Stanley Kramer) [First Viewing] After a nuclear war, the inhabitants of an Australian city slowly wait for the end of the world.Along with similar films dealing with the end of the world, "Dr. Strangelove" and "Fail Safe", it's hard to believe that such a grim film could have been made at that time, and let alone become popular. The premise is extremely intriguing, and the cast and director make it work so well. Quite possibly the most depressing American film of the 1950's.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 30, 2006 6:33:56 GMT
Might be a last minute addition to this later, but this is most likely it. New (but strangely familiar) formatting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOVEMBER22 films, 19 features, 21 first viewings, 3 on the big screen. The Musketeers of Pig Alley D.W. Griffith 1912 US 1st time; film reelPerhaps the loosest I've ever been with the 3 star rating, but I try to judge films on their own terms as opposed to other films with the same ranking. Griffith's best that I've seen, with his only close up, although it's somewhat unintentional it seems. The New York Hat D.W. Griffith 1912 US 1st time; film reel The Lonely Villa D.W. Griffith 1909 US 1st time; film reel Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Larry Charles 2006 US 1st time; big screen V for Vendetta James McTeigue 2006 UK/US/Germany 1st time; DVD Hiroshima, Mon Amour Hiroshima, My Love Alain Resnais 1959 France/Japan 1st time; DVD Touch of Evil Orson Welles 1958 US 1st time; TV Babel Alejandro González Iñárritu 2006 US/Mexico 1st time; big screen King Kong Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack 1933 US 2nd time; DVDReally fantastic combination of special effects, miniatures, and editing. Perhaps what I consider to be the first great film. Tokyo Monogatari Tokyo Story Yasujiro Ozu 1953 Japan 1st time; DVD Written on the Wind Douglas Sirk 1956 US 1st time; DVDGod I'd love to remake this. Bronenosets Potyomkin Battleship Potemkin Sergei M. Eisenstein 1925 USSR 1st time; DVDSurprised the hell out of me. As I've said before, I love theyshootpictures.com's top 1000 list, but the criteria continues to baffle me. I had just finished Tokyo Story and hated it, which is ranked slightly higher than this, and then went into this expecting something similar, and loved it. Sherlock, Jr. Buster Keaton 1924 US 1st time; VHS L'Age d'Or The Golden Age Luis Buñuel 1930 France 1st time; DVD The General Buster Keaton 1927 US 1st time; DVDI've yet to see more than one Chaplin film, but so far, Keaton blows him away. Persona Ingmar Bergman 1966 Sweden 1st time; DVD Spun Jonas Åkerlund 2002 US/Sweden 1st time; DVD Lucky Number Slevin Paul McGuigan 2006 US 1st time; DVDEffective noirish sly crime thriller. Really glad to see the guy behind Gangster No. 1 isn't a fuckup. Eraserhead David Lynch 1977 US 1st time; DVDMy 5th Lynch, which I'm fairly proud of. Wasn't blown away by it, seems as though maybe it's just considered his best because it was his first (?). I'm interested in discussing this with this film's lovers. Come te nessuno mai But Forever in My Mind Gabriele Muccino 1999 Italy 1st time; big screen New Jack City Mario Van Peebles 1991 US 1st time; DVD"New Jack City ranked above Eraserhead?!?!?!?!?!??!!? WTFFFFFFFFFFFF" I loved this film simply for how purely cinematic it was, working off basic cop/criminal movie cliches, with some laughable performances and tired storylines, but there's just such a drive here, such an ambitious push to create on the part of the whole cast and director. I feel as though I almost like it more because of how much it meant to the black community to have a self-produced, poltically significant, and ultimately succesful film. My viewing happened to coincide with a resurgance of my love for 2pac as well, which didn't hurt. Il Mio nome è Nessuno My Name Is Nobody Tonino Valerii and Sergio Leone 1973 Italy, France, West Germany 1st time
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 30, 2006 15:32:53 GMT
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 30, 2006 18:29:13 GMT
Updated to add one more. I've actually found my first foray into the trademark Wetdog style of proview rather dissappointing, that is, only providing a monthly summary rather than individual reviews directly after watching each film. I often feel as though I don't have much to say about a film after watching it, but simply listing them in that fashion has been gnawing at me. I think rather than listing the titles and the ratings and hoping someone will want to know what I thought of a specific film, I'll include a sentence or two to perhaps incite discussion myself. In case you cared. So here: Il Mio nome è Nessuno My Name Is Nobody Tonino Valerii and Sergio Leone 1973 Italy, France, West Germany 1st timePerhaps one of the strangest films I've ever seen. Supposedly a comedic Western, but it comes off nothing like Blazing Saddles, the only other film I know that could be described that way. I ultimately came to the conclusion that where Blazing Saddles is a comedic film functioning as a Western, this film was a Western film functioning as a comedy, and the final product is as baffling as that analogy. Really badly dubbed audio, which may have been intentional to create comedic effect (?). I'm really kind of struggling to even comment on it. It was just so strange.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 30, 2006 18:52:20 GMT
Added some retrospective proviews above.
And Capo, btw, I started Festen. Enjoyable so far, I'm only about 15 minutes in. Looking to finish it sometime this weekend.
I'm thinking I'd be interested in having you create a list of films for me to see, in a specific order, considering we have such different lists in the Yearly Top 10 threads, or you could let me know before you watch a film and I'd make an effort to view it as well, something like that. Could make for some good discussion.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 30, 2006 19:03:41 GMT
And Capo, btw, I started Festen. Enjoyable so far, I'm only about 15 minutes in. Looking to finish it sometime this weekend. Hmm... I had always assumed people on this board watched films in one sitting. I can't have breaks, ever. I lose all sense of pacing, editing, rhythm, and cannot therefore connect with the emotional accumulation which stems from it. Hmm.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 30, 2006 19:10:28 GMT
I gave up trying to do films in one sitting a long time ago. It happens once and a while, but rarely.
Kind of depends on how much I'm enjoying a film. I did Tokyo Story in 4 sessions I believe, but Irreversible in 1.
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