Movies You've Seen Recently: Return of the Revenge of the Curse of the...
- Thread starter Cosmic Bus
- Start date
- Status
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
What's going on with Ebert? First Crash and Juno, now this.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
Great choices! I want to go back and watch both Tokyo Godfathers and Millenium Actress as I've only seen each of them once, but they definitely left a lasting impression on me.
In Bruges and Eternal Sunshine I've seen many, many times. ES is quite possibly one of my favorite movies of all time.
AlternativeUlster
Absolutely pathetic part deux
Top 10 Non 2012 Films that I have seen for the first time in 2012:
20. Arabian Nights
19. The African Queen
18. Linda Linda Linda
17. The Kid
16. Project A
15. The Warped Ones
14. All About Eve
13. Brief Encounter
12. Blood Wedding
11. West Side Story
10. Head
9. The Idiots
8. And God Created Women
7. Wereckmeister Harmonies
6. The Italian Connection
5. Murder by Numbers
4. Tampopo
3. Trust
1 (tie). We Can Never Go Home Again / The Falls
20. Arabian Nights
19. The African Queen
18. Linda Linda Linda
17. The Kid
16. Project A
15. The Warped Ones
14. All About Eve
13. Brief Encounter
12. Blood Wedding
11. West Side Story
10. Head
9. The Idiots
8. And God Created Women
7. Wereckmeister Harmonies
6. The Italian Connection
5. Murder by Numbers
4. Tampopo
3. Trust
1 (tie). We Can Never Go Home Again / The Falls
TheKaeptain
Banned
Seeing Tampopo in your list reminds me of something. Hey movie dudes have any of you seen the rest of Jūzō Itami's filmography?
MidnightCowboy
Member
Haven't posted in a while:
The Animatrix - Absolutely stunning animation coupled with emotional depth that shames the the three live action films. The Matrix is an awesome movie, but this is leagues better. Almost every short was a 10/10 for me.
Django Unchained - About all I can say is that it was very entertaining. Mid tier Tarantino for me, but it was still great fun. I have very few complaints, it was solid throughout, but it just didn't reach the highs of some of his other films for me.
The Animatrix - Absolutely stunning animation coupled with emotional depth that shames the the three live action films. The Matrix is an awesome movie, but this is leagues better. Almost every short was a 10/10 for me.
Django Unchained - About all I can say is that it was very entertaining. Mid tier Tarantino for me, but it was still great fun. I have very few complaints, it was solid throughout, but it just didn't reach the highs of some of his other films for me.
Saw Skyfall at the cinema again tonight and it was just as great. Then I come home and see that Scream 2 is about to start! I thought I hadn't seen it before but I have. And it's awesome, really dig the smart satire and "whodunit" take on the genre 
Movies within movies and movie references makes me giddy :lol
Edit: these non-2012 top lists, is that for movies we've seen this year but weren't released this particular year? Are 2012 movies allowed anyway? Or is it Top 10 forever?
Movies within movies and movie references makes me giddy :lolEdit: these non-2012 top lists, is that for movies we've seen this year but weren't released this particular year? Are 2012 movies allowed anyway? Or is it Top 10 forever?
Vigilant Walrus
Member
my favorites this year;
Skyfall
Dredd 3D
Hobbit
The Raid
Iron Sky
American Pyscho
Skyfall
Dredd 3D
Hobbit
The Raid
Iron Sky
American Pyscho
TheKaeptain
Banned
Saw Skyfall at the cinema again tonight and it was just as great. Then I come home and see that Scream 2 is about to start! I thought I hadn't seen it before but I have. And it's awesome, really dig the smart satire and "whodunit" take on the genre
Edit: these non-2012 top lists, is that for movies we've seen this year but weren't released this particular year? Are 2012 movies allowed anyway? Or is it Top 10 forever?
NON-2012 films you watched this year for the first time.
Expendable.
Member
Yeesh, Flight is overlooked but Argo is one of the most vanilla movies of the year and End of Watch would be near my worst of the year list.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
Damn, The Incredibles is Pixar's most awesome and exciting movie. It'd been so long since I last watched it.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Flight still hasn't released here. Like everything else.
This is factual truth.
Thanks, I'll probably be slapped for my list because of everything I have missed until now
well... shit. did he just spoil arbitrage for me?
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
I fucking love you Yamabro
http://cinematreasures.org
Is a neat as fuck site. Reading up on former movie theater history is neat
Is a neat as fuck site. Reading up on former movie theater history is neat
bumbillbee
Member
Hope I'm not too late to this party. This was pretty difficult to compile, good idea!
1. Close Up
2. Werckmeister Harmonies
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Rosemary's Baby
5. Fires on the Plain
6. The Last Days of Disco
7. Design for Living
8. The Warped Ones
9. The Sweet Smell of Success
10. Phantom of the Paradise
1. Close Up
2. Werckmeister Harmonies
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Rosemary's Baby
5. Fires on the Plain
6. The Last Days of Disco
7. Design for Living
8. The Warped Ones
9. The Sweet Smell of Success
10. Phantom of the Paradise
TheKaeptain
Banned
That last scene bro... that shit was perfect.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I'm not in the mood for lists, at least not without detailed explanations. Oh well. Right now, anyway, I'm trying to clear through the next batch of films due to leave Netflix Instant, and it's going to be a rough journey.
•
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Sargent)
The editing's awkward, Mr. Brown ain't much more than a Mr. Grey expy with no development, and I get the feeling that many sequences could have been compressed for time's sake. But that doesn't stop Joseph Sargent's subway thriller from speeding down the rail-line. I think much of the film's successes come from the script more so than from Sargent's direction, though. Witty dialogue (almost as impromptu as later scripts from Tarantino) and perfect performances make up for a sometimes clinical visual style, at least by the standards of contemporaries like Friedkin. What the movie excels at is selling a ridiculous premise with realistic clarity and depth of performance, allowing the viewer to focus more on outcomes and less on whether or not a subway-train ransom trip would ever happen.
Films like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three also remind me of how overlooked Walter Matthau is as an actor. He can play wise-guy connivers in stories like Charade, or perhaps a more worn-out old man like Lieutenant Garber in this flick. But both roles benefit because of his presence, and Garber has more screen presence than most of the other characters despite the snappy to-and-fro editing. Even when the mayor's up and then the police chief, and then maybe Rico in the back of the subway department, Garber becomes a protagonist based on the emotional visibility of Matthau's acting. It's quite interesting, I tell ye.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
•
Max Dugan Returns (Herbert Ross)
There comes a time when a burgeoning cinephile decides which actors, directors, and writers he or she should follow. The decision can be as simple as watching all the movies involving so and so people, or as tricky as watching a few flicks to determine, in a nutshell, the magic that these film-making people put into each production. Sometimes, however, which personnel a film-goer gets interested in can come down to strange attraction—the feeling that, even if this person hasn't seen this actor, director, or writer in action, their filmography simply has to have some worth.
I first experienced this feeling when I encountered Harvey Keitel and the stories he participated in. It's also happening to me for a different man: Jason Robards.
His sole presence in Max Dugan Returns raises a reasonable script, seldom-complicated direction, and a mostly average supporting cast to levels otherwise unattainable. As the titular ne'er-do-well of mythic proportions, his crimes seek the background and his personality finds itself in the foreground; Max Dugan himself provides the blueprint for characters like Royal Tenenbaum, and Robards portrays him perfectly. With subtle body language and an overt interest in his philosophy career, the kind of work that gets few men anywhere in life, Max Dugan embodies the kind of father for which there is no full redemption, and who can only give in the material what he should have left in the spiritual. I'm not surprised that he silently antagonizes his estranged daughter for much of the film: he failed her, yet he knows her son Mike can still heed his words.
Throughout the story's middle, Neil Simon brilliantly captures the futility of understanding Max Dugan's backstory and his eccentric personality, which involves giving mental and monetary currency to those around him. But Robards' scene-chewing can't distract from inconsistent performances from Sutherland, Mason, and a young Matthew Broderick. The opening sequences, featuring the McPhee's constant troubles as near-poverty citizens of a swamped-out southern California, just take too long to resolve into Max Dugan's introduction. On the contrary, the third act of the film rushes past events, giving viewers little time at all to consider the philosophical implications of Max Dugan's lifestyle. I really wish Simon wrote a more even screenplay for Max Dugan's story, considering how interesting the concept is at first sight.
Max Dugan Returns mainly suffers from poor execution of story structure, but it also veers into comedic brick-walls at times too. Many moments in the movie reek of humor, but other sequences either fail to achieve high precedents or fall apart completely. Perhaps, though, the film's complacency mirrors the main character's. He rides high on gliding crescendos of music, like Jacques Tati; he gives off the impression of wise living, even if he doesn't truly adhere to Wittgenstein's tenets; ultimately, he's afraid to reveal himself to others, expecting people like Nora and Bryant to do the hard work themselves. I struggled past a sluggish opening and overcompensating finale to find the quality in Max Dugan Returns, and what I see now is an intruiging character study, and one more reason to let instinct guide me towards other great actors like Jason Robards.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
***
•
Swingers (Liman)
Nostalgia's a powerful thing, and this film's full of it. It doesn't just deal with exterior stuff like the post-modern culture worshipped by Trent and the rest, but also with underlying issues of attraction and an inability to communicate in a poseur culture. Honestly, though, this movie's so money and it doesn't even know it. Liman's direction alternates between heavily staged and gorilla guerrilla, and the cast pretty much sells the entire story standalone. Favreau made the best choice possible in attaching an archetypal set-up to an otherwise dated setting: the retro revival happening down West.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
•
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Sargent)
The editing's awkward, Mr. Brown ain't much more than a Mr. Grey expy with no development, and I get the feeling that many sequences could have been compressed for time's sake. But that doesn't stop Joseph Sargent's subway thriller from speeding down the rail-line. I think much of the film's successes come from the script more so than from Sargent's direction, though. Witty dialogue (almost as impromptu as later scripts from Tarantino) and perfect performances make up for a sometimes clinical visual style, at least by the standards of contemporaries like Friedkin. What the movie excels at is selling a ridiculous premise with realistic clarity and depth of performance, allowing the viewer to focus more on outcomes and less on whether or not a subway-train ransom trip would ever happen.
Films like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three also remind me of how overlooked Walter Matthau is as an actor. He can play wise-guy connivers in stories like Charade, or perhaps a more worn-out old man like Lieutenant Garber in this flick. But both roles benefit because of his presence, and Garber has more screen presence than most of the other characters despite the snappy to-and-fro editing. Even when the mayor's up and then the police chief, and then maybe Rico in the back of the subway department, Garber becomes a protagonist based on the emotional visibility of Matthau's acting. It's quite interesting, I tell ye.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
•
Max Dugan Returns (Herbert Ross)
There comes a time when a burgeoning cinephile decides which actors, directors, and writers he or she should follow. The decision can be as simple as watching all the movies involving so and so people, or as tricky as watching a few flicks to determine, in a nutshell, the magic that these film-making people put into each production. Sometimes, however, which personnel a film-goer gets interested in can come down to strange attraction—the feeling that, even if this person hasn't seen this actor, director, or writer in action, their filmography simply has to have some worth.
I first experienced this feeling when I encountered Harvey Keitel and the stories he participated in. It's also happening to me for a different man: Jason Robards.
His sole presence in Max Dugan Returns raises a reasonable script, seldom-complicated direction, and a mostly average supporting cast to levels otherwise unattainable. As the titular ne'er-do-well of mythic proportions, his crimes seek the background and his personality finds itself in the foreground; Max Dugan himself provides the blueprint for characters like Royal Tenenbaum, and Robards portrays him perfectly. With subtle body language and an overt interest in his philosophy career, the kind of work that gets few men anywhere in life, Max Dugan embodies the kind of father for which there is no full redemption, and who can only give in the material what he should have left in the spiritual. I'm not surprised that he silently antagonizes his estranged daughter for much of the film: he failed her, yet he knows her son Mike can still heed his words.
Throughout the story's middle, Neil Simon brilliantly captures the futility of understanding Max Dugan's backstory and his eccentric personality, which involves giving mental and monetary currency to those around him. But Robards' scene-chewing can't distract from inconsistent performances from Sutherland, Mason, and a young Matthew Broderick. The opening sequences, featuring the McPhee's constant troubles as near-poverty citizens of a swamped-out southern California, just take too long to resolve into Max Dugan's introduction. On the contrary, the third act of the film rushes past events, giving viewers little time at all to consider the philosophical implications of Max Dugan's lifestyle. I really wish Simon wrote a more even screenplay for Max Dugan's story, considering how interesting the concept is at first sight.
Max Dugan Returns mainly suffers from poor execution of story structure, but it also veers into comedic brick-walls at times too. Many moments in the movie reek of humor, but other sequences either fail to achieve high precedents or fall apart completely. Perhaps, though, the film's complacency mirrors the main character's. He rides high on gliding crescendos of music, like Jacques Tati; he gives off the impression of wise living, even if he doesn't truly adhere to Wittgenstein's tenets; ultimately, he's afraid to reveal himself to others, expecting people like Nora and Bryant to do the hard work themselves. I struggled past a sluggish opening and overcompensating finale to find the quality in Max Dugan Returns, and what I see now is an intruiging character study, and one more reason to let instinct guide me towards other great actors like Jason Robards.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
***
•
Swingers (Liman)
Nostalgia's a powerful thing, and this film's full of it. It doesn't just deal with exterior stuff like the post-modern culture worshipped by Trent and the rest, but also with underlying issues of attraction and an inability to communicate in a poseur culture. Honestly, though, this movie's so money and it doesn't even know it. Liman's direction alternates between heavily staged and gorilla guerrilla, and the cast pretty much sells the entire story standalone. Favreau made the best choice possible in attaching an archetypal set-up to an otherwise dated setting: the retro revival happening down West.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
AlternativeUlster
Absolutely pathetic part deux
Haha. I just was researching to see how much the Japanese import of The Draughtman's Contract was and the english translation of the review had the title as "English Garden Murder Case." I have no idea how Amazon Japan works though.
8BitsAtATime
Member
Top 10 Non-2012 flicks....hmmm i only have one and it goes to Avatar. I bought the extended edition about a month ago and ive seen it 4 times so far. Im going to double dip and pick up the 3d version this week
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Did you check out the huge amount of deleted scenes (some amazing) that didn't make it into any cut of the film?
Contact
"They should have sent a poet."
I've always quite liked Contact. It is fairly pulpy, very digestible. In some ways it is the family friendly dummies guide to 2001, but thematically I think it plays with some interesting things, primarily her inherent disdain with faith, and her ultimate reliance on it.
I had a discussion with a friend of mine a month or so back about close ups, and how I don't generally like that constant shift of a scene between faces. I think it's in not knowing much about film making, that I ask questions that everyone who does know about it has just resided on the generally accepted answer. So I did some research about sustained 'master shots', and I'm kind of surprised this film never came up. Of course there's stuff that is famous for it, like Hunger, but for a very commercial film, to have this unorthodox style is surprising to me.
It's a fun film, on a base level, and technically. I really liked Zemeckis' films as a child, but retrospectively I don't like them much at all, besides this one at least.
"They should have sent a poet."
I've always quite liked Contact. It is fairly pulpy, very digestible. In some ways it is the family friendly dummies guide to 2001, but thematically I think it plays with some interesting things, primarily her inherent disdain with faith, and her ultimate reliance on it.
I had a discussion with a friend of mine a month or so back about close ups, and how I don't generally like that constant shift of a scene between faces. I think it's in not knowing much about film making, that I ask questions that everyone who does know about it has just resided on the generally accepted answer. So I did some research about sustained 'master shots', and I'm kind of surprised this film never came up. Of course there's stuff that is famous for it, like Hunger, but for a very commercial film, to have this unorthodox style is surprising to me.
It's a fun film, on a base level, and technically. I really liked Zemeckis' films as a child, but retrospectively I don't like them much at all, besides this one at least.
Expendable.
Member
Was home from Christmas and found these decade-old stubs:
I honestly can't remember a quarter of those movies.
I honestly can't remember a quarter of those movies.
Net_Wrecker
Member
BTTF trilogy, Roger Rabbit, Romancing The Stone? None of those? I find them + Contact to be endlessly rewatchable movies, even more so now than I did when I was younger. Hell, even Flight shows flashes of "good Zemeckis." Not sure how it'll hold up on a second viewing, but still. He's always been one of those directors who I never really think to put high in my all time list, but has a nice handful of movies I've gone back to year after year.
Was home from Christmas and found these decade-old stubs:
I honestly can't remember a quarter of those movies.
Man you got some real winners in there like Corky Romano, Mission to Mars and Van Helsing.
Expendable.
Member
What can I say, I was an astute young teenager.
TheKaeptain
Banned
It seems much hasn't changed for young jordan.
I can't give you too much crap. I've seen almost all of these movies, most of them in the theater as well.
Expendable.
Member
These are all mine. I would have been eleven or twelve when it came out, did that qualify as a child ticket? I'm not sure.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
When I was 10 years old, Mission to Mars was the worst damn movie I've seen since Bicentennial Man
Now it's like..."wtf is this Brian DePalma"
Now it's like..."wtf is this Brian DePalma"
Count Dookkake
Member
MISSION TO MARS is a pretty great film, with one or two bits of cheese.
TheKaeptain
Banned
i remember watching this when i was little and cringing at the fart scene.
Count Dookkake
Member
TheKaeptain
Banned
I know man.
k i'm back again after being banned for this. I probably need to stop posting altogether
here is what I remember I watched while banned, which felt like a lifetime
cute idea, but i think it failed because It was trying too hard and I had no idea what the fuck was going on the entire time.
very good, love the attention to detail when it comes to futuristic movies. shame the ending turned into a scene from dragon ball Z??
Very good documentary by the BBC(?) about the space dive
Now this was really fucking interesting story..What a fascinating character. I really like the approach the director took, that is, subjecting the audience directly to Bourdain's manipulation. I don't want to say more, highly recommended
sigh..I don't understand why people join the army
Too melodramatic and unnatural considering the subject matter. Also has the strangest dance scene in any movie I have seen
possibly the best bond of all time? No russian nuclear launch codes, just some crazy fucker looking for revenge and no love affair (how refreshing). I still have a hard time understanding how some people think casino royale is better than this.
everything about this movie is dog shit
really pleasantly surprised about this one. When this came out I was wondering what Scorsese was doing making 3D movies for kids, but that isn't what it is at all. It's an homage to the great Georges Méliès!! a treat to watch
Not sure how to feel about this one - Tobey jones is amazing but i'm not sure this is an accurate portrayal of Hitchcock at all??
lol
here is what I remember I watched while banned, which felt like a lifetime
cute idea, but i think it failed because It was trying too hard and I had no idea what the fuck was going on the entire time.
very good, love the attention to detail when it comes to futuristic movies. shame the ending turned into a scene from dragon ball Z??
Very good documentary by the BBC(?) about the space dive
Now this was really fucking interesting story..What a fascinating character. I really like the approach the director took, that is, subjecting the audience directly to Bourdain's manipulation. I don't want to say more, highly recommended
sigh..I don't understand why people join the army
Too melodramatic and unnatural considering the subject matter. Also has the strangest dance scene in any movie I have seen
possibly the best bond of all time? No russian nuclear launch codes, just some crazy fucker looking for revenge and no love affair (how refreshing). I still have a hard time understanding how some people think casino royale is better than this.
everything about this movie is dog shit
really pleasantly surprised about this one. When this came out I was wondering what Scorsese was doing making 3D movies for kids, but that isn't what it is at all. It's an homage to the great Georges Méliès!! a treat to watch
Not sure how to feel about this one - Tobey jones is amazing but i'm not sure this is an accurate portrayal of Hitchcock at all??
lol
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Let me get this straight
The king of NeoGAF Criterion Collection, connoisseur of a million obscure foreign movies and art films nobody's heard of but jarosh
hasn't never seen The Godfather
...
Secret Fawful
Member
Did I just read someone say Mission to Mars is bad? Man, go listen to that Morricone soundtrack again.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
I thought you were 'about to see it'. I know you're not watching it while posting.
I remember Mission to Mars being very "interesting", but I was also 10 years old at the time.
I'm watching it when I get off work tonight. Still about 2 or 3 hours until then.
I'm watching it when I get off work tonight. Still about 2 or 3 hours until then.
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