TheKaeptain
Banned
The Day I Saw Your Heart
Pretty cute romcom from France. The father was really funny.
Pretty cute romcom from France. The father was really funny.
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Movies You've Seen Recently III: The Third Chapter
- Thread starter AlternativeUlster
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Watch movie and then comment on it. Take notes if you feel that you'll forget something that you think would be worth commenting on.
Have you seen Paris Manhattan? it's playing in arthouse theaters here and it's a french romcom. The concept sounds hilariously awesome.
TheKaeptain
Banned
First time I have heard about it but that trailer has my attention.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Agreed. The documentary's well-produced regardless of its content, which the film-makers treated in the best way possible.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robertson, Barrymore)
John Barrymore's Ghastly Ghost Tarantula! Coming soon to a bed below you!
Yes: that sequence is the stuff dreams (nightmares) are made of. Skeletal strings plucking and the visage of Mr. Hyde meshing into an ever-more vulnerable Dr. Jekyll—it's the most creative and horrific image in the entire movie. Little moments like this don't just advance the plot by visualizing what's going on in the mind of a character. The very idea of Mr. Hyde invading an innocent's psyche in the form of a ghost tarantula speaks to the same part of the brain that artists like Hieronymous Bosch did with anthropomorphic monstrosities. Social scientific malaise is, to the characters in this story, as gruesome as the decadent swoop of a deadly-haired beast. I don't know if the director looked towards German expressionist films for some idea for this adaptation, but this little sequence reminds me of why this brand of surreal horror is still relevant. Even though I've just described what happens, how it appears on screen and through the speakers feels totally unique and appropriate for that part of the movie, and no textual description can render that moment less unique.
I think it's a shame the rest of this vintage cinema can't match the tarantula sequence in sheer quality. Most of the movie's first act focuses more on direct, overextended exposition that serves the blunt inter-titles more than it allows the visuals to speak for themselves. The only actor in the film who can hold these slower segments together is John Barrymore himself, an actor best suited to describe Dr. Jekyll's increasing fear and torment on-screen. Sure: most of the actors play their roles just fine but, when so many sequences just sag and sag and sag until they've become foregone conclusions, not even Barrymore's great acting can help the end product. There are times when Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde just goes too slow, even by the standards of contemporary directors like Murnau and Walsh; I generally don't like it when the horror elements get sidelined more often by a petty costume drama than the other way around. There's no excuse for heavy direction unless it's backed by other elements, and sequences like the ghost tarantula moment are rare even in films like Nosferatu. A more fluid depiction of the evolving relationships between Dr. Jekyll and his friends would have freed up more of the film for Barrymore to play his convincing Mr. Hyde.
Crippling faults in the pacing aside, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde's a robust adaptation of a great story, and there are many aspects of its production that never fail to impress. The collected chamber-orchestra score captures a grand range of expression that's even more impressive than some other scores of the time (like those for Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu, surprisingly; those two movies have excellent music!). Robertson's photography gets around its dearth of dynamic action every now and then, usually when characters enter more reclusive parts of Soho like the run-down tavern, through interesting composition and more specific lighting than normal. And, once the third act starts with Mr. Hyde's outrageous murder, most of the film's previous issues disappear and the entire thing ends just the way I like it: subdued yet chilling to the bone.
Joe Bob sez check it out.
***
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Fitzwilly (Delbert Mann)
Okay. I think this is as close to a Mort Drucker film as I'll ever get, unless some lucky film-maker out there dearly wishes to impress me. If anyone put Fitzwilly and Fitzcarraldo in the same room together, the end result would shock the whole world and still be controversial centuries later. That's how magnanimous this movie's protagonist is: the most badass butler to ever grace an old lady's house's front door!
He really is a clever sunnava. Much of the film revolves solely around his masterminded plans that both service his own needs (read: money, impersonations, and the chance to call his employees "children") and aid his employer's. But even he has to deal with both his own human errors and, unluckily for him, the first woman to truly match his wit in daily observation and quick poker faces. I simply wish that director Mann focused more on the rivalry between these two characters instead of forcing a consummate romance comedy structure into the middle of the film. They should definitely form an interesting relationship, but their end coupling just doesn't work outside of the fact that they're both brilliant schemers.
In franchises like Lupin the III, for example, the femme fatale wants the treasure more than the man himself! I definitely think that, whether or not Juliet should act more like a Fujiko Mine-type character, the rom-com arc insert detracts from a great premise that has its base mainly in manic comedy, not just push-and-pull romance. A more complex turnout than "we're together, yay!" would have capped off an excellent story with panache and an awareness of the impossibility of their togetherness given their equal suspicions of each other.
That said, the dynamic between Fitzwilly and Juliet works because of Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Feldon, two actors who arrived on the big screen—coming from the littler screen of TV land—knowing exactly how to play their respective characters. I'll make another Lupin the III comparison and say that Fitzwilly is as close to the aforementioned master thief as I've yet seen in a feature-length film. Van Dyke's way with flattering accents, humorous body language, and punctual comedic timing lends him an authenticity for his role that few other actors could sport. I can say the same for the ways in which Feldon portrays a shady college student who gets into harm's way to successfully rat out whatever in wintery Hell Fitzwilly's been up to. Their double act sells itself and the whole story in turn; the supporting cast, not to be discounted, balances story presence with screen discreetness, both effective and as much in the background as it ought to.
Getting away from the crazy-cool cast, though, I've noticed other issues plaguing Fitzwilly the film. For example: how does Juliet enter the house once she's been kicked out? It's a matter of fact that she's more than capable enough to do whatever she can think of, but invading Fitzwilly's property never seems important to Mann, yet the whole movie's about devious trickery! Blast—I should have known it wouldn't all turn out perfect. There's no reason for the admittedly hilarious Christmas Eve department store mob sequence to go on longer than it should have, eventually exhausting some great gags and constantly repeating shots of a nervous Fitzwilly mulling about the first floor in his disguise. The film's already focused on a reasonably small-scale plot that chicanes in a needfully focused manner, so the editing must be botched or something. Well, I can't ask for too much in life or I'll probably end up making a movie based on a dictionary for illiterates! (Yes, that's a crucial part of the story too).
Fitzwilly's flaws stand out, of course, just as the worst musicians stand out in the world's best marching bands. What's here is solid, honest, cartoony fun. See that poster? Frank Frazetta drafted it. Hear that music? It's one of John William's earliest film scores, and he's credited in the opening credits under his father's own name. Quality shines like highlights in Juliet's eyes all throughout Fitzwilly, and it's an exceptionally accessible heist comedy that lives up to what its cast is capable of. I still think that, if he ever had the chance, Dick Van Dyke would have made for a pitch-perfect Lupin the III, and maybe another actress like Barbara Feldon could have become Fujiko Mine too. Until then, there's this—and Fitzcarraldo, though that's about rubber and this movie's about mutter.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
Just rewatched while browsing GAF
Spanglish - I watched it for Paz Vega, I forgot how annoying Tea Leoni is an actress, ugh....
Cheaper by the Dozen - Nostalgia, my baby cuz when he was young used to love this movie, along with Air Bud, so it was d'awww reliving those funny moments
Spanglish - I watched it for Paz Vega, I forgot how annoying Tea Leoni is an actress, ugh....
Cheaper by the Dozen - Nostalgia, my baby cuz when he was young used to love this movie, along with Air Bud, so it was d'awww reliving those funny moments
Secret Fawful
Member
Felidae is so damn good. I can watch it over and over and over. One of my favorite films.
I saw Taken 2 yesterday. It was merely OK. Didn't need to be made IMO.
add me to the list btw http://letterboxd.com/palabrah/
add me to the list btw http://letterboxd.com/palabrah/
I'm this guy http://letterboxd.com/triggermarco/. Been Letterboxd exclusive for a while now.
Alps: 7/10. Liked it a lot, but it hit nearly all the same notes as Dogtooth. Like, literally, I'm pretty sure
Modern Times: 8/10. lol. Paulette Goddard was gorgeous, like a kind of not of the times hotness. Like she would be hot today in a way that other actresses of that era would not be. I'm not going to give a specific example so that way you can't contradict me. I was like man I bet Charlie was hittin' that so I looked it up and he was.
Le Deuxième Souffle: 8/10. Precisely as good as all his other movies.
Arbitrage: 7/10. Unexpectedly decent. Brit Marling is an atrocious actress. If you manage to look wooden standing next to Richard Gere you've really done something special. I thought this was going to be a FINANCIAL THRILLER which I think is a genre, if not then I just made it up and own all its subsidiary rights, but it turned out to be a REGULAR THRILLER.™ Also I thought it was hilarious that
A Woman Under the Influence: 8/10. Very good, maybe best, not favorite.
Sawdust and Tinsel 7/10. A lot of fun. Dude, Harriet Andersson. Duuuuuuuude. I was like man I bet Bergman is hittin' that shit so I looked it up and he was.
Les Misérables: 8/10. Well shit. I was not looking forward to this and I set my expectations low, but it won me over. I tried to fight it, I really did. But then that Anne Hathaway scene comes up and it's like jesus fucking christ. It kind of drags in the middle there, especially with Borat and Johnny Depp's love interest who I didn't much care for. Russel Crowe is unprecedentedly awful, he drags the whole thing down. Like he's finding new and interesting ways to be shit, he's really pushing the boundaries in the field of ineptitude. I wonder if people going in knew there were going to be recitatives, which I only ask so that I can use the word recitatives.
Cars: 5/10. Filling a hole in my Pixar. It was mostly whatevs, but it got me thinking more about the philosophical implications of the Cars world. The world is populated by living cars, and yet there's infrastructure clearly build by dextrous human hands. Where are they now? Did we just not see them? Or was there some sort of uprising in which all the people were systematically run over? Were they liquified Matrix-style in to hydrocarbons as fuel for the cars? One of the cars favorite sports is, obviously, auto racing. But do they play other sports? Do cars dream of Chevy Volts?
Dogville: 8/10. Another pretty great Lars Von Trier movie that I'll never watch again. Harriet Andersson was less hot in this.
Les Enfants Terribles: 8/10. Melville Cocteau tag team? Why yes. I thought it would be dirtier since Cocteau is such a perv but it was mostly just yelling. It was a lot of fun though until it wasn't. I was like man I bet that actress is a lesbian so I looked it up and she was.
the smashing of a face occurs at exactly the same point in both.
Le Deuxième Souffle: 8/10. Precisely as good as all his other movies.
Arbitrage: 7/10. Unexpectedly decent. Brit Marling is an atrocious actress. If you manage to look wooden standing next to Richard Gere you've really done something special. I thought this was going to be a FINANCIAL THRILLER which I think is a genre, if not then I just made it up and own all its subsidiary rights, but it turned out to be a REGULAR THRILLER.™ Also I thought it was hilarious that
Richard Gere figured out the photo was shopped because of the pixels.
Sawdust and Tinsel 7/10. A lot of fun. Dude, Harriet Andersson. Duuuuuuuude. I was like man I bet Bergman is hittin' that shit so I looked it up and he was.
Les Misérables: 8/10. Well shit. I was not looking forward to this and I set my expectations low, but it won me over. I tried to fight it, I really did. But then that Anne Hathaway scene comes up and it's like jesus fucking christ. It kind of drags in the middle there, especially with Borat and Johnny Depp's love interest who I didn't much care for. Russel Crowe is unprecedentedly awful, he drags the whole thing down. Like he's finding new and interesting ways to be shit, he's really pushing the boundaries in the field of ineptitude. I wonder if people going in knew there were going to be recitatives, which I only ask so that I can use the word recitatives.
Cars: 5/10. Filling a hole in my Pixar. It was mostly whatevs, but it got me thinking more about the philosophical implications of the Cars world. The world is populated by living cars, and yet there's infrastructure clearly build by dextrous human hands. Where are they now? Did we just not see them? Or was there some sort of uprising in which all the people were systematically run over? Were they liquified Matrix-style in to hydrocarbons as fuel for the cars? One of the cars favorite sports is, obviously, auto racing. But do they play other sports? Do cars dream of Chevy Volts?
Dogville: 8/10. Another pretty great Lars Von Trier movie that I'll never watch again. Harriet Andersson was less hot in this.
Les Enfants Terribles: 8/10. Melville Cocteau tag team? Why yes. I thought it would be dirtier since Cocteau is such a perv but it was mostly just yelling. It was a lot of fun though until it wasn't. I was like man I bet that actress is a lesbian so I looked it up and she was.
teruterubozu
Member
Looper - 7/10
Emily Blunt is all I really remember. She kinda carried the film. The farm (and the flying pesticide spraying thingie was cool) gave the movie a Spielbergian/Children of the Corn twist which was a nice break from the post-noir dystopia urban settings.
Adjustment Bureau - 6/10
Following Emily Blunt, I watched this movie next. I had trouble staying awake with the mediocre romance plot. Man, this movie feels A LOT like the TV show Fringe with the Observers and their hats and supernatural abilities.
Emily Blunt is all I really remember. She kinda carried the film. The farm (and the flying pesticide spraying thingie was cool) gave the movie a Spielbergian/Children of the Corn twist which was a nice break from the post-noir dystopia urban settings.
Adjustment Bureau - 6/10
Following Emily Blunt, I watched this movie next. I had trouble staying awake with the mediocre romance plot. Man, this movie feels A LOT like the TV show Fringe with the Observers and their hats and supernatural abilities.
Superman All Star. Silly fun, kind of sad. It's a guilty pleasure, fuck off.
Vanilla Sky. I had to re-watch this movie for the third time because of my wife. This movie about a man who won't open his eyes is problematic. We're supposed to see him live this nightmare but he doesn't evolve or learn anything. There's no arc for this character. He's vain all the way to the end. The script is also strange, some of the dialogue choices "swallow your cum" have no purpose. I get that sofia is an idea but still the're no reason for anyone to love the main character, he has no redeeming qualities. I also didn't get the symbolism. For example, in the nightclub scene he wears a mask on the back of his head so it looks like he has two faces. The director loves this visual but I don't see the meaning other than it looks interesting.
Want to see bad writing and a director gone crazy, watch vanilla sky. Recommend only as a study on bad movies.
Edit- the movie also cheats by giving us other characters perspectives or individual lives when they have none.
Battle Royale. This is fun. Fun action, fun characters, fun premise, fun situations. Low budget but still. It took the idea of survival and the conflict when you have to kill your own friend to survive into interesting places. I guess the movie was about friendship (?). Was the teacher sleeping with a student? I recommend this movie.
Jeff who lives at home. I couldn't finish this. I hated the camera work here. Dialogue sucked too. It will take a miracle to get me to watch another Duplass movie.
Django Unchained. Action packed, funny, romantic, compelling, gian western opera with an epilogue and all. It tackles a serious subject in a fun way, with an interesting screenplay, a romance and great performances. This is the reason I like movies.
Vanilla Sky. I had to re-watch this movie for the third time because of my wife. This movie about a man who won't open his eyes is problematic. We're supposed to see him live this nightmare but he doesn't evolve or learn anything. There's no arc for this character. He's vain all the way to the end. The script is also strange, some of the dialogue choices "swallow your cum" have no purpose. I get that sofia is an idea but still the're no reason for anyone to love the main character, he has no redeeming qualities. I also didn't get the symbolism. For example, in the nightclub scene he wears a mask on the back of his head so it looks like he has two faces. The director loves this visual but I don't see the meaning other than it looks interesting.
Want to see bad writing and a director gone crazy, watch vanilla sky. Recommend only as a study on bad movies.
Edit- the movie also cheats by giving us other characters perspectives or individual lives when they have none.
Battle Royale. This is fun. Fun action, fun characters, fun premise, fun situations. Low budget but still. It took the idea of survival and the conflict when you have to kill your own friend to survive into interesting places. I guess the movie was about friendship (?). Was the teacher sleeping with a student? I recommend this movie.
Jeff who lives at home. I couldn't finish this. I hated the camera work here. Dialogue sucked too. It will take a miracle to get me to watch another Duplass movie.
Django Unchained. Action packed, funny, romantic, compelling, gian western opera with an epilogue and all. It tackles a serious subject in a fun way, with an interesting screenplay, a romance and great performances. This is the reason I like movies.
Discotheque
Banned
Felidae is so damn good. I can watch it over and over and over. One of my favorite films.
This shit was hilarious. That fat cat friend of his especially
fuzzyreactor
Banned
i'm interested as well
So am I. Although it's not entire;y clear in what way letterbox'd is better than icheckmovies without being able to create an account. It looks like it doesn't have the arbitrary limits icheckmovies has like limited usermade lists and very short user reviews.
I thought she was one of the less impressive parts of the movie, to be honest.
teruterubozu
Member
eh, it was slim pickings to be really honest. I mean, Willis in there for like 7 minutes.
twilitesparklemotion
Member
I hear that xmasgift will work as a beta code.
Sure, but Gordon-Levitt is fantastic, and the kid is very good as well. Willis' part is relatively small, but the segments of him and his wife are excellent too. Compared to several other actors and scenes, I didn't think Blunt stood out so much.
teruterubozu
Member
It was more my narrative of checking out 2 Emily Blunt films in a row. I'm not super serious, but maybe kind of.
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen her in anything else, actually. I heard she and Matt Damon had good chemistry in The Adjustment Bureau, though.
Ether_Snake
å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®å®
Why the heck are all the Kurosawa bluray movies so expensive? 
50$ if I order Seven Samurais from Amazon.ca wtf
50$ if I order Seven Samurais from Amazon.ca wtfWhy the heck are all the Kurosawa bluray movies so expensive?
Enjoy your free health care sucker! If you need me I'll be watching my cheap Kurosawas while I'm laid up in the hospital awaiting bankruptcy proceedings.
Seven Samurai is like the Criterion flagship, it's 2 discs and crammed full of stuff. Worth it.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
Is Seven Samurai as good as they say? I feel I'm getting my expectations high lol.
I want to see it soon.
I want to see it soon.
British Monsoon
Member
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 4/5 - Despite stretching the content of the book rather thin, I found this to be an enjoyable adventure that certainly left me wanting more. The direction was adequate, but I found some of the action rather confused, however, the landscapes and sets show the usual keen eye as seen in the Lord of the Rings films. Martin Freeman does an excellent turn in the role of Bilbo, but the real star is Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield who adds an appropriate air of gravitas to his performance. The pacing suffered somewhat at the beginning, but picked up well towards the films close, and overall The Hobbit did not outstay its welcome, as far as I'm concerned.
Expendable.
Member
Yes and it holds up remarkably well.
TheKaeptain
Banned
End of Watch wasn't bad.
Is this a good movie? I'd like a good romcom to watch with my wife but I do not want to feel suicidal while watching it.
It's fantastic. Not my favourite Kurosawa, but it is brilliant.
Yes. And in my experience, even better when it's not your first Kurosawa film.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
I haven't watched many of his, but I loved Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, and Ikiru (specially this).
Thanks guys, I don't want to get too hyped
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I've gone through Drunken Angel and Yojimbo so far, but I don't know whether to knock out Seven Samurai next or go for some other stuff. I'm trying to view the director's catalog non-chronologically, so I guess that's my problem.
Nappuccino
Member
Seven Samurai is great, albiet a little slow at the start, imo.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Yup. I've always liked Ran more than Samarai.
I also saw Lost in Translation the other day. This was a very relaxing movie for me. I liked it because of it's mood. Was the movie about a platonic relationship? Was the movie about being stuck? Did have anything to say about it? Probably not, but it was so compelling and the performances were so good I ended up liking the movie.
tl;dr- dat johanssen but.
tl;dr- dat johanssen but.
Liquidsnake
Banned
Batman Begins: I agree with most that the first half of this movie is as perfect as it can get. The ending gets a little silly. 8/10
The Dark Knight : Very good movie, it gets lost in its own composition sometimes, and can be boring for some (GF) Ledger was so good. 8/10
Rises was my favorite of the three.
The Dark Knight : Very good movie, it gets lost in its own composition sometimes, and can be boring for some (GF) Ledger was so good. 8/10
Rises was my favorite of the three.
BaronLundi
Member
Got a couple of letterboxd invites. Pm me your email if you want one.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
It's more about the lips. She's kind of like a more pristine Faye Dunaway, I think. Whatever.
I'm making my way through The Story of Film: An Odyssey, which has been an excellent primer on more obscure movies so far. I just wish the narrator didn't plug his personal opinions into the whole thing—he probably doesn't like James Cameron, which could make things awkward later on. He's very enthusiastic about Ozu!
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
LiT Scarlett has always been the best Scarlett. Even though she's only 17 in the film.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
I didn't know she was 17. Bob Harris was pulling an Allen.
Guess I'll jump on the letterboxd train. In my very extensive (read: five minute) look at the site I haven't really figured out why it's easier to search, and it doesn't look like it has the imdb links right on the page which I like on icm, but I'll keep trying it out.
here's me: http://letterboxd.com/ander/
so far this year:
A Little Princess - want to work through the Cuarón I haven't seen. Lead child actress is stilted, and the treatment of orientalism is odd. India is treated hugely cartoonishly, but so is just about everything else. the set design and strong color scheme do work pretty wonderfully though, and you can tell Lubezski's behind the camera.
ParaNorman - Liked it. Stock anti-bullying be-yourself story made good through several smartly textured characters (Norman, Aggie and the Undead, Neil). Weirdly though, the characters are sort of either well-written or awfully shallow. The parents and bully are pretty boring. I guess the sister falls somewhere in between. Other than that: the animation is striking, the music recalls classic horror scores more subtly than the several direct references, and the camera movement is pretty lively for a stop-motion piece.
here's me: http://letterboxd.com/ander/
so far this year:
A Little Princess - want to work through the Cuarón I haven't seen. Lead child actress is stilted, and the treatment of orientalism is odd. India is treated hugely cartoonishly, but so is just about everything else. the set design and strong color scheme do work pretty wonderfully though, and you can tell Lubezski's behind the camera.
ParaNorman - Liked it. Stock anti-bullying be-yourself story made good through several smartly textured characters (Norman, Aggie and the Undead, Neil). Weirdly though, the characters are sort of either well-written or awfully shallow. The parents and bully are pretty boring. I guess the sister falls somewhere in between. Other than that: the animation is striking, the music recalls classic horror scores more subtly than the several direct references, and the camera movement is pretty lively for a stop-motion piece.
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