Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| Dec 2013

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Jonathan Rosenbaum knows alot about film history, I guess, but he's a truly bad critic, in terms of his actual understanding of a work's artistry and import. He's a perfect example of a high-falutin' critic who just doesn't get it, and I guarantee he would have been the kind of guy to pan Moby-Dick had he been among the mainstream critical establishment in the mid-Nineteenth Century. Fuck him.

But he named dropped Hegel. How can you hate someone that does that?
 
Batman Mask of Phantasms : Realized I had never watched this despite being a huge fan of the animated series. I feel like I should like it more, I thought it dragged in many places, but still had some great batman moments. 3/5

Batman Under the Red Hood : Kept falling asleep (not because of the movie, I was just exhausted) so my viewing was disjointed. But I thought they nailed Jason Todd and I liked it's take on Joker being more of an insane evil sophisticated bastard. 4/5

I'm guessing you've seen Return of the Joker? Because that's the best one.

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So, I saw Jack Reacher.

Let me rewrite the film a little bit.

Spoilers, obviously.

James Barr, the "patsy," is payed to snipe five random people from the bridge, but Werner Herzog screws him, by placing a second sniper at the parking garage that kills the primary and plants a round in the water containers.

I think that would have been a more interesting twist.
 
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The Hunger Games

First:

- Now I know why everyone has got the hots for Jennifer Lawrence. Goddamn.
- I actually enjoyed this movie.

However:

- Why is it called The Hunger Games?
It's got something to do with food rationing I'm guessing, there are hints at the beginning, but you didn't actually explain why you named the film hunger games you fucking idiots.
- The preparations part is way too long, it's more than half the movie I think, while the actual hunting part is only 1h long. should have been fleshed out more, definitely.

The movie forget to explain,
but according to the book the food is scarce in the Districts and the district of the winning tribute receive extra food during the next year
, that's why they are called Hunger Games
 
Joy Ride (2001)
I had this on my DVR for a while and noticed Paul Walker starred in it, so decided to give it a watch. It's totally a b-movie thriller, but I'd say one of the better ones you'll find. It's pretty derivative of other psychotic killer movies, but I'm not complaining because it was executed flawlessly.

50/50 (2011)
I thought this was a fantastic movie. I was expecting a comedy, but it was definitely more of a drama than a comedy. It still had some hilarious moments though. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was amazing. Seth Rogen was surprisingly decent. I don't remember the last time I cared so much for a movie character. I think anyone who knows someone with cancer (which is probably all of us) should watch this movie.
 
Rush was my most recent film that i've seen since being in college. It is one of my favorite films so far that I really like due to the nature of the story. You also have awesome cinematography where all these variety of shots are just mindblowingly awesome.

F1 is awesome. I just wish I could get a good F1 game for cheap. It made me want to play one so badly since I haven't played an F1 game in at least 10 years.
 
Pacific Rim, Some fights were enjoyable, but the movie doesn't delivers what it could be. A lot is fault of bad written dialogues, a bad script ans even for an action movie, and a hero without charisma... annoying scientists, whole purpose as a comic relief but too obnoxious. Overall average at best, generous 3/5

I had the chance to see Stepbrothers, cringe worth since its very start, uncomfortable to follow these near mental handicapped guys. As a comedy rarely worked only a few chuckes. 2.5/5

Driver (1978) - Initial scene you see how Driver took inspiration from. But when Ryon O'Neal was probably the best actor in this movie, something may be wrong. As a car/heist movie and the chasings, I liked, but the acting was akward, Adjani near annoying and that police was annoying. 3/5

I think I will try to see Bullit next time.
Already saw Vanishing Point, Gone In 60s, Driver, Two Lane Backtop (must rewatch), Easy Rider. Any other good similar cars/driving movies?
 
Hatchet (2006)- I really enjoyed this movie. I came in expecting something fun and dumb and I got just that. I wasn't expecting to laugh as much as I did, which did kind of take away from the suspense but whatever. I had seen some of the director's other films (Spiral and Frozen) and figured I'd give this a chance too. Good trashy fun. I think I need to see the second one. 8/10

Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)- While I liked the first one (although second viewing made me like it a lot more for some reason) this movie was incredible. Went in blind not knowing a single thing about it. Felt really emotionally invested with what was going on. Hell, I even started to tear-up a few times. The world setting introduced in the first one was really starting to take shape and it was kinda horrifying. Excellent cast
Jeffrey Wright and Phillip Seymour Hoffman....fuck yeah!
. I don't think I felt bored once during the 2 and 1/2 hours. I wanted more! Also, the IMAX was really good. The fact that
they have the entire Hunger Games in IMAX made it feel like a real experience of a movie....something to take your breath away.
Ain't lying when I say it was the best movie I have seen all year. 10/10
 
Dat digital though. Mann is THE digital auteur. He films look and move like no one else s.

Mann is definitely a digital auteur. You wouldn't think films on the scale of Miami Vice and Public Enemies could look as shitty as they do.

More Collateral Mann and less home movies Mann, please. It's like him and Argento started smoking from the same spiked bowl.
 
Pacific Rim - Bought the Blu-ray because I didn't get to see it in cinema and I heard i was good.

A curse on their houses.

Terrible, terrible movie. Only factor that wasn't absolutely terrible was the the mech designs, visuals, and I guess the use of actors of various racial backgrounds. The action was terrible, the script was terrible, the actors were terrible, the jokes were absolutely horrendous. The whole thing was like a bad anime. Main Japanese girl has random blue highlights in her hair, and falls in love with the main character the instant she sees him. She was apparently supposed to have been brought up by an English speaker but her accent in the film is really bad. Not a single good fight scene you can watch. I don't even want to waste more time on this waste of space and go into detail.

Avoid!!!!!
 
Pacific Rim - Bought the Blu-ray because I didn't get to see it in cinema and I heard i was good.

A curse on their houses.

Terrible, terrible movie. Only factor that wasn't absolutely terrible was the the mech designs, visuals, and I guess the use of actors of various racial backgrounds. The action was terrible, the script was terrible, the actors were terrible, the jokes were absolutely horrendous. The whole thing was like a bad anime. Main Japanese girl has random blue highlights in her hair, and falls in love with the main character the instant she sees him. She was apparently supposed to have been brought up by an English speaker but her accent in the film is really bad. Not a single good fight scene you can watch. I don't even want to waste more time on this waste of space and go into detail.

Avoid!!!!!

Kinda how I felt too. It should be a movie I would love the hell out of considering my interests (giant robots, anime, etc), but it sure didn't come together. I remember taking a bathroom break or two at the theater and not really caring if I missed anything at all. The action scenes reminded me of Transformers, but certainly not as bad. It just felt rather boring and kinda annoying in a way. Those scientists.....ugh
 
Some highlights from BNAT 15...

WOLF OF WALL STREET - much fun. Must respect NDA for now.

HARLEQUIN aka DARK FORCES - a slice of 80s Aussie WTF loosely based on Rasputin. Should be a cult classic.

HOBBIT 2 - more of the same, but enjoyable.

THE WIND RISES subtitled - beatiful, poignant.

DIGGING UP THE MARROW (incomplete FX) - pretty clever pseudo doc from Adam Green. Avoid spoilers.

A secret cartoon - will talk about it when I can. Very funny, surreal and perhaps this artist's best work.

THE FRUIT IS SWELLING - category III sleaze from HK that is basically a remake of BIG about an 8 year old girl who is really curious about sex. Effed up but recommended.
 
I feel done with Netflix. First I realize the image for Funny Games has been zoomed in, ruining the AR and showing off artifacts; now it can barely stream Europa Report at high quality. Got a lot of movies to watch so I can get caught up on my end-year total!
 
Some highlights from BNAT 15...

WOLF OF WALL STREET - much fun. Must respect NDA for now.

HARLEQUIN aka DARK FORCES - a slice of 80s Aussie WTF loosely based on Rasputin. Should be a cult classic.

HOBBIT 2 - more of the same, but enjoyable.

THE WIND RISES subtitled - beatiful, poignant.

DIGGING UP THE MARROW (incomplete FX) - pretty clever pseudo doc from Adam Green. Avoid spoilers.

A secret cartoon - will talk about it when I can. Very funny, surreal and perhaps this artist's best work.

THE FRUIT IS SWELLING - category III sleaze from HK that is basically a remake of BIG about an 8 year old girl who is really curious about sex. Effed up but recommended.

On one hand, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to do a film with that concept.

On the other hand, I'm not surprised that no one would have tried to seriously make a film based on that concept, so the fact that it's a CAT III schlockfest seems strangely appropriate.
 
A secret cartoon - will talk about it when I can. Very funny, surreal and perhaps this artist's best work.

I will figure this out!

THE FRUIT IS SWELLING - category III sleaze from HK that is basically a remake of BIG about an 8 year old girl who is really curious about sex. Effed up but recommended.

I know this movie. Someone has suggested it to once before. Not sure if I should watch it.
 
Both actually look staggeringly beautiful.

Admitted fanboy here, and even I know Public Enemies doesn't look "staggeringly beautiful." Something about the shutter speed on that movie or something makes parts of it look bad. Like bootleg >24 fps digital bad. I don't know what happened. I love the noisy/grimy Miami Vice look though, especially with how the skies are in that movie.

More Collateral Mann and less home movies Mann, please. It's like him and Argento started smoking from the same spiked bowl.

The Luck pilot looked great, so hopefully he's under control again.
 
I'm about half-way through Room 237 (the doc about people's psychotic theories about the hidden meanings behind The Shining) right now and...yeah. Clearly The Shining is one giant allegory for the Holocaust and clearly The Shining is a giant allegory for the mass genocide of Native Americans by the US government.


What.
 
I'm about half-way through Room 237 (the doc about people's insane theories about the hidden meanings behind The Shining) right now and...yeah. Clearly the Shining is one giant allegory for the Holocaust and clearly The Shining is a giant allegory for the mass genocide of native Americans by the US government.


What.


I'm about half-way through Room 237

I'm about half-way through


I'm about half-way

-_-
 
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I guess I should have pointed out that I'm still watching it. As in, right now. I was sort of just thinking out loud with my initial post, and now we're talking about how Kubrick was involved with faking the moon-landing. This may give me a bigger headache than The Shining itself did.
 
A fair amount of people here and elsewhere aren't fond of the whole posting while watching a movie thing, paused or not. I think Room 237 is more about authorial intent and interpretation than it is about trying to deconstruct the various theories about Kubrick's movie. Too many people got hung up on the whole all these theorists are crazy and the movie is stupid because of it. (But I suppose it's amusing for me to suggest that people are 'interpreting' a movie wrongly when I'm suggesting the movie is precisely about interpretation.)

I don't know how anyone could do BNAT. I'm not talking about the marathon viewing either.
 
If ever there was a movie where you could stop halfway and not be lacking a goddamn thing, it's Room 237.

Room 237 is primarily about people's cluelessness in the face of a work of consequence. They know Kubrick was very particular, so they imbue their own demons and oddities and justify them after the fact.

It's also a movie about how you should edit out your Skype notifications when doing the audio track.
 
39TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS

BEST PICTURE - "Gravity" AND "Her" (TIE)
BEST DIRECTOR - Alfonso CuarÓn "Gravity"
BEST ACTOR - Bruce Dern "Nebraska"
BEST ACTRESS - Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine" and AdÈle Exarchopoulos, "Blue Is the Warmest Color" (TIE)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - James Franco, "Spring Breakers," and Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club" (TIE)
BEST Supporting Actress - Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"
BEST Screenplay - Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, “Before Midnight"
BEST Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki, "Gravity"

BEST Foreign-Language Film - "Blue Is the Warmest Color"
BEST Documentary/Non-Fiction Film - "Stories We Tell"
BEST Animation - "Ernest & Celestine"

See the runner ups and rest of the winners here
 
Admitted fanboy here, and even I know Public Enemies doesn't look "staggeringly beautiful." Something about the shutter speed on that movie or something makes parts of it look bad. Like bootleg >24 fps digital bad. I don't know what happened. I love the noisy/grimy Miami Vice look though, especially with how the skies are in that movie.

I really do find the digital aesthetics of Public Enemies striking and beautiful. This Notebook post is a good articulation of why... http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/fron...nversation-about-michael-manns-public-enemies
 
Public Enemies is in a tie for the ugliest movie of the 00's with Speed Racer. But at least Speed Racer had an artistic direction (awful but still), Public Enemies just looks like a telenovela.
 
I really do find the digital aesthetics of Public Enemies striking and beautiful. This Notebook post is a good articulation of why... http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/fron...nversation-about-michael-manns-public-enemies
Good 'ol fashioned vulgar auteurism!

Of the movies I've recently watched, Buckaroo Banzai's the most memorable. It's both of its time and well-ahead, the apogee of Buck Rogers sincerity and nascence of pop-culture domination in cinema. I'll never forget that fateful moment when Worfin openly references History is Made at Night, nor that part where New Jersey uncovers the secret behind Welles' War of the Worlds. Weller absolutely nails his character, both aware of the situation's ludicrousness and perfectly satisfied going along with it; the tragic figures here are Penny, NJ and Rawhide, all of whom are what we'd call normal next to comic-book super-dudes like Banzai and Perfect Tommy. Absolutely balls-out-crazy movie, though the premise limits itself and, at times, I can't tell if the film-makers are trying to comment on what they've created or not. Banzai's dead-pan frustration with everything is the most difficult thing here! At least I'll never know what to tug on or if static electricity can revive a loved one (and I don't wanna know why there's a watermelon there). The music sucks, I'm sorry, but this soundtrack needed John Carpenter or, better, John Foxx.
 
Russian Ark

First time watch that was hardly a watch. I was tired. I was hungry. I was barely awake. -_____-

Goddammit, I need to fix this problem of dozing off during movies I actually want to watch
 
The Magnificent Ambersons: Welles's second that got raped by the studio. I don't know what was changed and what was cut, but the end did seem kind of weird with the rich dude visiting the hospital and the aunt being all smiles. Has some very nice moments, good stuff.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Thanksgiving classic, and we don't even have thanksgiving here. Great movie, probably the best thing Hughes, Martin or Candy were ever involved with. Still convinced Candy's dead wife is in the trunk, and he's going to murder Martin's family at the end.

The Running Man: I will always love you Arnie, even if you look like a bag of potatoes now and can't be the Terminator anymore (really, just let it go). The family feud dude is good too.

Tangled: Before watching I'd read from many places that this is supposed to rival Disney's classics. "Highly dubious," said I as I stroked my neckbeard, and forgot all about it. Saw the blu-ray on sale and figured that Disney being dicks with their releases there wouldn't be a better deal, so decided to give it a watch. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I would not rate it up there with Disney's late 80s/early 90s output, but it's actually reasonably close. Certainly superior to any Pixar movie I have seen. The only real downside was that the songs were completely forgettable, the only one I still remotely remember being the whole Mother Knows Best thing, and that's only because it was repeated so many times it was bound to stick around for a while. But because compared to some other animated movies the musical aspect was rather minimal, the songs not being very good isn't that big of a deal.
 
Casablanca: Can you believe I've never seen this before? Anyway, I really enjoyed it, almost surprisingly so. Great acting particularly Bogart, interesting story that moves at a brisk pace, well-drawn characters, etc. Everyone knows it's great already so I don't know why I'm talking aobut it.

Serendipity: Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum... This movie is dopey as all hell and its notions of love and fate are almost dangerously stupid. But Kate Beckinsale looked nice, so that's something.
 
Any fans of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Ford? Here's my 4,000+ word piece on this past weekend's event. Check it out!

20 Things We Learned From Andrew Dominik’s Candid Jesse James Revival Q&A



Notable things include Terrence Malick thought the film was too slow, Dominik was fired multiple times, there's two "perfect" cuts that haven't been seen, and much, much more.

Terrence Malick thought something was too slow? The fuck.

Edit: I read that part, and I guess it makes sense. Still think Malick has made some slow ass films (Days of Heaven).
 
Any fans of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Ford? Here's my 4,000+ word piece on this past weekend's event. Check it out!

20 Things We Learned From Andrew Dominik’s Candid Jesse James Revival Q&A



Notable things include Terrence Malick thought the film was too slow, Dominik was fired multiple times, there's two "perfect" cuts that haven't been seen, and much, much more.

Good stuff, still one of my favorite movies and soundtrack of recent years.
 
Slowness has less to do with plot than it does with overall content.

Malick's movies don't have fast-moving plots, but there's quite a bit happening in any particular segment of film.

The Dominik movie I don't think can say the same thing. Last time I tried to watch clips from it, I was kinda struck by how overdone it was.
 
Any fans of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Ford? Here's my 4,000+ word piece on this past weekend's event. Check it out!

I was thinking about this the other day. Seems like it was a success, congrats!

Your summary was an interesting read. The part about the different cuts was especially interesting. Makes you think about how difficult it is to 'let go' as a director and decide on one final cut. I'm so glad the movie made it through, though. One of the best films of the past decade.
 
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