Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| Jan 2014

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La Pianiste
Dat Haneke ending.

灰羽連盟 [Charcoal Feathers Federation]
Wouldn't have thought a TV series about angels where everyone is pleasant and nice and no one is bad would be that compelling. That said, I thought a lot of things went unexplored and unexplained. A bit too much for my liking, even though I'm normally not a fan of lore or exposition.

Madame de...
Stunning photography but not quite so stunning story.

Amator
Lovely, from start to finish.

Krótki film o zabijaniu
I found the first half to be kind of a drag, honestly. But the second half makes up for it.

Djävulens öga
Apparently, Bergman only made this so that he could get the support to make Jungfrukällan. Don't know if it's true or not but I wouldn't be surprised because this is pretty lifeless.

The Third Man
After playing too many video games, I never imagined I would enjoy the sewer parts of anything, let alone consider them the highlight of the film. Some incredible shots.

La haine
After checking what other films the director has done, this seems to be somewhat of a miracle. All of the other movies he's directed have pretty abysmal ratings.

살인의 추억 [Memories of Murder]
Likable film about unlikable characters.

The Conversation
The plot twist was pretty obvious from the start but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Radio On
The excellent soundtrack can't save this from the fact that the first half is literally just the main character driving down the road for 40 minutes straight.

Fritz the Cat
The way they portrayed
the crow getting shot
was very imaginative and cool. Everything else was boring and juvenile (and it's certainly a movie that prides itself in being as juvenile as possible).

Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages
Surprisingly non-violent for Haneke. Well, you know, except for the part where it's insinuated that
a little girl is beaten to death
.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
I've never had any interest in Star Trek but I caught this on TV and I still have no interest in Star Trek.

Suburban Sasquatch
Unfortunately couldn't see much of the Red Letter Media stream but I did catch the end of this. Wow...

Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons Julafton
A deserved Swedish Christmas classic.

Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann
Decent but generic Swedish comedy.

Tirez sur le pianiste
Only other Truffaut I've seen is 400 Blows. Not what I expected after that, but pretty great.

Ratataa
Only saw part of it. The kind of worthless nostalgic crap SVT sends in the middle of the day because they still own the rights to it so it costs them nothing.

Pinch Neck
Well, that was pointless.

American History X
Too sentimental and simplifying for my liking but it did have some good stuff in it.
 
The Grey

Liam Neeson is why I watch this. Great stuff.

Predators

LOL, I wasn't expecting Adrian Brody but I'll go with it. I liked him in other stuff. This movie is pretty... mind numbing at best.

Takers

Watched it out of respect for Paul Walker. Didn't know Stringer Bell was in this (Idris Elba). :) Again mind numbing heist flick. I do like the chopper getaway in the beginning lol.

I'll be watching a few more tonite since I got this nasty migraine that isn't going anywhere after several painkillers. :(
 
Johnlenham said:
Paranorman.
Great little film! For the first 45mins my GF was convinced we were watching something 15+ kept asking if it was really a kids film as they have some great adult gags and once the zombies show up my gf was legit scared at first haha.
Reminded me of Coraline which is never a bad thing!

Its all stop motion stuff which the poster does not really show.
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That is because it is by the team that made Coraline. :)

Here is what they have coming out this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfm4uPESCoI
 
I keep thinking Tim Burton made those films...just like everybody thinks Tim Burton directed The Nightmare Before Christmas. Then I remember he made Alice in Wonderland and I get sad :(

BUT

I hear his next film is a small budget biopic from the writers of my favorite film of his, Ed Wood, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. And no Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter in sight! Hope springs eternal, ya'll
 
Chainsawkitten said:
Amator[/b]
Lovely, from start to finish.
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"I had a brother-in-law who at 30 started to believe in God." "So? That's how old I am." "No good came of it." "What happened to him?" "He became a priest."
Camera Buff is incredible and anybody who enjoyed Kieslowski's later works should check this out for sure (I mean, in addition to literally everything he ever made, but Camera Buff is a nice starting point especially since The Scar is kinda dry)
swoon said:
kinda of a weird write-up for a halloween movie, do you think you are a bigander or something?
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still have dibs on Miner as my vulgar auteur, for the record
 
Blader said:
I haven't seen very many Italian films -- really just Bicycle Thieves and about a dozen or so spaghetti westerns -- so I've been thinking of checking out of some of the essentials. After some meticulous google/imdb perusing, I came up with this shortlist of 10:

Rome, Open City (I know this is only part 1 of Rosselini's war trilogy, but I didn't want to take on all three right off the bat)
Umberto D
La Strada
L'Avventura
Last Tango in Paris
Nights of Cabiria
La Dolce Vita
8 1/2
Cinema Paradiso
Life is Beautiful

I thought this was a fairly decent cross-section of the major films/directors/movements in Italian filmmaking, drawing on whatever I remembered from school, but what say you guys? Any glaring omissions or things on here that maybe aren't worth the time?
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Less Fellini, please—he's taking up 4 out of 10 movies there. I started with I Vittelloni, but whatever you do, don't OD on any one director. Try to watch another De Sica and definitely watch a few Rossellinis (he's very influential throughout his career). Suggestions of mine? Bitter Rice, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Dillinger Is Dead (or La grand bouffe), The White Angel (Matarazzo in general), Le notti blanche (The Leopard, too) Salvatore Giuliano, Accattone (Pasolini!!!), some Olmi, even Battle of Algiers
 
Finally watched a Kiarostami film, Like Someone in Love, and really enjoyed it. Will be watching Certified Copy and Close Up in the coming days as I've owned them for months and never got around to them for some reason.
 
The Blues Brothers: Had actually never seen this before. Very enjoyable, got to be some kind of record in cop cars smashed. The musical numbers were great even though it's not my genre.

Lady and the Tramp: My Christmas Disney movie of choice. Huge nostalgia bomb for me so I can't be entirely objective, but I'm fairly confident this is the best Disney movie released between Fantasia and Beauty and the Beast.

Kingdom of Heaven: First time watching the director's cut. I didn't make that big of a difference to me because I am one of the few who actually liked the theatrical release. Don't actually remember what was that much different other than the leper kid and more scenes with Liam Neeson. While it's too bad it's necessary to shoehorn a blacksmith getting it on with a princess in these movies, it's a shame this wasn't a bigger success. Such a great setting for a movie, and it's just beautiful to look at. More movies about the Crusades would be great. There need to be more Hollywood epics in general, really, because while there's going to be a bunch of bloated messes, when they're good they're so good. Ridley Scott may not have the best taste for screenplays, but the dude can direct.

The Mask of Zorro: I love this movie, and I have to watch it every time it's on TV. One of the best adventure movies of the 90s. I remember seeing this and Entrapment as a kid, and Zeta-Jones did all kinds of things to me. Of course I was tremendously disappointed in the sequel, having only seen it once and never having the desire to do so again. A missed opportunity, because Zorro is great.
 
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

Don't understand the hate towards the second half, love the 'documentary' feel to it.
 
In the Mood for Love- Movie was beautiful in just about every way. Music was superb. The visuals were unbelievable. Blending of unique angles and colors. The core love story was heart breaking and felt so real. I've only seen one of Kar Wai's films prior to this (Chungking), but he is clearly talented.

A lot of through the window shots, given what was written at the end it makes sense. As for the abundance of mirror shots, were they meant as a way to symbolize reflection? Was the story told as Mr. Chow looking back?
 
Kingdom of Heaven ★★★★★

Just saw this for the very first time. Man.. I don't know where to begin. Such an amazing movie! The music, the picture, the pacing, the fighting scenes..! <3
 
Zanosuke said:
Kingdom of Heaven &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;

Just saw this for the very first time. Man.. I don't know where to begin. Such an amazing movie! The music, the picture, the pacing, the fighting scenes..! <3
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I take it you've seen the DC? I still need to pick up the bluray some time to see that. Only seen the infererior TC myself.
 
I finally caved and bought the Kingdom of Heaven DC Blu because it's been years since that amazing DC DVD set and it looks like they aren't going to match it on Blu-ray (which I was holding out for). I've been wanting to rewatch the movie in HD for a while now.
 
mxgt said:
Finally watched a Kiarostami film, Like Someone in Love, and really enjoyed it. Will be watching Certified Copy and Close Up in the coming days as I've owned them for months and never got around to them for some reason.
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Close Up is fantastic. Avoid at all cost reading anything about the movie before watching.

Just watched Upstream Color. I'm very sensitive about stuff like the worm walking inside her. I had to look away at various times, so I probably won't rewatch it anytime soon. It is very puzzling.

"- It is not my fault when it goes wrong.
- Yes it is."

Somehow, found this simple dialogue between the two main characters very revealing about the nature and purpose of the whole movie. An allegory to the human condition and the breaking of a cycle of wrong and questioning, putting the blame on everyone that intervenes and that it is our cause to change, act and take responsibility in what we are and everything that happens around us, even though it may seem external and transcendental, it is also introspective and personal. Your mind won't be at ease by the metaphysical dimension and hypnotising direction.

The way the cinematography and sound design were put together deserve praise, but the lingering pace in some scenes can put that in danger and leave a taste of pretentiousness.
 
Saw Frozen today with my lil bros. After seeing its general praise I expected to enjoy it and I did very much so. The most fun I've had with a Disney animated film since the Disney Renaissance period. (actually I think I'll revise that to since The Emperor's New Groove)
Looked nice, had some laughs, had half-decent songs. Best movie ever basically.

Going to rewatch Tangled after hearing it in the same breath as Frozen so much. I didn't really care for it when it was initially released but I think that might change.

Expendable. said:
Fun fact: Chiwetel Ejiofor met Idris Elba while at the auditions for Amistad.
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Didn't even realise Chiwetel was active back then.
Also, checking out his wiki page just then and I came across what I think is the largest awards column I've ever seen
da7a164632.png
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Carrie, good lord it's terrible. Do yourself a favour and don't watch this.

Edit: I also watched american hustle a few days ago, and also found it be overhyped, it was ok, not great.
 
I finished the original Carrie, and it turned out to be better than I thought it would. This tells me the new one will be atrocious, we'll see.
 
Looper

Quite the enjoyable scifi action flick. It's about so called Loopers, hired killers who assassinate people the mob wants to get rid of. To be more exact, the mob sends those people back in time from the future so Loopers can take them out in the past. Problem solved for the mob.

The film starts of rather cool by showing us a world in the near future with flying motorcycles and telekinesis. But it takes a while (at least for me it did) to really understand what's going on in the film. It was only till after around 45 minutes I fully understood the concept of what was going on. It felt like the movie was taking too long and overcomplicating things that turned out not to be so complicated at all. That the make-up department tried to make Joseph Gordon Levitt look more like Bruce Willis wasn't helping much either. Other than that it's an entertaining movie most of it's running time. The plot about closing Loops and trying to do and undo things for the past, present and future was rather interesting. Especially Bruce Willis part was executed in a good way. He defenitely got the best action scenes where JGL had to put his ass to rest at a farm for a firm amount of time. He had some good moments at the farm though, especially when the kid was involved. Though the pace dropped down big time in the middle section of the film I was quite surprised by the strong conclusion to this flick.

6/10
 
To anyone who has seen both Carries, what's with the baby scene in the new one? I don't remember that happening in the original.
 
Ruby Sparks

I'm a sucker for clever written romcoms, just a bit different than your average romantic film. Knowing this one is directed by the same people who did Little Miss Sunshine I knew I had to give this one a chance. And if you ask me, Ruby Sparks was worth the watch.

The films starts of a bit dull with a depressed Calvin (Paul Dano) fighting his writer block and visiting his shrink. Meanwhile getting shit from his brother for not dating women. But when this films unique quirk comes into motion in the person of Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan, also the script writer) things start to move quickly. Dano started writing about this girl he kept seeing in his dreams, he gave her a name and a story on paper till one day she appears in his life. I find this a fun concept to work with in a romantic film and they took it in a direction I liked. The film made a Calvin a real human being by letting him toy around with his newly gained powers. Paul Dano and especially Zoe Kazan are putting up a great performance. This is the sort of film that really manages to put a smile on your face the whole trough. My biggest complaint would be the ending though, it felt like a cop out for Calvins actions troughout the film. All in all a very enjoyable comedy with two great lead actors.

7,5/10
 
The Wolverine (Unrated Extended Edition) (2013) (James Mangold): I didn't see the theatrical version, but this one definitely feels more R rated in a few spots than I'm guessing they'd allow for the PG-13. Probably a bit more blood (a LOT more in one specific scene) and 3 uses of "fuck" are the standouts. Aside from that it's not dismemberment heavy at all, so nothing was really added on that front. As for whatever else constituted the 10 minutes of extra scenes, it didn't feel any more bloated than any other comic book movie so whatever.

As for the film itself, I'm not sure what the reception was, but I thought it was okay. I actually enjoyed the slow pacing early on, and liked it more when it was a Yakuza/samurai/ninja action-thriller than when it went more and more into standard superhero action. I'd be fine if the entire climactic scene was reworked to be way more low key and got rid of
giant suit Silver Samurai
in favor of a classic duel. In fact, the entire thing would've been better had they used the traditional Japanese houses and setting with golden age samurai film tempo and camerawork. Genndy Tartakovsky should've been the director and done this justice.

Anyway, on to Days of Future Past of The World of Tomorrow from Yesteryear. This storyline's about to get crazy.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Some of the symbolism is not too hard, I think, especially as certain key scenes give the game away - the bit showing a fish in a stained glass window in a cathedral is an important hint to let you know just what the fish are standing in for as the fishermen are chasing after them, or rather more importantly their shadows (almost like they're not really there), likewise the presence of statues of martyrs all over the eye ("the sun") as it travels around doing...whatever it is it does, which regardless is at odds with the boy's goals as they face each other on a chess board at the start. I think it's just the overwhelming amount of symbols and the obtuseness of some of them that can make the film kind of difficult, although they're also responsible for many of its unique qualities.

As far as any interactions between boy and girl go, loaded as they are, I think it is best to approach them as kind of a religious inquiry between two persons: the girl as believer and boy as doubter. She surely seems to be presented as more innocent and also naive than the boy, who seems weary. (They're referred to as "boy" and "girl" in promotional/tie-in materials, even though he seems much older than she, and is suggested to have been around since the flood - I've always taken him for an embittered Noah.) But I think it's too general to say he's destroying her innocence and more precise that he's destroying her faith. He repeatedly asks after the contents of the egg and she repeatedly fails to properly answer, because she doesn't know - but she believes it to contain a particular thing, and that is all that matters. Him destroying the egg also destroys that essential mystery that necessitates faith by making the contents of the egg known (or at least knowable) and concrete.
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I guess in the case of the boy and the girl I may have been trying to look too much into it, whereas your example is way more simple and makes a lot more sense to me! I think I'm beginning to understand the other symbols, but I'll leave that to when I inevitably rewatch the film. I'm just glad it left as much of an impression on me as it did with all of the build up I gave it! At the very least, I'm glad I finally got to hear the music in it. Now to work on importing the Blu-ray sometime this year.

And hey, congrats on becoming a mod!
 
Matthew McConaughey's turnaround is pretty incredible over the last 3 years. A string of really good movies to the point that it almost feels like he planned it all out. With True Detective and the Nolan movie up next *cough*Contact sequel*cough*, it doesn't look to be stopping either.
 
Net_Wrecker said:
Matthew McConaughey's turnaround is pretty incredible over the last 3 years. A string of really good movies to the point that it almost feels like he planned it all out. With True Detective and the Nolan movie up next *cough*Contact sequel*cough*, it doesn't look to be stopping either.
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Yeah, it's amazing what he achieved the last few years. I think Lincoln Lawyer was the first film in which he really got my attention.

Most recently saw Mud with him in it, such a good film. Going to see The Wolf of Wallstreet this month. Dallas Buyers Club next month probably.
 
MikeMyers said:
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

Don't understand the hate towards the second half, love the 'documentary' feel to it.
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I like the movie, but I think the issue people have with it is that the first half feels satirical and critical, while the second half doesn't continue in that direction until the very end.

To me that wasn't as much of a problem as the fact that the production feels a bit cheap in the second half due to being filmed entirely in London. The scenes are all tight spatially, something that is a bit weird for a movie set in Vietnam where you expect fields and jungles. Only the last ruins set feels of higher quality.
 
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the hunt .. man

i had anxiety the whole time that it was gonna reveal him to really be a sexual predator and that all my previous frustration on his behalf was gonna get flip turned upside down

mads is fantastic
 
Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa

It's not Citizen Kane, let's just get that out of the way. As far as low-brow humor goes, I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I had really, really low expectations. I actually expected to turn it off after 20 minutes or so, but I was laughing through the whole thing.
 
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