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[Buckethead]

But when the games finally start things start to get more interesting again. Some great action sequences pass by and Jennifer Lawrence gets more space to show she's a good actress.

This is where it went off the rails for me.

Jennifer Lawrence goes from PTSD to sullen and unaware and I didn't think it was that well acted by her tbh. That's partly the writing though.

Then the action direction of the games is just boring and not well done or "let's throw everything possible at them". So long story short it's inconsistent and lacking in any competent setup or execution.

 

[Card Boy]

Rise of the Guardians - 1st half was boring, 2nd half was great.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - I hated the first movie but loved this one for some reason. Much better.

 

[Linius]

This is where it went off the rails for me.

Jennifer Lawrence goes from PTSD to sullen and unaware and I didn't think it was that well acted by her tbh. That's partly the writing though.

Then the action direction of the games is just boring and not well done or "let's throw everything possible at them". So long story short it's inconsistent and lacking in any competent setup or execution.

Guess it's the writing to blame for the throwing everything at them which I agree is a bit much. But I liked how they shot it. All in all The Hunger Games are more a cashcow than a showcase for good acting of course, but I'm glad Jlaw, PSH and Jeffrey Wright managed to stay up with the little material they got. I feel like the cast makes the best out of not that much.

Dallas Buyers Club

Now this is an excellent movie. Talking about writing that ensures your cast can make the best of it and so they did. Matthew McConaughey once again proves himself a great actor and alongside him Jared Leto delivers a great performance. I found Ron Woodroof to be a very inspiring person in this movie, a person who completely turns around his life upon finding out he is HIV positive. Given the time and place this story took place and the kind of person Woodroof was before his illness that is something admirable. The smart guy he is he manages to get some cash out of his situation too. May he have started his business with the sole purpose of making money it's great to see how he changes as the movie progresses and starts to actually care about other people who are going trough the same problems as he is. The story alone is interesting enough but the cast is what brings this movie to an higher level. Must see.

8,5/10

 

[Divius]

I should watch Inside Man again. I watched it when it came out but don't remember much of it, besides one of the characters being

Spoiler

on a rail sliding towards the camera

(?) and (spoiler)

Spoiler

the twist of them being in the bank for a long time

|), and that I quite liked it. I haven't connected with many others of his films.

That said, I am really excited to check out his Oldboy just to see how much of a trainwreck it is.

 

[Linius]

Yeah Inside Man was a very enjoyable heist movie.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Holy shit. Just finished Criterion's blu-ray release of Mann's Thief. God. DAMN. Some of the shots in this movie made me gasp out loud. James Caan just chews up any scene he's in. The score was amazing as well. Reminded me of The Terminator. Fantastic movie, and I can't believe I hadn't already watched it.

 

[Ridley327]

My mom wanted the whole family to watch Captain Phillips tonight, and I gotta say I wasn't giving the film its proper due from when I first saw it back in October. It's so tightly wound up and tense that you can cut a diamond. I can imagine that some of my dissatisfaction with the film's length was due to the claustrophobic nature of the proceedings, which plays a lot differently in a theater than it does on an HDTV, and it really made me appreciate more just how good a job at depicting the processes that each member of the crew took to ensure their safety, as well Phillips' own minor manipulations of the pirates themselves once they take off together in the life boat. I think I'll have to revise my top 10 of 2013 now to include it, since it sorely deserves to be up there.

 

[strobogo]

Holy shit. Just finished Criterion's blu-ray release of Mann's Thief. God. DAMN. Some of the shots in this movie made me gasp out loud. James Caan just chews up any scene he's in. The score was amazing as well. Reminded me of The Terminator. Fantastic movie, and I can't believe I hadn't already watched it.

I saw it for the first time last year or in 2012. I didn't even know it existed until all the comparisons to Drive. It's so good. Michael Mann is so good. It has to be one of the best debut movies ever.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

I saw it for the first time last year or in 2012. I didn't even know it existed until all the comparisons to Drive. It's so good. Michael Mann is so good. It has to be one of the best debut movies ever.

Theatrical debut, you mean, because The Jericho Mile was a TV movie from 2 years prior. It's very much a "tryout" film, but you can still see a ton of the themes and some camerawork that would be in his stuff for years afterwards.

"I'm here, I'm nowhere else. I'm here................I belong here, in this place. I am convicted, murder one, I did it. Now, I am doing my own time. I mess with no one, no one messes with me, I did what I did, it's over, that's it." - The Jericho Mile

Frank from Thief is, in essence, the character from The Jericho Mile post-prison.

 

[tino]

Saw 12 Year a Slave today. Guess I have to put it to tye top of my list, ahead of Her.

Its not a movie I have huge emotional investment in but its better than the the rest of the 13 movies I saw. What I heard was wrong, it is not a turture porn movie, it has alot of solid stories in it. I say Steve McQueen pay more respect to telling a story than Coens Brothers have in LLewyn Davis.

God damn Brad Pitt is still bad though. His broken accent reminds me of his broken Italian in Inglorious Basterds.

 

[Horseticuffs]

My oldest daughter and I are huge fans of the Evil Dead franchise, specifically the original and the reboot. 2 and AoD have their charms, but we love the darker tone of 1 and the reboot.

With that in mind we tried a lil' flick out of Sweden last night called "Wither"; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDe4k9Nc9w SPOILER WARNING: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wither_(film))

I rented the Amazon Instant version which is subtitled. It's on Google Play also, but one of the comments mentioned it was all in Swedish with no subtitles which, while unlikely, I didn't want to chance.

The flick is a definite homage to the original ED, which to me is always welcome. You put people in a cabin in the woods and make shit go horribly wrong and, for me, that's as close to the perfect story as you can get. I'll go so far as to say I enjoyed the ED reboot more, but there were a lot of enjoyable aspects here also.

Foremost everyone in Sweden must be super attractive, as it's a very handsome cast. Secondly, and I'll spoil it even though it's pretty open about the basis for the story:

Spoiler

Swedish legends of the Vittra

.

One area I have to note is the chemistry between the main couple especially near the end of the film. If you've seen it I think you'll know what I mean. The female lead, Lisa Henni, has some wonderfully expressive eyes. She used them to such effect in this film, particularly the last act, that it really blew me away. Near the end my daughter kept nodding off since she can't stay up late to save her life and I kept trying to wake her up to see this shit because the acting was so awesome.

Just simply amazing and Lisa Henni turned in one of the most memorable roles I've seen in genre work in a looooooooong-ass time.

 

[MSMrRound]

Brought the DVD for You are the apple of my eye recently. It's a Taiwanese movie that's adapted from a novel of the same title, that is based on the writer and director Giddens Ko's personal life, about his experience in school, transforming from a joker in the classroom to someone who is responsible for his actions and more, all under the guidance of this honor student in his class that he eventually fell in love in.

The movie smashed box office records in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and more. You guys can check it out if you want to. It's a pretty charming story. I think there should be subtitles too (since the movie is in Chinese)

 

[thenexus6]

Hitchock I enjoyed this, I like seeing the old hollywood movie system in action. Thinking about grabbing Psycho on blu ray now.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

If you wanna see it in action you're better off watching old movies.

 

[Zozobra]

I watched Inside Llewyn Davis last night and overall I really enjoyed it; however, I didn't really get the ending, I feel like I might have missed something.

Spoiler

I'm not a big folk music guy at all, so I didn't realize that was Bob Dylan at the end; but, was it just that Llewyn gave up on his music career and that was it? I feel like perhaps there was some sort of metaphor with all that stuff that happened at the end, but whatever it was, apparently it was over my head.

 

[Meliorism]

I ended up being stuck in the position of having to rewatch Inside Man the other day, and I was actually surprised by how much I liked it. There's so much verve, strangeness, and subtle humor wrung out of the standard heist movie premise that it's that much more of a shame when Spike Lee is stuck doing pointless, lifeless remakes of foreign films for dumb Americans who can't read.

I'm typically very much aligned with what you're saying re: foreign film American remakes, but I know some that are ardent fans of Lee's Oldboy so who knows. I never got around to seeing it, myself, but I'd love to see his take on it, as I'm not huge on Park's version.

 

[Daria]

Watched JACOBS LADDER last night and holy shit, it was a great mind tripping movie. Highly recommended.

Spoiler

the head glitches are what got to me most.

 

[hal9001]

Repulsion
This is one Polanski's best films and is in some ways ahead of its time with its depiction of female anxiety and feminist undertones. The performance of the lead actress and the cinematography all stand out. The hallway with the hands protruding through the walls is a visually telling scene.

Bernie
I really enjoyed this film. I wasn't expecting the faux mockumentary style narrative but it actually really seemed to fit and work. Its a really strange film to quantify as its not really a straight on black comedy and it feels similar in the subdued tone of the Coen brothers film, A Serious Man . It's really rare to get such a good portrayal of a rural American town and all the characters seem to have a great personalities. Jack Black gives the performance of his career (this is his Punch Drunk Love) accompanied by an excellently funny Mathew Mcconaughey.

Seven Psychopaths
If the 90s Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin teamed up then you would get a film like this. The film while funny can also be very profound at times and it just never stops throwing things at you. All the Psychopaths stories were very interesting and particularity the Viet Cong character standing out especially at that amazing scene where

Spoiler

he burns

himself at the end. I would say this is one of the most underrated films of 2012 and looks set to become a cult classic in the near future.

 

[megamerican]

August Osage County Liked it better than I figured I would. Pretty great cast, and it was fun seeing Cumberbatch play a rube. Definitely feels small as it was adapted from a play, that's not really a bad thing though.

 

[Linius]

Enough Said

A very pleasant take on the romantic film genre. What mostly stood out for me with this film is that the characters felt like real people for most part of the movie. James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus shared this great and some what awkward chemistry that really made this movie. Julia also seems to have mastered the art of displaying a million different faces, she displayed her characters emotions in a great way with her ever changing facial experessions. And the support cast was great too with the likes of Toni Collette and Catherine Keener for example. The Chloe character was a bit weird though, I liked her but her showing up at Eva's house all the time felt a bit out of place. Long story short, I liked it a lot.

8/10

Oh and the actresses nominated for Oscars must have put up some really good performances if Julia isn't even nominated...

Spoiler

I would switch her with Bullock right away

 

[Reckoner]

I watched Inside Llewyn Davis last night and overall I really enjoyed it; however, I didn't really get the ending, I feel like I might have missed something.

Spoiler

I'm not a big folk music guy at all, so I didn't realize that was Bob Dylan at the end; but, was it just that Llewyn gave up on his music career and that was it? I feel like perhaps there was some sort of metaphor with all that stuff that happened at the end, but whatever it was, apparently it was over my head.

Check here. People were discussing some interesting bits of Inside Llewyn Davis. Maybe that will help you understand it better.

 

[Zozobra]

Check here. People were discussing some interesting bits of Inside Llewyn Davis. Maybe that will help you understand it better.

Thanks for the link, lots of interesting reading via that thread. I guess the consensus is that there's no clear-cut meaning behind the ending of the film? That works for me!

 

[TCRS]

There Will Be Blood

Yeah no. I thought I missed something when I watched it the first time because it kept getting rave reviews, there was talk of top 10 movie of the decade etc. But it's still the same old long and rather boring movie with a soundtrack that doesn't make any sense to me. And I don't even mind slow movies, I actually love them. But this one, nope.

 

[Borgnine]

There aren't enough Wire reaction gifs in the world for that post.

 

[brianjones]

My mom wanted the whole family to watch Captain Phillips tonight, and I gotta say I wasn't giving the film its proper due from when I first saw it back in October. It's so tightly wound up and tense that you can cut a diamond. I can imagine that some of my dissatisfaction with the film's length was due to the claustrophobic nature of the proceedings, which plays a lot differently in a theater than it does on an HDTV, and it really made me appreciate more just how good a job at depicting the processes that each member of the crew took to ensure their safety, as well Phillips' own minor manipulations of the pirates themselves once they take off together in the life boat. I think I'll have to revise my top 10 of 2013 now to include it, since it sorely deserves to be up there.

i liked it but shit the ending felt like it went on forever

it was frustrating

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Throne of Blood (1957) (Kurosawa): Mifune puts the dial to 10 and never lets off the gas even when he isn't speaking. Eerie atmosphere capped off with one hell of an ending makes this a winner.

High and Low (1963) (Kurosawa): It's like 2 movies one, each providing different highs. I love how it goes from a talky suspense drama, then transforms into a surprisingly modern feeling cat & mouse procedural thriller. And that 2nd half is so good with lots of great camera work, and a dive right into a bustling city so unlike the vibe of the 1st half. Also, Mifune with another great, (and totally different) performance here.

Three Outlaw Samurai (1964) (Hideo Gosha): Wowowow, I really liked this. Fast paced plotting that hits the ground running and doesn't slow down for anything with lots of classic archetypes dropped into a world of betrayal and cynicism. Great looking B&W lighting, slick cinematography, fun action; what's not to love?

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Saw Make Way for Tomorrow. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this movie melted my heart. Such a lovely and moving picture. 9/10

Anyone who likes Tokyo Story should see it (or even if you don't *couch* Borgnine *cough*).

 

[Blader]

North by Northwest
What a surprisingly silly movie. Crop duster setpiece is a such great piece of filmmaking, but it feels like it was done by a completely different director; the look and tone of the sequence is so detached from the rest of the film, feels almost Leone-ish at the start.

 

[gulfamashraf]

Brought the DVD for You are the apple of my eye recently. It's a Taiwanese movie that's adapted from a novel of the same title, that is based on the writer and director Giddens Ko's personal life, about his experience in school, transforming from a joker in the classroom to someone who is responsible for his actions and more, all under the guidance of this honor student in his class that he eventually fell in love in.

The movie smashed box office records in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and more. You guys can check it out if you want to. It's a pretty charming story. I think there should be subtitles too (since the movie is in Chinese)

will check this out.

 

[plasmawave]

Filth.

Didn't like it much.

 

[Saya]

Recently watched:

Dragon Wasps - Joe Knee - ★½
Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky - ★★★★
After Earth - M. Night Shyalaman - ★½
Paris, Texas - Wim Wenders - ★★★★
The Bayton Outlaws - Barry Battles - ★½
American Hustle - David O. Russell - ★★★
Inside Llewyn Davis - The Coen brothers - ★★★★

 

[Horseticuffs]

Watched "The American Scream" with my kids tonight. It's a documentary on Netflix streaming following three families in a Massachusetts town that set up a home haunt each year. It was fun and it really shows you the depths of sacrifice these folks go to to bring a little spooky fun to their towns.

Not mind-blowing or anything, but an odd little slice of life.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

The Before Trilogy is soooooo good, holy shit. They're just so human. I love the progression, each story is presented in pretty much the same fashion but they all feel so unique because of the different circumstances. From the whimsical, almost fairy-tale esque young love story of the first one, to the more mature, but still idealized vision of romance in the second one, and then finally to the very real struggle of parenthood and maintaining a longstanding, healthy relationship. I'm hard pressed to say which one I prefer the most, I love all the goofy side characters in Sunrise, how Sunset is almost the opposite with barely any side characters and the shortest runtime, and how Midnight deals with the heaviest subject material. I will say the single most astonishing moment for me was the ending of Sunset, just a beautiful, unexpected fade out.

I also watched Down By Law this weekend and it was aces. John Lurie is the man, it's hilarious, it has a great soundtrack, and the black and white is visually stunning in a lot of scenes.

All in all a killer weekend of movie watching. It goes without saying, but it's so incredible when you watch something that thoroughly resonates with you.

 

[jakncoke]

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

Pretty neat documentary about a man that was the artist behind tons of movie posters that we all know

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835405/

 

[thenexus6]

Blue Jasmine I thought it was very good, bit of an abrupt ending but hey.

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

Pretty neat documentary about a man that was the artist behind tons of movie posters that we all know

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835405/

Just looked and its on netflix! Will be watching this today then.

 

[jakncoke]

Blue Jasmine I thought it was very good, bit of an abrupt ending but hey.




Just looked and its on netflix! Will be watching this today then.

90% of what I post about is from US netflix.

 

[thenexus6]

90% of what I post about is from US netflix.

I am watching it right now, I use Netflix US as the UK version doesn't have as much..

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Raging Bull was good, who knew! some really uncomfortable scenes with Jake's insecurity

North by Northwest
What a surprisingly silly movie. Crop duster setpiece is a such great piece of filmmaking, but it feels like it was done by a completely different director; the look and tone of the sequence is so detached from the rest of the film, feels almost Leone-ish at the start.

I caught this movie on TV a while back and it was at the start of this scene. All the parodies and references to it made perfect sense. I was taken aback by how legitimately badass it was, since I didn't expect such an elaborate action sequence to that well done in a movie from that era.

Been meaning to watch the whole film after seeing that; disappointing to hear that the rest of it is goofy.

 

[swoon]

Been meaning to watch the whole film after seeing that; disappointing to hear that the rest of it is goofy.

it's not really any goofier than his lighter works - grant and co are having fun, but the stakes are pretty high and there's great tension - both in the plane scene but also climax from the base of rushmore to the president's heads.

it's pretty much a best-of-hitchcock where he remakes scenes from his past which is explains its disjointed feel, but it's a must watch. it's visually stunning and has one of the best first acts in all of film.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Saw Make Way for Tomorrow. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this movie melted my heart. Such a lovely and moving picture. 9/10

Anyone who likes Tokyo Story should see it (or even if you don't *couch* Borgnine *cough*).

I actually saw it about a week ago myself. I thought the structure of the movie was fantastic in how it held off on showing Bark and Lucy together until the end. Any of the children's arguments (or evidence in the film) that their parents were stubborn and difficult to deal with immediately disintegrate when shown how deep their bond of a lifetime is, how perfectly attuned they are two each others' company--two halves of a whole in every sense.

It is worth pointing out, though, that Ozu never saw the film and his co-writer, Kogo Noda, only saw it at its release, some 15 years before Tokyo Story. Still the comparison is a worthwhile one, if only because it is endlessly interesting to think about how Ozu and Noda changed the story, and why. The strength of Tokyo Story is not so much in what happens, but in how it's depicted, what's included or excised. It's one of the few Ozu films I can think of where he shows a funeral. He skips the death scene, but usually he skips the funerals too.

 

[Blader]

it's not really any goofier than his lighter works - grant and co are having fun, but the stakes are pretty high and there's great tension - both in the plane scene but also climax from the base of rushmore to the president's heads.

it's pretty much a best-of-hitchcock where he remakes scenes from his past which is explains its disjointed feel, but it's a must watch. it's visually stunning and has one of the best first acts in all of film.

I can't help but think that story would have been a hell of a lot more interesting - albeit completely different - if they had

Spoiler

never reveled who/what Kaplan was, and you went through the movie basically chasing this man's ghost.

The second half would have to be rewritten from top to bottom, though.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

I actually saw it about a week ago myself. I thought the structure of the movie was fantastic in how it held off on showing Bark and Lucy together until the end. Any of the children's arguments (or evidence in the film) that their parents were stubborn and difficult to deal with immediately disintegrate when shown how deep their bond of a lifetime is, how perfectly attuned they are two each others' company--two halves of a whole in every sense.

Yes, that's a big part of what made the end so effective. I also like that the movie doesn't fall for cheap sentimentality (it is not showy) or really faults anyone; both the children and parents had their reasons to react the way they did and no one is really evil.

I read the studio hated the ending and wanted to change it. Good thing they didn't butcher it.

It is worth pointing out, though, that Ozu never saw the film and his co-writer, Kogo Noda, only saw it at its release, some 15 years before Tokyo Story. Still the comparison is a worthwhile one, if only because it is endlessly interesting to think about how Ozu and Noda changed the story, and why. The strength of Tokyo Story is not so much in what happens, but in how it's depicted, what's included or excised. It's one of the few Ozu films I can think of where he shows a funeral. He skips the death scene, but usually he skips the funerals too.

I meant because of its similarity, I think it fits with Ozu's themes and settings quite nicely. I thought Ozu saw it, it's interesting he didn't.

 

[T Dollarz]

The Before Trilogy is soooooo good, holy shit. They're just so human. I love the progression, each story is presented in pretty much the same fashion but they all feel so unique because of the different circumstances. From the whimsical, almost fairy-tale esque young love story of the first one, to the more mature, but still idealized vision of romance in the second one, and then finally to the very real struggle of parenthood and maintaining a longstanding, healthy relationship. I'm hard pressed to say which one I prefer the most, I love all the goofy side characters in Sunrise, how Sunset is almost the opposite with barely any side characters and the shortest runtime, and how Midnight deals with the heaviest subject material. I will say the single most astonishing moment for me was the ending of Sunset, just a beautiful, unexpected fade out.

Also that tracking shot of them walking in Midnight is a highlight for me. I don't know who else could pull that off.

 

[Borgnine]

Blue Jasmine: 6/10 was all right but a tough watch since Jasmine is one of the most vile characters I've ever seen. Some nice drama though trying to garner sympathy but for me she was too far gone. Seriously it goes Jigsaw > Amon Goeth > Jasmine as far as likability.

 

[Ridley327]

Blue Jasmine: 6/10 was all right but a tough watch since Jasmine is one of the most vile characters I've ever seen. Some nice drama though trying to garner sympathy but for me she was too far gone. Seriously it goes Jigsaw > Amon Goeth > Jasmine as far as likability.

I had to admire that Allen was able to make her so compelling from beginning to end, especially when a certain revelation happens that locks in your sympathy, or more precisely, how quickly all of it gets abandoned. I think what makes it even more hard to bear is she's right about a lot of things, and it's hard not to take

Spoiler

Ginger getting back together with Chili at the end as being the worst possible outcome for her, with how bang on Jasmine was about him and his similarities to Augie

. Really dark stuff all around.

 

[Femmeworth]

Blue Jasmine: 6/10 was all right but a tough watch since Jasmine is one of the most vile characters I've ever seen. Some nice drama though trying to garner sympathy but for me she was too far gone. Seriously it goes Jigsaw > Amon Goeth > Jasmine as far as likability.

#dead

 

[Divius]

Did some more at home 3D watching. Still feels weird sitting there in the dark with essentially sunglasses on. So silly. Saw The Avengers (so with the 3D that's like a double sin for MovieGAF

Spoiler

pls don't ban me icarus

) and Hugo (pretty great).

I'm kind of looking forward to watching Gravity again, in 3D. I doubt it'll have any of the impact it had seeing it in the theater.

 

[Ridley327]

Did some more at home 3D watching. Still feels weird sitting there in the dark with essentially sunglasses on. So silly. Saw The Avengers (so with the 3D that's like a double sin for MovieGAF

Spoiler

pls don't ban me icarus

) and Hugo (pretty great).

I'm kind of looking forward to watching Gravity again, in 3D. I doubt it'll have any of the impact it had seeing it in the theater.

That's how I feel. I just don't know how the film can convey the same kind of scale that you get on even a normal-sized theater screen, let alone the IMAX screen I saw it twice on.

 

[Expendable.]

Just returned from Sundance! Here's a wrap-up. I think GAF will LOVE The Voices. I hope it gets picked up. One of the most entertaining dark comedies I've seen in a great deal of time. And, of course, the masterpiece that is Boyhood.

The Best of Sundance Film Festival 2014

 

[Linius]

Seeing the cast of The Voices it would be surprising if it won't be released on a wider scale right? Added that and Boyhood to my Letterbox'd watchlist so I won't forget.