Babel

so yeah, it's a movie
wow how will all these seemingly unrelated stories fit together zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
by the time this thing ended I was hoping everyone in the movie that had more than one line of dialogue would die

No. I just found it a brilliant piece of suspense filmmaking with much more psychological subtlety then something like The Silence of the Lambs.

What? For the Folger's ad, or for 7th Heaven?

Hmm, I enjoyed it. Maybe you should stick around for the last half. Peter Lorre is freakin' intense and yet sympathetic in the "courtroom" scene...it's what got him booked into Hollywood.

i really liked him in that part too
what films did he appear in hollywood? anything famous i might know?

The Maltese Falcon is the first that come to mind...many, many, many more.

M was just Lorre's first, or maybe 2nd, movie. 99% of his roles wasted the strength & emotion he could show.

imdb on Peter Lorre

Check out starred movies, first:

* The Man Who Knew Too Much
* Crime and Punishment 1935
The Mr. Moto series
Arsenic and Old Lace
My Favorite Brunette
Casbah
* Beat the Devil
20000 Leagues Under the Sea
Around the World in Eighty Days
* The Big Circus

umm, no haven's seen those. i know nothing about old hollywood films. i need to venture into pre 70s-mid 60s american films sometime.

The Bicycle Thief

As expected, this was absolutely fantastic.

That little kid is amazing.

i really like the images of the post war rome in that film. i mean, the city itself.

but one of the images from that film that sort of stuck in my head is when they go to that place to loan things, i think it was wife of the "thief" who went to loan bedding items. and there's this huge rack of things stock up all the way to the roof. (i think that was the scene)

I agree with almost everyone that the last scene in the mock courtroom is the best part of the film. Considering this movie came out in 1931 I think it aged pretty well. I first saw Lorre in Casablanca with a minor role as Ugarte... but i'm sure you've seen Casablanca before.

Yeah...Peter Lorre is one of film's best character actors. One of his other most famous role is probably in Casablanca.

His voice is also the inspirations that Billy West used to create the voice of Ren from Ren & Stimpy.

Yeah, that was a good image. Sad, though. Just seeing the guy throw their wedding linens on that infinitely tall pile of identical linens, he knows he's never going to get them back even if he starts making money.

I fucking love The Bicycle Thief.

Too fucking good to miss.

Nostalgia
by Andrey Tarkovsky

not sure if i liked this one. didn't like the locations that he chose for this film.
couldn't get subtitles to work, which is probably one of the reasons i didn't get the film

Oh wow, you're totally right. They sound very very similar.

Good shit. Great companion piece to Goodbye Lenin!

pan's labyrinth is out on DVD today. if you haven't seen it, get on it.

Stunning movie.

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot

This movie is better than it has any right to be. Clint is Clint. A young Jeff Bridges turns in a very good performance. Michael Cimino directed.
A well spent two hours on a rainy Tuesday night.
Rent it!

Children of Men last Sunday. Has been analyzed back and forth already, but here's my 2 cents. A stunningly involving movie, with a fly on the wall quality that makes you feel that you are really viewing a cruddy, urban-sprawled horrible future. The ill-fated car chase...how in holy hell did they do that?! And of course, the[spoiler] baby's birth [/spoiler]is an amazing marriage of acting and digital effects.

On reflection, though, it's not much of an intellectual movie. The whole point of the movie is to get from Point A to Point B, with not much character development to speak of, especially frustrating in Clive Owen's heroic but not very motivated or terribly interesting character. Ten to 15 years ago, if the technology were available, Arnold Schwarzenegger could have had the role and not much would have been different. Perhaps it's because of the script's refusal to explain the reasons why the society depicted in the movie is what it is that I feel that way. Overall then, Children of Men is an achievement in camera movement, special effects and design, disguised as a high-class, politically-tinged foreboding of the not-to-distant future.

(Oh yes, as I was warned, pregnant women should not view this movie until after their own child's birth. Too unnerving)

I finally watched this last night and it lived up to the billing. Terrific, haunting film. And, maybe it just goes to show what a sucker I am for sentimentality, but boy did I well-up w[spoiler]when they brought the baby out of the building at the end of the film[/spoiler]. Yeah, I know Tony has criticized the nativity allegories and all that. But soooo whaaaaat.

Which chase sequence is everyone oohing/aahing about? The one with the motorcycle?

Dude, you're like one of those people that stare at a Magic Eye poster, fail to see the 3-D image, and then conclude there's nothing there.

"It started off boring and slow with Not Sure trying to bullshit everyone with a bunch of smart talk: 'Blah blah blah. You gotta believe me!'"

Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy the movie as a whole. What subtext did I miss besides "this is what the world will be like if things stay the way they are"? (i don't understand what you are saying in your italicized sentence)

Oh, I have to disagree with you here. What I found particularly interesting about Owen's character is that he is a regular guy thrust into a very un-regular situation. In movies like this, the hero is suddenly capable of harrowing acts of courage and strength, there's always that one scene where he crosses over from everyman to hero, like Jim becoming a killing machine in 28 Days Later. But, Theo is an everyman who stays as everyman, he's not particularly brave, he's kind of lazy, he's quite apathetic. For the first half of the movie, he keeps trying to pawn off the job of escorting Kee on other people. His big change is that he finally takes some responsibility, but he still doesn't become an action hero, per se. Even in the last stretch when he is trying to save Kee [spoiler]and the baby[/spoiler], he is still cowering at bullets, and not beating up the bad guys. In fact, the two biggest villains [spoiler]Luke and that ugly guy with the dreadlocks are killed by stray gunfire and random soldiers, Theo really has nothing to do with the demise of either[/spoiler]. If the movie were to star Schwarzenegger, it would be about forty minutes long as he'd give a rousing, barely comprehensible speech, then beat up all the baddies himself.


I kind of liked the fact that it wasn't explained away in the movie. There are leanings/hints toward it being either a) a result of the deteriorating environment, b)a sort-of divine punishment from above, or c) possibly even governmentally-created or assisted.

I really don't see what's so difficult to grasp about Children of Men. Yes, the movie doesn't go into details at all about why our race has gone sterile. Yes, the movie counts on the viewer to make a handful of connections and to play out the scenarios on their own. Really, ALL you need to know is: when the last one of us dies, THAT'S IT. Is it so hard to imagine that if we are unable to reproduce then civil structure will fall apart around us? No children, no future, no hope -- people will lose it, frustration mounts, governments are unable to control the rage and depression of their people. Why does the movie have to account for these things? They're not difficult to imagine, and the story picks up 20 years down the road without making absurd leaps of logic.

Oh yeah, I liked that as well. Sometimes movies with a bent toward the future feel the need to explain everything to the audience. Not the case here, and it was just fine. And the ending [spoiler]kept things ambiguous as well, since all you know is that Kee & child made it to the boat, no flash forward to the child "grown-up" and revitalizing the world.[/spoiler]

In terms of Owen as action hero;






I saw the remastered print of this at the cinema last night, fantastic.

So fucking good. Probably the best ever. Shit.

I hadn't watched this in prolly 20 years, and it wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it. The dialogue was ham-fisted & it seemed like they felt compelled to spell everything out for the audience. The acting (by the 3 leads) still holds up though, particularly Donald Sutherland's performance.

All about My Mother
by Pedro Almadovar

great film.
i think i'm finally coming to terms with almadovar after the last few films i watched by him. i was probably expecting some kind of tarkovky's camera work and deep existential themes of bergman, but i think what almadovar does best is just selecting an amazing cast of actors that hook you up from the begining of the film till its end. i felt like this movie was never without certain emotions, amost every moment was filled with some feeling.

Mutual Appreciation



Color Me Kubrick


I'm not even sure what to think about these two. I enjoyed watching each of them I guess. Would recommend Color Me Kubrick because Malkovich is as compelling as always, and the story is kind of oddball entertaining. I guess I wouldn't recommend Mutual, if just because it doesn't really end up anywhere, kind of a fictional documentary about next to nothing happening to a guy who doesn't seem to do much but mess around with his acoustic guitar. Enjoyed both kind of though, weird two movies to watch in a row, kind of feel like I need to see some regular blockbuster thing now, maybe Shrek 3 tomorrow.

I saw The French Connection last night and considered putting the two movies (French Connection, Chinatown) in a poll. Both highly influential, highly lauded, detective/crime dramas featuring strong lead performances. I have a suspicion that Chinatown would win, although I think in a fight, Popeye Doyle would kick Jake's ass.

I guess I'll be one of the detractors (sort of), and just say the movie was ok. One of problems is that the hype was just too great by the time I saw it (same thing happened to me with Borat). Also, I just felt like it was pulling in too many directions without fully committing to any of them. [spoiler]The birth of the baby was very cool though.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I have nothing to say about this movie, but these Spoiler Boxes are sure great, huh?[/spoiler]

I've always found 'The French Connection' to be overrated and borderline incoherent.

The French Connection is pretty lame, yeah. Just a bunch of pissed off cops chasing people and yelling things. It's just this hard-boiled testosterone fest.

Chinatown on the other hand... stellar performances, a plot that unfolds so beautifully that watching it drives me to fucking tears, and the most brilliant of all 'Nam-era nihilist endings... almost nothing else competes. A spot-on reflection of the times that strikes the perfect balance between the artfulness of noir and European cinema, and the mainstream's tantalizing, widescreen spectacle... FUCK.

I don't know.

French Connection owns with its gritty realism. I'm not necesarily the biggest fan of realism but I gotta give it to this film. The car chase is amazing (seeing Hackman trying to drive and keep an eye on the train and hitting every fucking thing on the road) and Hackman was spectacular.

I prefer Chinatown too, but I have to defend French Connection. It would be a shame if it had no supporters here.


On another note: check out IMDB's FAQ for the week Glen or Glenda
Funny stuff.

Ha, I just watched Ed Wood last weekend.

"You forgot the octopus."
"No, no, I'm saving that for my big underwater climax."

I've got Ed Wood saved for my #2 spot on the 90s list.

This was O.K., but for me the least successful of Atom Egoyan's films.

Also, it owed a lot to "Goodfellas" for the style of narration used by Kevin Bacon.
Everything about it in fact - the dialogue, tone of voice, use of vignette sequences during narration...

I love Chinatown, but I still wish that film was shot in black and white. Everytime I watch it, it feels like the colors are washed out and a bit dated.

the Manchurian Candidate

Hell, yes!

i'm a bit scared of seeing them on my screen. i feel like there's either a glitch with my monitor or there's a virus on my computer.
although, yeah, they're pretty handy.

Dodgeball
Decided to watch this again while generally killing time before work. I remember kinda enjoying this flick on, you know, a surface level, and I still kinda feel the same. Silly fun. A bit monochromatic, of course... but I dunno, I kinda enjoy this flick. Ben Stiller's over-the-top approach on his character just craaaaaaacks me up. The deleted scenes are pretty cool, plus the disc features commentary by Stiller + Vince Vaughn (which sounds like fun.. we'll just have to see).

I enjoyed this. Leo's accent didn't bother me as much as I thought it would based on the previews and clips I had seen beforehand. There is a shitload of gun fights. I actually felt like this morning when I woke up I still was hearing machine gun fire in my head.