I wanted to like Baghead so much more than it's actually worth.

Also finally saw Pineapple Express on Friday. I may need to see it one more time while sober to see if it's as good as it was when I was stoned. But that might crack my top ten based on the first viewing.

Funny- I kind of see Baghead as one of those rare seemingly pointless movies that you're not supposed to like, but the characters are so genuine and charming you can't help yourself. Pineapple, on the other hand, was good but could have been so much better. With that one, I wanted to like it so much more than it's actually worth.

I guess I wanted to like Baghead more because of its core conceit, it's easy for me to relate to writer's block and the search for inspiration. It's also easy to root for the underdog filmmakers who write, shoot, direct, act, grip and cater. But for a group of writers who write a movie about a group of writers struggling to write a movie, the writing was just okay.

As for Pineapple Express, like I said, I think I was in the "right frame of mind" for it. My wife didn't really care for it, but I think she was taking the whole thing seriously, whereas I looked at the entire film as a bit of an inside joke. The scene in the restaurant when they are recounting their adventures just cracked me up for some reason, because it almost felt like that's how they wrote the movie. Got stoned, made a list of a bunch of badass stuff they could do, and created a story to accommodate it.

Now that I think about it, these two movies are perfect examples of why 2008 sucked for me. The movies that I was really excited for were just average, so I was left pretty disappointed. The movies I put of seeing for months because I thought I'd hate them ended up being pretty decent, which will probably make me over rate them.

I thought Pineapple had a relatively weak cast compared other Apatow vehicles. The two funniest people were Gary Cole and Seth Rogen. Cole doesn't have many funny lines and Rogen is a straight man to Franco most of the time. Franco isn't very funny. I wasn't even sober while watching it and I got really bored.

Good points. I agree about the writing in Baghead being just ok...and it usually takes good writing for me to like a movie, but maybe that's why I'm championing this so much- it's a movie that has little to no plot and mediocre writing and yet I loved every minute of it. I think we've all had 24 hour experiences in relationships that were very intriguing/funny/nerve racking/charming...yet if someone were to transcribe word for word those days into a script, the writing would be mediocre at best.

As for Pineapple, I think I would have like it more were I in that state of mind...as it is, it might even make the bottom of my list if only for classic scenes like the restaurant scene. That was great.

Yeah, the cast wasn't great, but I liked Danny McBride a lot. Pretty shocking that Franco for a GG nod for this one. How hard is it to act stoned? Especially when he was probably blown out during the filming.

That's pretty much what Baghead left me with--truly engaging characters, and some surprisingly scarey scenes. So while it was low-budget and didn't exactly forge any new territory, I liked it alot more than, say, the Visitor, which also had engaging characters but was more predictable, for all its higher budget.

I actually liked the cast a lot, moreso than the movie, actually. I loved it on first viewing, but it was not as engaging upon the second one. And, supposedly, Franco does not smoke weed, and, instead, studied with stoners and dealers for a few days before making the movie. There was an article in Rolling Stone about how Franco was kind of the outcast during the making of Freaks and Geeks because everybody would be smoking up, and Franco wouldn't partake, and they thought it would be fun to flip the casting on its ear, as, originally, Franco was going to play the more straight-laced Dale, with Rogen as the weird pot dealer.

"We don't put out!"

Primer

Pretty intriguing little film.

Did you watch this?

uncut on TMC. Just recently got released on DVD.
Not as badass as I remember but somehow I've merged it over time with 'Breaking Glass'
The 'other' Night Flight special new wave 80's classic.

Ah, back when Ray Winstone was thin. And Diane Lane did underage nude scenes.

Good times.

Just wrapped up Office: Season 1

Click to view attachment

It was okay but it seemed more like a set-up of what was yet to come. I liked the last episode when they included Amy Adams as the purse solicitor. And of course the basketball episode is hilarious.

this movie always seems to pop into my head. Just the whole idea of it being a film that you can't fully comprehend unless you get intense with analyzing it.

I want to see it again.

Here's a very comprehensive timeline that will help to make sense of the film.

http://www.freeweb.hu/neuwanstein/primer_timeline.html

That's part of what I enjoyed about it. I started to become frustrated trying to piece everything together, then realized that the intent was to fully confuse you to the point where the exact details weren't important anymore.

That's insane. Hurts my head just looking at it!

Yep. You become just as confused as the main characters.

Brilliant film, quite possibly my favorite of the decade. While the puzzle of the plot is fascinating, it's the underlying themes and character motivations that really make it special: Friendship, dedication, ambition, losing control of your life, taking control of your life, responsibility, etc. It's all very relatable, especially to our generation of cynical professionals who identify with Office Space. Key line: "What do you do with an engineer when they turn 40? Take them out back and shoot them."

Damn shame the director doesn't seem to be making more movies.

Never heard of Primer, going to have to hunt it down.

Another one that slipped my radar was Special with Michael Rappaport;



Did anyone see this? Was it any good?

Does anyone else hate Michael Rappaport as much as I do? Nails on a chalkboard when he opens his mouth. And ugly to boot.

I'm kinda in the same boat, but the trailer to this film looks super awesome.

I used to feel the same way, but he was absolutely brilliant in Spike Lee's "Bamboozled".
That changed my opinion of him.

Was that the black-face one? That was great. One of Spike's better films.

Yep, that's the one.
It was kind of overlooked at the time, but had such razor sharp wit.

Bamboozled is one of my least favorite Spike Lee films. But that ending montage, with all that racist culture, was very moving.

Bamboozled is brilliant satire that ranks right alongside Do The Right Thing as Spike Lee's best.

While I disagree with that, I'm at least glad to see Spike Lee get some respect on this board. Too often people have a kneejerk reaction to his public statements and don't bother to consider his films.

Saw his latest on someone's list...wondering if I need to see it.

I loved it. Big, confrontational war movie, with elements of magic realism. Sure, it's cheesy. Sure, it has all the subtlety of a giant hammer with the word 'racism' hitting you square in the forehead. But, still, I loved it. It's on DVD next Tuesday.

Good to hear. I'll move it to the top of my Q to see before the deadline.

You know, her kid does bear a striking resemblance to the late Mr. Farley, but damn if I wouldn't tap that wanna-be MILF in Elemeno's avatar.

Edit: I need a drink, obvs...

Do The Right Thing is amazing. Such a great film.

I just wanna say... this thread is now at 400 pages.

It's not all that special, in the Grande Scheme of Things.

But still...

I just wanna say.

Carry on.

I've lost almost all perspective when it comes to Spike. I was less than crazy about Jungle Fever (too melodramatic) and I think Inside Man is a little too convoluted for the genre, but otherwise, I find even those movies of his people tend to disregard (Summer of Sam, Clockers, Crooklyn) highly enjoyable. And Do the Right Thing sits high in my Top Ten Ever. #3, last time I tried to make such a list.

What do you think of 25th Hour?

Better than the three I mentioned in parentheses. Maybe the best thing he's done since... I dunno, Malcom X? Surely not his best since DTRT, but damn, what an excellent movie. That monolgue Norton does telling everyone in NYC to go fuck themselves is poetry as far as I'm concerned.

a lot of the success for 25th hour can be attributed to david benioff, but then again, the same could be said about inside man and russell whateverthescreenwriter'snamewas, and that would be incorrect. 25th hour is structually great (benioff) but some of the post 9/11 elements fall flat. it's still a highly rewarding, moving, touching, beautiful, etc film that is too often overlooked (like many of lee's films).

honestly, i think lee gets ignored or dismissed for two interconnected reasons. one, he's made very few films without some glaring flaws (other than his documentary work), and two, race. i think he mixes the two up, confusing the dismissal over the quality control for a race thing, which makes some people like him even less. but whatever. he's maybe the most fascinating american auteur still working.

It just kills me that of all Spike's work, Inside Man is his only certifiable blockbuster. I wouldn't even call it an awful movie; it just has too many elements in play at once. I love Jodie Foster, and I enjoyed her performance, but damned if I can see a reason for her character's storyline. It ends up being a distraction.

It took me about three viewings to even get that part of 25th Hour was supposed to be a commentary on 9/11. Again, it's a distraction from the principal storyline.

Sometimes, race does factor into Spike's problems. The studio's refusal to give him the budget he needed for Malcom X is hard to read as much more than a colossal disconnect. Still, it ends up another great story for Spike, as Cosby and Oprah and a number of other black celebs stepped up, knowing the film was unlikely to make a profit, and gave him the rest of what he needed. Or so Spike tells it. A good story is often better than the truth.

also, at the expense of some of his projects, lee emphasizes race and politics when emotion or character might serve the work better. but that isn't a criticism, really. we need filmmakers like lee, who straddle the line between art, commerce and politics. too few do these days. i wish that he would sometimes aim to make the best movie, rather than the movie he most wants to make (i.e. edit judiciously), but i am always happy to see a new film from him. his oeuvre is too consistently interesting to judge him solely based on his indulgences.

'Inside Man' is one of Lee's best films. He should really stop writing and focus on direction.

I think both 25th Hour and Inside Man show Spike Lee operating at a greater level of maturity than with his previous films. The way he deals with race is a lot more interesting and complex in these pictures than in some of the earlier ones. Which is not to say that his earlier work isn't great. Do The Right Thing is probably still his very best film (next to 25th Hour, in my opinion) and is anything but subtle. But I like the direction he is going as a filmmaker. He's aging very well.

Of course, he also made She Hate Me, recently. Lots of ideas, little coherence.

Unlike either 25th Hour or DTRT, however, Inside Man is a structural mess. Given that he was working with Brian Grazer, not a producer known for subtlety, these problems may not be his fault entirely, but the movie telegraphs its conclusion in the first reel, then tries for artful misdirection with the wholly extraneous Jodie Foster/police corruption sideshow. It's an enjoyable film, but one which I have to pretty much switch off my brain to watch more than once.

I picked this up for $5 out of a dvd bin. Best $5 ever? I have already seen the film once and I thought it was pretty good. But then it really started to hit me with moments from the film that lingered long after I had seen the movie. The washed up Avery at his home, roaches in the ashtray and drinking himself away as he tells off the boy scout, the death scene at the lake, the interview with Arthur Lee as he takes a break from his assembly line job and crosses his leg, the "basement" scene", the "look in the eye" scene and so forth. The movie was just damn memorable...and I had only seen it once. So when I picked this up again and watched it again tonight, I might be convinced.

Is this Fincher's best film? I have not seen Button, but this now tops out Fight Club for me. I would actually be very interested in an extended cut of this film, I feel like even at it's lengthy running time, there was still some good stuff left out for the sake of keeping the movie at a reasonable length. Fincher's spot-on direction, fantastic editing, haunting piano score, tremendous acting (Ruffalo and Downey give their best?), and a script that never strays away.

Damn good film, eh?

yes to both for me. This is Fincher's one film that doesn't rely on some sort of gimmick or twist; just plays it straight and tells the story. I wish he'd make more movies like Zodiac.

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I think Fincher set the bar with "7" - and it's all been pretty much at that same level ever since. He is one of the best in Hollywood, period.

Easy prediction -- Ben Buttons wins the oscar. (and no-- I avent' seen it yet)

Angelina Jolie, playing the Scream in the new Edvard Munch biopic.

Just watched Changeling. Stunningly bad. Almost as embarrassing as Blindness. There are no surprises in this film. You know what's going on in the first 10 minutes and it never deviates from that course. There is no personality. Actors are forced into monotone recitations of awkward dialogue (unless you're Angelina, who quivers and screams a lot). John Malkovich walks and talks like a zombie. Angelina looks like one. And the film keeps plodding on like a zombie, long after any possible interest I might've had in the story had faded. This is the film that wouldn't end.

Strangely, Eastwood thinks the most interesting aspect of the story is how corrupt the police department is and how mental patients are treated. I can understand the desire to make an exposé if this were happening in the past few years. But this is a period piece. Why the hell would anyone care about corrupt police and mental patients in the Twenties? There needs to be something more going on. But there isn't. This film is a metaphor for nothing. It explores nothing. It is a nothing picture directed by a filmmaker apparently incapable of summoning even the slightest bit of creativity in telling this story.

I imagine what the film would have been like if David Lynch were behind the camera. Identities actually changing. You don't know if the character's son is really missing or if she's just going crazy. Strange characters saying bizarre things. A surreal nightmare. That would've been interesting. This film was the complete opposite of interesting.

It might help to understand the nature of LA. I mean, sure, to an extent all Hollywood types end up being narcissistically fascinated by their hometown, but in the case of Los Angeles, the 20th century history of how it went from an almost-literally one horse town to what it is today, on the backs of most of its natives who were run roughshod by a police force whose corruption and brutality were epic in scope and execution, is legitimately interesting. Eastwood may not handle it well, and that's no real surprise, to me. I am often amazed how the critical establishment has deified him as a director at the end of his career when his work has become much more uneven than when it started back in the '70s.

Chinatown; Curtis Hanson's LA Confidential; even Brian DePalma's turgid reading of The Black Dahlia (both based on two of James Ellroy's "LA Quartet" novels) all tread the same turf. LA has a long and troubled history for race relations and a volatile, often criminal, police department. Who cares about police corruption in LA of the '20s?

Raymond Chandler, Ellroy, Ross MacDonald, even Ray Bradbury, have all felt the pull of old-school LA. I'm guessing it's never too tough a sell to a studio exec when LA in the old days is the milieu. This is Eastwood's pass at it. He probably should have stuck to subversions of classic male archetypes, which is where he has always excelled.

Zack and Miri
It had a few funny moments, but I'm getting so tired of the 40-Year Old formula.

Spoiler/NSFW: click to show/hide

Is it really necessary to have the romantic storyline in every film?!! Not that this is much of a spoiler.

Also, it's getting exceedingly tiresome to watch Seth Rogan play himself in film after film.
The best lines and most memorable performance came from Craig Robinson (who plays Darryl on The Office).