No Netflix in Canada.

I'm on a movie tear right now. Thank you summertime.

The Wrestler - I thought Aronofosky justifies himself as one of the best directors of his generation. His more subtle direction is something to take of note. Rourke himself is great, but I can see why Penn still got the Oscar. Tomei's tits were great support. The script was pretty damn perfect, IMO. I love the scene of him playing Nintendo with a fellow trailer park kid. Isolation and Desperation for friends is so evident in that scene. Also, the actual wrestling scenes were shot with such intensity, holy shit. I mean, that hardcore match? FUCK. Overall, good fucking film.

Doubt - wow. some reason I knew I would love this film. I am a Hoffman fanboy...but Streep steals the show. And when it comes to discussing this film, I could go all day, but let me just clarify that Streep's character is the main character in the story. I could go all day, but i'll stop now...this one is a thing of beauty. It needed great acting, since it's nothing but dialogue, and it got great acting...from everyone in the film. Davis and Adams are great supporting actresses...and Davis's walking scene with Streep is special. My second favorite of the year? behind revolutionary road.

Swingers - first viewing here. let me say that I can never get enough of those NHL '94 scenes. Sucha great guy film and Vaughn is young as fuck and hillarious. Nothing ridiculously special about it, it just holds onto that '90s charm and does it well.

and then I watched this today...

Stray Dog (1949 Akira Kurasowa)



The influence is evident. Se7en, Training Day, etc. This was the first crime-mentor film and Kurasowa shows his excellence at directing, as do all his films. The film did drag a bit in the middle, but the first and last chapters of the script are excellent and well-paced. Mifune isn't as great as say Seven Samurai or Rashomon...but this one sets the table for the Kurasowa-Mifune dynamic that blossoms both artists.

Saw this again



Man, this really is damned great. If it is released anywhere near you, see it.

Always thought I'd hate this but a coworker forced her copy on me and I'll admit I was wrong. There was a slight annoyance factor but the surprises outweighed that...the scene with the hopped-up dog was truly funny.

Only scene I found funny in what was otherwise a tedious and execrable 90 minutes. But then, I tend to think the world would be a better place if someone shoved Stiller in front of a speeding bus, so maybe I'm just not the one to say.

Gangway for the lord god, Jehovah!

The Green Pastures: 1936 film retelling the story of creation/the bible with an all-black cast. This was really quite beautiful in its presentation of heaven as a big fish-fry, and its retelling of Noah's Ark and Moses and the like.

Pretty funny flick. Wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.

Third Cinema yo.

Y'know, it's not so much me as Roenick; he's good.

Yeah, I enjoyed that one too.

That photoshop job on Patricia Arquette might be the worst one I've ever seen. Her head is seemingly a different colour and size than the rest of her body.

Also, I really want to see that movie, rented it once, but ran out of time to watch it before it was due, and I've enjoyed every single Gondry release since, so...

yeah, bad photoshop, but arquette is hot, and the flick is a good one.

Thoughts on the film? I like it alright, but think it gets a bit too self-involved.

The opening of this one is one of my favourites ever, with the kid twirling dreamily in the curtain before getting smacked on the back of the head by his mother. The rest of the movie is good, too, but crushingly sad.

The Wild Bunch

Great movie.Beautiful composition in many of the scene's and you can tell that Peckinpah put a lot into this.Also, the acting is great in this with Holden playing his role superbly and even the minor roles are cast well. I also liked the fact that they never gave you spanish subtitles and you were left on your own to figure out what some of the characters where saying.Also,the violence is really over the top for the time and it really stands out.Overall,a great film and possibly the best western I've ever seen(Granted I've seen about 4 westerns in my life.But,still).



This movie drags on and on for the first hour and a half. It isn't until the big standoff that things get interesting for me. Also,there's one scene that is very uncomfortable to watch(I guess that's the point though.) and is very vague in it's interpretation. The ending's ok I suppose,But getting there takes so damn long.Also, I don't get the point of this film and what it's trying to put across(The English are just as bad as Americans?Don't get cheap contractors?American's are easily pushed around?,etc.).

I'm at a crossroads here with Peckinpah as I've enjoyed two(Wild Bunch and Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia) of the four films by him that I've seen(I also saw Ride The High Country and I couldn't get into it.) and am wondering if I should watch any more of his films. Any suggestions?

I remember not liking it as much as I thought I would.

There was an interview with Michel Gondry just before Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and he talks of how he went to Charlie Kaufmann and asked him why Spike Jonze got all the good scripts and he got left with Human Nature. Needless to say, Eternal Sunshine made up for that!

Basically why I never watched it before now.

I really like that shot of him running through the field, viewed from the window of the empty house. Also,

Yeah, that part was pretty great.

War And Peace...yup, the Russian extravagant adaptation of Tolstoy's novel, winner of the 1968 Best Foreign Film Award, with a "cast of thousands"...believed to be the most expensive film ever made. (est. modern day price tag, 1 billion dollars US)...on 3 dvds. I've gone through #1 & #2...#2 much more soap operatic than it could be...but all in all...

It actually is a pretty good film, in spite of its technical glitches here and there. Considering the immensity and scope of the adapted material and everything they try to cover and make genuine, it was inevitable that this would not be a perfect film. There are some affecting performances from the actress portraying Natasha Rostova and the director himself Rundogov (sorry no time to look it up) as Pierre. Watch it for the "oh wow!" factor of the battlefield sequences, the rich high society royal balls (surely an inspiration for "The Russian Ark" film of a few years back)---there's no CGI or greenscreen here kids, that's really hundreds of armed soldiers battling on the field over there...

I've meant to see that for some time, but always end up shying away in favor of something more fitting to my lack of time.

Maybe I'll finally get around to it this summer, but as far as features with long run-times go, Kobayashi's The Human Condition is up first.

Burn After Reading:

A very entertaining black comedy,But not quite on par with The Coen's best. Still, everybody plays their roles(Especially Pitt.) well here and the movie goes by pretty fast.I enjoyed it.


Reservoir Dogs:

Before watching this I had an unfounded hate for Tarantino because of all the negative hype about him being a hack and while he still is a hack, he does make entertaining pictures.The dialogue is really good in this and the way the plot unfolds is interesting.I would probably watch this again.

Why is Tarantino a hack?

walked in on my roommate watching synecdoche and sat through the second half. goddamn, that is a special movie. i mean, fucking amazing. when i asked him at the end what he thought of it, he said that it went over his head, i just kinda looked at him dumbly. how can that movie fail to move a person? such a fucking profound, staggering creation.

He steals a lot of stuff from earlier films.Like the whole briefcase thing in Pulp Fiction is a total ripoff of the briefcase thing in Kiss Me Deadly or the fact that a good portion of Resevoir Dogs is completely based around a 1987 chinese film called City Of Fire.It's stuff like that that makes me think he's a hack.

The Matrix Reloaded: Ridiculously underrated and unfairly maligned. Yeah, it's flawed (especially the first 20 minutes or so), but the thing is bursting with ideas, and there are some absolutely jaw-dropping sequences that are still unmatched in the technical department. More movies need to be like this.

i got chungking express and the third man....from netflix. excited to watch both.

watched elegy tonight, expecting some roth-ian sexual dysfunction and penelope cruz nudity. was very pleasantly surprised. the dying animal is one of the roth books i've yet to read, and though the movie bears some of his heavy handprints, it also retains his structural dexterity. the movie drags on a little towards the end, but it makes some heavy points with a relatively light touch, is well shot and framed, impeccably acted (other than some peter saarsgard over-emoting). on the whole, well worth ruining an evening over. i'd even venture as far as to say it was one of the most affecting movies i've seen from 08.

I loved this movie. Yeah, the opening is really boring (That goddamned rave scene! WTF was that!?!), it's completely weirdly over-the-top (the orgasm cake!), and the plot is kinda nonsensical. But, I never really liked The Matrix for its philosophy, for all its supporters babbling about "But what if we really are in The Matrix? Dude!!", I enjoyed its action sequences. And Matrix Reloaded had much better action sequences, the best of the entire trilogy, and that makes it clearly the best Matrix movie. I love the ridiculous highway scene. I keep seeing this for $9 in stores. Once it hits the $5 bin, I'm totally picking up a copy.

Watched the first 2/3 of Australia last night. Nice to see that Nicole Kidman has kept her streak intact. She's the Joe Dimaggio of Hollywood suckitude.

Pretty sure I'd rather push ball barings up my cock then watch The Matrix Reloaded again.

Doubt
I really enjoyed the performances in this movie. It might help that I'm predisposed to not liking Streep, so disliking the bitch she played wasn't a real stretch. Hoffman was beyond great here.


Mutiny on the Bounty
Gable and Laughton, teriffic performances. Gable should have shaved off that stupid mustache more often.

Sorry, I liked this movie.

I'm sure a lot of people did, but Kidman is nails on a chalkboard for me, Jackman isn't much better, and I hate Luhrmann's aesthetic, especially when applied to what's basically a western. Everything looked fake, which I suppose wouldn't bother me as much if the setting was Moulin Rouge (which I also hated).

Not sure about the Kidman or Jackman hate... I don't love them or anything, I'm just indifferent.

I agree with you that a ton of the droving scenes looked fake, and I was actually annoyed by this quite a bit as well. But the story grabbed me and by the end scenes I didn't think anything looked fake anymore.

Kidman is one of my least favorite actresses. She always comes across as a stuck up bitch, and seems to take a lot roles that don't help that image. I don't hate Jackman, but he always seems like he's acting. The first time we see him on screen was overly theatrical, but that was due partly to the direction.

The droving scenes looked so crappy. My wife and I hadn't said a word during the movie until the droving scene where the old fat guy is talking to the young kid on horseback. She just said "are you kidding me?" That was probably due to really shitty special effects, but even the cinematography was dripping with fake colorization and overly dramatic shots that didn't work.

I might finish it tonight, but with Synechdoche sitting in my mailbox I doubt it.

Rented Wristcutters off Comcast On-Demand over the weekend - funny & engaging...the Shea Whigham fella does a pitch-perfect Gogol Bordello impersonation the whole way through - reminded me of a Russian 'Begbie' from Trainspotting, nervous moustach & all. Enjoyable moments of Douglas Adams sci-fi fancy & Terry Gilliam'esque whimsy (the fabric of the universe is broken under the car seat - don't drop your shades). I now know who Shannyn Sossamon is - yowza. Oh, and Tom Waits makes a cameo as an undercover angel spy - bonus.





Has he ever not been exceptional?

Mission Impossible III

While the movie was underwhelming... I liked Hoffman!

I've not seen Mission Impossible III...or II or I, for that matter.

but was he "exceptional" in MI III? No.


you've missed a lot of explosions

great, artful picture...i love that the victim is implied and not thrown in our faces.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1910507

Twister

Touche.

who's the victim in this movie?

it's really not clear at all. which makes it great. you could watch this movie and think it's focus is completely different than what I saw from it. that's what is so great.

The Seventh Continent ...my first Michael Haneke film ...I'm anticipating the alleged shock ending. (I've only gotten about 30 minutes in...) So far I'm intrigued about how he gives you the barest minimal details to tell you the story.

Was home sick from work yesterday... watched these two;



City of Ember

A good little film, but I kinda felt as though I wanted more. Tim Robbins is wasted (he did better with similar screen time in War of the Worlds)You never fully get to know whether the Bill Murray character is evil, or just greedy... whether he'd use the box for good, or whether he'd keep it hidden so he could stay in power. Having said that, Martin Landau plays 'crotchety old man' better than most and the two child leads (no idea what their names are) are quite good, especially the girl.

A decent way to pass the day.



Doomsday

Not sure what to make of this. I think it's a good film, but so much of it is 'pick the influence'. You get equal doses of 28 Days Later, Aliens, Mad Max 2, Mad Max 3 and others that it's a little distracting. Still... Rhona Mitra is hot and she does well using her monotone to effect. Bob Hoskins is always cool, so that's a plus.

Neil Marshall's 3/3 with me, although I think this is the lesser of the three. I think I'd go The Descent, Dog Soldiers and then Doomsday.