Review the last movie you viewed (NO LISTS) II

[Saracene]

Hairspray - 7.5

I'm not a huge musical fan and I haven't expected much from this movie at all, but I found myself enjoying it enormously. The cast was fantastic and everyone ripped into their roles with enthusiasm; and it's -so- nice to see Michelle Pfeiffer back on the big screen again. I wasn't sure at first about John Travolta as a woman, but he grew on me as the movie progressed and his duet with Christopher Walken was gold.

 

[got_edge]

Once - 8.5/10


It was near perfect.

 

[Lancemc]

Well, tonight I pulled my first triple-feature. My ass is soar beyond belief, but all three films I saw were spectacular, and I should have full reviews with 24 hours.

I saw, in this order:

The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford
Lust, Caution
The Darjeeling Limited (of which the theater was distributing free posters! I grabbed 2 of them )

 

[WinnieThePoo]

death proof - watched it again , completely changed my mind about the movie , very good , wish they would switch girls who die though

glen , glendarry , ross or something like that - what a gem , with al pacino , jack lemon , ed harris , best role for alec baldwin in years and kevin spacey looks the same for 15+ years

 

[lazarus]

Well, tonight I pulled my first triple-feature. My ass is soar beyond belief, but all three films I saw were spectacular, and I should have full reviews with 24 hours.

I saw, in this order:

The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford
Lust, Caution
The Darjeeling Limited (of which the theater was distributing free posters! I grabbed 2 of them )

I hate you.

 

[LMP]

Well, tonight I pulled my first triple-feature. My ass is soar beyond belief, but all three films I saw were spectacular, and I should have full reviews with 24 hours.

I saw, in this order:

The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford
Lust, Caution
The Darjeeling Limited (of which the theater was distributing free posters! I grabbed 2 of them )

Which was your favorite of the bunch?

 

[Lancemc]

Which was your favorite of the bunch?

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was easily my favorite. Also the best film of the year thus far, just edging out Eastern Promises personally. The other two were both excellent though.

Like I said, I should have full reviews up here some time today. Right now I'm waiting to go eat some pancakes, so it will be a while. Don't want to spoil the scores yet.

 

[anitram]

How was Brad Pitt in that one? I want to see it eventually.

I finally saw Knocked Up the other day. 8/10. Entertaining, although I still have no idea why those two people ended up together. But there were some really funny parts, and overall, for a fun evening, not a bad choice.

 

[Lancemc]

How was Brad Pitt in that one? I want to see it eventually.

I honestly think it was the best thing Brad's ever done. I see him getting an Oscar nom for this one. He won the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival for it, and I completely understand why.

I lot of critics are talking about how Casey Affleck dominates this film, and this is definitely going to be a killer film for him (though Gone Baby Gone might be moreso), but Brad's performance is probably the best in the film. Sam Rockwell also kicks some major acting-ass.

 

[Lila64]

glen , glendarry , ross or something like that - what a gem , with al pacino , jack lemon , ed harris , best role for alec baldwin in years and kevin spacey looks the same for 15+ years

Glengarry Glen Ross - that was a very good film

 

[LMP]

I've yet to see Glengarry in its entirety, but some of the monologues I've seen on YouTube are amazing.

Pacino's rant after Spacey ruins one of his sales is one of my all-time favorites.

 

[Irishteen]

I went to the cinema today and saw 2 movies withg friends, seeing as I can't make a list I can't say how brilliant Control was but I can say that Mr Woodcock is the worst film I've seen in a really long time, 2/10 only because it was short...and I still walked out. The jokes weren't funny, it was just stupid and awful and I can't believe I wasted an hour of my life watching it...

 

[Lila64]

I've yet to see Glengarry in its entirety, but some of the monologues I've seen on YouTube are amazing.

Pacino's rant after Spacey ruins one of his sales is one of my all-time favorites.

You should see it.

Will you go to lunch? Go to lunch. WILL you GO to LUNCH?

 

[lazarus]

"You are a shithead, Williamson."

"The great fucks that you may have had. What do you remember about them? For me, I’m saying, what it is, it’s probably not the orgasm. Some broad's forearm on your neck, something her eyes did. There was a sound she made ... or, me, lying in bed--she brings me a cafe au lait and a cigarette, my balls feel like concrete."

Mamet=genius.

Every other film's cast=pwned by Glengarry Glen Ross.

 

[LMP]

It's on the Epic-Ass NetFlix list, for sure.

Right now I'm knocking down horror classics (Nosferatu, Dracula, Wolf Man, Frankenstein) on NetFlix and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Requiem for a Dream on iPod.

 

[Lila64]

can't wait to see what you think about Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

 

[lazarus]

It's on the Epic-Ass NetFlix list, for sure.

Right now I'm knocking down horror classics (Nosferatu, Dracula, Wolf Man, Frankenstein) on NetFlix and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Requiem for a Dream on iPod.

What happened to the Scorsese-thon?

 

[LMP]

I want to devote a whole week to it, but I don't have a lot of free time for a few weeks, so it's on hold.

Here's a batch of reviews:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - ****

What can I say? It's an excellent film. If you've seen it, you know why, if you haven't, then you need to fucking see it. As expecting, Jack delivers a phenomenal performance as the anti-hero, bringing chaos and life to Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched's hospital ward. The supporting cast is all excellent, namely The Chief and Billy. It's in the Top 30 already, that's how fucking good it is.

Nosferatu - **1/2

I hadn't seen a silent film before, and seeing as though it's Halloween season, this seemed like a perfect choice. Everything about Schreck's portrayal of Count Orlok is chilling, just on the ball amazing, as are the visuals (awesomely stunning for a film made 85 years ago). The only problem was that I wasn't expecting every other actor to be super hammy and overreacting. Sure they couldn't be heard, but it threw off the whole dynamic of the film for me; you could've stuck David Caruso in there and he could've had a more realistic performance.

Shadow of the Vampire - **1/2

This was a companion piece to Nosferatu, because it's a fictional take on the making of the movie and I'm a huge fan of Willem Dafoe. Like Nosferatu, the Count Orlok character didn't disappoint at all, it was the overall story that was a let down. Too much focus was placed on Malkovich's Murnau that it took importance away from the true character of the film for me, the tragic Max Schreck/Orlok. It did make me appreciate Nosferatu a little more though, so that's good.

Apocalypto - ***

I was expecting a super-violent, pointless view of the fall of the Mayan culture by the White Man, and instead it was a somewhat gripping story of one man amidst all of the insanity of the decadence of his own culture. Some of the themes/foreshadowing are laid on a little thick, the prophecy for example, but the relationships between the characters are well developed and interesting, which serve as the backbone of the film. Plus, it doesn't hurt that guys gets pwned in the face by a jaguar, a beehive, and frog poison, even John McClane couldn't cause that much shit in the Amazon.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I'm actually going to watch Fear & Loathing either tomorrow night or Monday. I just got a new Hunter S. Thompson documentary from Netflix, so I'm going to watch that first, then Fear & Loathing. I loved the book, so I'm interested to finally see the adaptation.

 

[LMP]

Is Where the Buffalo Roam any good?

It's got Bill Murray as Hunter S., Peter Boyle, and muthafuckin' Odo in it, that looks promising.

 

[Lancemc]

Well, I watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang again last night, and it's still one of the most relentlessly entertaining films I've ever seen, and I'm willing to stand by that statement to the fullest. It all works for me. The self-aware narration, the performances, the satire, the gags, the vulgarity, the mystery, the action, the comedy, the comedy is fucking golden.

It's not a great film. But rarely have I had so much fun watching one. God damn, I fucking love that movie.

 

[lazarus]

Well, I watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang again last night, and it's still one of the most relentlessly entertaining films I've ever seen, and I'm willing to stand by that statement to the fullest. It all works for me. The self-aware narration, the performances, the satire, the gags, the vulgarity, the mystery, the action, the comedy, the comedy is fucking golden.

It's not a great film. But rarely have I had so much fun watching one. God damn, I fucking love that movie.

I love film noir, love meta, love Raymond Chandler (all the chapter titles are from his stories or novels) and love the actors and writer/director. Agreed on all points except one:

It IS a great film.

 

[Lancemc]

Well, yeah you're right. Maybe I just didn't accent that enough. I think I reviewed it at 8/10. So it is great.

Maybe it's not excellent.

 

[lazarus]

Today I saw the documentary In The Shadow Of The Moon.

This was a pretty enthralling film. It's made up mostly of current interviews with the men who were in the U.S. Apollo space program, begun by President Kennedy in an effort to beat the Russians to the Moon. The rest of it is actual NASA footage from the various missions, a sizeable chunk from July 1969's famous Apollo 11, the first one to actually reach the rock.

The film does a great job of providing a historical and social context for the space program itself, and then specifically the target of the moon, which adds to the weight of everything that's being recollected. These guys are all rather articulate in their own ways, humorous, philosophical, and descriptive without ever getting too technical. Buzz Aldrin, the "second man on the moon", is the kind of guy I could listen to for days on end.

Neil Armstrong, the actual first man to set foot on the moon, is suprisingly absent from the roster of interviewees, or maybe not surprisingly if you consider that he rarely makes public appearances or speaks of his experiences. It's actually kind of cool because it keeps his mythic status intact, as does the reverential way in which the other astronauts speak of him.

There are many cool shots from the various spacecraft, and they have some footage from the moon's surface that has to be seen to be believed. But nothing conjures up the images as well as the astronauts' own words, which are often illuminating and occasionally inspiring. Most of these guys appear to feel very privileged to have represented not just the United States, but humanity at large. With all the criticism the United States has received globally the last few years, it was refreshing to see something that actually made me proud to be an American, not in some kind of "we're the best!" way, but because these men seemed to be part of achieving a vision that America has long promised as an ideal, and that the world as a whole was sharing their journey along with them.

See this in the theatre if you get the chance, it's more thrilling than you'd think. I'd also recommend a viewing of The Right Stuff, which was about the earlier Gemini program, but is a great fictionalized account of the first U.S. astronauts, and one of the best films of the 80's.

 

[Lancemc]

I really want to see In the Shadow of the Moon.

If only because I'm a huge proponent of the space program, and firmly believe it should be one of the most important things the superpower nations budget for.

 

[No spoken words]

I'd also recommend a viewing of The Right Stuff, which was about the earlier Gemini program, but is a great fictionalized account of the first U.S. astronauts, and one of the best films of the 80's.

I rewatched this recently, may have even posted my typical 2 sentence review. I always got a kick out of the fact that there were two people portrayed and two actors named "Shepard" and "Glenn" in the film. That's largely because I'm not too bright. Movie is based on a great book by Tom Wolfe (I'm not comparing the two, just mentioning the book). I agree that The Right Stuff is a great film, and I do look forward to seeing In the Shadow of the Moon, for myraid reasons.

 

[Queen Bee]

Once - 8.5/10


It was near perfect.

lol, I like how a "near perfect" film gets an 8.5 while cheesy family movies get the tenner from you

 

[monkeyskin]

I love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, it perfectly achieves what it sets out to do and had me in stitches all the way through. Noir ftw.


Spellbound
Another Hitchcock, this time from 1945 starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. After a slow start the central mystery reveals itself and there are a few twists and turns on the way to the conclusion. To be honest this isn’t the best Hitchcock film I’ve seen and while Peck and Bergman aren’t bad they are coasting a bit. But it’s by no means a bad film and Hitch still fills the run time with some great scenes and inspired camera angles. However this film does highlight one of the major problems of old films and that my friends is rear projection. Adding a few unintentional laughs to the drunk driving scene in North By North West, here it nearly diverts the viewer away from the tension in the scene it’s used in (on the slopes). Shame, but that’s the way it was back then.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Bleak and unflinching look into the actions of a serial killer, inspired by a real life murderer’s (possibly bogus) confessions. With one of the longest murders viewed on the video the killers made beforehand, the level of emotional detachment is extremely unsettling. It’s not an especially bloody film (think of David Fincher’s Seven and Zodiac for the graphical nature of the violence on display here) but it is a disturbing one. It’s also a bloody great one too, with a top performance by Michael Rooker in the title role and a perfect ending.

The Last Temptation of Christ
Another great film, this poses the question of what Jesus may have been like if he suffered from all of man’s weaknesses and imperfections whilst still being our Messiah. Willem Dafoe is brilliant as Jesus, who we find at the opening of the film making crucifixion crosses for the Romans. He does a great job of conveying what it may have felt like to sacrifice his Earthly desires for the will of God and the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest is heart wrenching.

If…
Now here’s a film that makes me happy I never went to a boarding school back in the day. After establishing life at a 60s private school, the focus rests on Malcolm McDowell and his cohorts attempts to break free from the restrictive system they find themselves in and the discipline consequences they have to face for it. Veering into fantasy towards the end, there are still some serious political undertones to be found here and the key whipping scene lingers in the mind for a long time afterwards. This would be interesting to watch alongside A Clockwork Orange.

Tomorrow: The Long Kiss Goodnight, Empire of the Sun and London to Brighton.

 

[got_edge]

lol, I like how a "near perfect" film gets an 8.5 while cheesy family movies get the tenner from you

I have to find my Notting Hill DVD!




Have you seen Once yet??

 

[got_edge]

lol, can you make George Sr. slap Matt in the face? DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!!

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