Review the last movie you viewed (NO LISTS) III

[corianderstem]

Lobbest the holy hand grenade at thy foe.

 

[lazarus]

Its supposed to bait YOU into feeling more guilty than you already do.

Sinner.

You should feel guilty for not complimenting me on my Lance's Mom joke in the Random Movie Talk thread.

I need to know how well I'm doing in my pursuit of your Crucifix-Masturbation excellence.

See how I brought that back to Jesus.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I just saw "Control." I must be the only Joy Division/New Order fan here since there was not one other person in the theatre except me, lol, and though the film has been around all fall, it only just opened here.

Anyway, I thought it was really great. Beautifully filmed, and Sam Riley was fantastic, I thought. At first I had trouble with Samantha Morton playing a teenager but then I looked up the real Deborah Curtis and could certainly understand the casting choice. Riley just looks a lot younger than he is and pulled it off well.

I really didn't know much about Curtis' personal life but the film really took me back to that period and I found it really moving. I think I would like it even if I didn't know the band or the music. Great soundtrack, too, of course. I scrolled back some pages and couldn't find anyone else's review but I'd love to hear what others think.

 

[deep]

I just saw "Control."

I liked it alot, too.

I don't think anyone knew that much about Curtis
especially in the U S.

anyways, in the last couple of months
I saw this, that Dylan mess of a film and the Joe Strummer film

of the three, this is by far the best one

I have seen some performers that had a similar stage presence / persona depicted by the actor in this film

and I can say that type of intensity
always makes for one hell of a live show

 

[joyfulgirl]

anyways, in the last couple of months
I saw this, that Dylan mess of a film and the Joe Strummer film

I think the Joe Strummer movie is airing on Sundance now--I have to make sure I DVR it. Tomorrow I'm going to try to see that Kurt Cobain movie About a Son.

I was fascinated seeing the shy, quiet, humble Ian Curtis off stage and then his intensity onstage, and seeing him going to his day job even after he'd become well-known. Reminded me of an interview I saw with Bjork where she said she'd go on world tours and then go back home to Iceland and return to her job in a little store.

 

[deep]

I was fascinated seeing the shy, quiet, humble Ian Curtis off stage and then his intensity onstage, and seeing him going to his day job even after he'd become well-known.

yeah
there is that point - where the music, the art is big
but the money is not

i think it has been a long time since Bjork has put in any time at the little store

being a big strummer fan

the film demystified him a bit for me
i think he hit his sweet spot early, then moved on

I credit Mick Jones for much of the Clash success

 

[anitram]

Once. 9/10.

Fabulous!

It took me a little while to get used to the documentary style of it - generally I'm not a big fan of this type of filming because it leaves me disoriented and I find that I have a hard time paying attention (then again I have attention span issues).

Fantastic soundtrack and really a lovely story. For me, Glen Hansard stole the film. His eyes are so expressive and there is just a very special warmth about him that translates very well on screen. Even though it was obviously a love story between the main characters (aptly Guy and Girl), I found that one of my favourite sequences was the old video he watched of his ex-girlfriend while he was composing a song. There was something very touching about the plainness of her.

The best thing to happen to this movie is that it wasn't a Hollywood film, or we certainly would have been robbed of one of the loveliest endings to a movie that I've seen in a long while. Just beautiful, in every way.

 

[Dalton]

I R Legend.

Pretty good. I thought its subtle commentary on the destruction of Israel was brilliant.

I give it an 8.4

 

[LemonMelon]

Cinderella Man - 7.5/10

Not a bad flick at all. Unfortunately, it was far too formulaic for garner any praise from me (beyond that of the halfhearted variety). The acting was good, the main character was likable, and the final fight was well done. Other than that, blah.

 

[Dalton]

Once. 9/10.

Fabulous!

It took me a little while to get used to the documentary style of it - generally I'm not a big fan of this type of filming because it leaves me disoriented and I find that I have a hard time paying attention (then again I have attention span issues).

Fantastic soundtrack and really a lovely story. For me, Glen Hansard stole the film. His eyes are so expressive and there is just a very special warmth about him that translates very well on screen. Even though it was obviously a love story between the main characters (aptly Guy and Girl), I found that one of my favourite sequences was the old video he watched of his ex-girlfriend while he was composing a song. There was something very touching about the plainness of her.

The best thing to happen to this movie is that it wasn't a Hollywood film, or we certainly would have been robbed of one of the loveliest endings to a movie that I've seen in a long while. Just beautiful, in every way.

My wife and I watched this movie tonight on your recommendation and we LOVED it!

13 out of 10. I rarely buy movies, but I'll buy this one. Simple but very elegant.

 

[anitram]

The Kingdom. 4/10.

What a stupid movie. The worst part was the last scene, the "what did you whisper in ___'s ear?" one. I think they were trying to be deep but it came across as so naive and stupid that it made an already mediocre film just plain bad.

 

[anitram]

My wife and I watched this movie tonight on your recommendation and we LOVED it!

13 out of 10. I rarely buy movies, but I'll buy this one. Simple but very elegant.

I'm so glad you liked it! I wish I'd seen it in the theatre.

 

[lazarus]

Sweeney Todd (dir. Tim Burton)

I've been a vocal critic of Burton for a long time, feeling that his films are often triumphs of design more than anything deeper or very human. Aside from Batman Returns, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and Ed Wood, I haven't been very impressed with the overall results.

Having not seen the Steven Sondheim musical on which this is based, I can't really say how successful the adaptation is, but I was involved and delighted throughought the entire film. Sondheim's score is really grand and sweeping and just gives the whole work a power that someone like (frequent Burton collaborator) Danny Elfman really isn't capable of. There are only a couple standout melodies, but like many "opera" type musicals this isn't so much about songs as it is dialogue sung over various pieces of music (as opposed to something like Grease or Chicago where every musical number is a clearly separated set piece). Depp isn't a very strong singer, but he delivers with conviction, and the same goes for Helena Bonham Carter and villain Alan Rickman. The three younger co-stars have much greater vocal prowess and overcome their slight characterizations. Depp seems cast perfectly but doesn't do anything I really haven't seen before, and you imagine Hugh Jackman would have made a very good stab at the character as he has much more stage and singing experience.

The film of course is beautifully designed, decorated, costumed, and photographed. Burton seems a perfect match for the monochromatic pallor of this shadier section of London, and many of his images feature great compositions that still awe even after seeing similar settings portrayed in From Hell, Oliver Twist, etc.

The ending was good but a bit abrupt, and the two young lovers in the film seem abandoned by the screenplay. Not as strong a conclusion as had been set up.

 

[anitram]

Eastern Promises, 9/10.

I loved it. I've always liked Cronenberg's work so I wasn't really surprised. However, I hated A History of Violence so I had a few concerns going in.

Unlike a lot of women, I think Viggo is actually rather unattractive (nice body, though!). So the bathhouse scene wasn't the main reason I watched it. He was definitely a convincing Russian mobster, although I have to say I loved Armin Mueller-Stahl the best. He didn't really pull off being Russian so well (accent wasn't right and he just looks so German. But, he's an impeccable actor and few actors have such piercing, and yet expressive eyes. His eerie calmness and even warmth towards Anna, at least when they first met, was chilling.

Very good movie.

 

[waynetravis]

Wild Hogs:

Good comedy, had some funny moments. Some scenes where somewhat predictable
As a Tim Allen fan I was expecting more from him. I think the funniest part was John Travolta crying like a girl.

7/10

Die Hard 4

...I dunno what to say, a normal guy would've been killed in the first 15mins.
Outlandish scenes.
Good action flick for a night in though...

8/10

 

[RedRocksU2]

300

8/10

Well, I finally opened the dvd case and watched this movie a couple of days ago.
I liked it very much! The action scenes were superb and the way it was shot, terrific.

 

[elevation2u]

Eastern Promises
4/10

Probably the most disappointing and boring film I have seen in a while (and I sat through all of Margot at the Wedding). The movie was so mediocre, uncreative, predictable and somehow managed to cast two good leading actors and still have them show no skill or potential. How this managed to get such highly praised reviews is the real mystery of this film.

Superbad
7/10

I'm never a fan of teen comedies especially those designed for 15 year old horny teenage boys. I tried liking the 40 Year OLd Virgin after hearing plenty of praise for it and a because of the cast, but it never happened. Knocked Up was a step above that, it had its moments, and rendered a few laughs from me. Superbad, full of comic cliches, actually was entertaining and hilarious for some god-awful reason and there was no alcohol involved when watching this. I would definitely watch this again and I fully know I would be laughing just as hard if not harder.

 

[LMP]

God, Margot at the Wedding looks like shit. I despise Noah Baumbach, even though he was involved with writing The Life Aquatic.

 

[elevation2u]

I love Life Aquatic and did enjoy THe Squid & THe Whale, but nothing , nothing could have prepared me for the most pretentious, uneventful, no-need-to-have-been-made movie that Margot at the Wedding was, I lost 2 hours of my life I will never get back.

 

[LMP]

I hated The Squid in the Whale, but I really thought I would enjoy it.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a waste of 2 hours for me. Maybe I'll like it after reading the book then revisiting it, but for now, big pile of nice-looking meh.

 

[anitram]

Eastern Promises
4/10

Probably the most disappointing and boring film I have seen in a while (and I sat through all of Margot at the Wedding). The movie was so mediocre, uncreative, predictable and somehow managed to cast two good leading actors and still have them show no skill or potential. How this managed to get such highly praised reviews is the real mystery of this film.

A Cronenberg hater!!

I really thought it was quite excellent.

 

[elevation2u]

I hated The Squid in the Whale, but I really thought I would enjoy it.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a waste of 2 hours for me. Maybe I'll like it after reading the book then revisiting it, but for now, big pile of nice-looking meh.

Luckily I read the book before ever watching the movie, and how books made into movies go, they're never as good, never as poignant. Also I had read essays, books, and articles written by HST and had watched many interviews and clips on him. So I was completely aware of this as I sat down to watch the film, and it wasn't a bad interpretation. Was it better than the book? Of course not. But Depp really channeled HST spot on, it's a solid performance, I guess it helped that he lived in his basement and spent plenty of time with him. Bill Murray in ''Where the Buffalo Roams'' delivers a quirky and fairly good performance, I suppose if the movie overall had been better I would have enjoyed Murray's take on it much more.

Anywho, on the Squid+Whale..I didn't think I would like it much but I truly enjoyed it. It was uncomfortable at times, funny, honest, and depressing at others. Acting was good, the characters at times seemed underdeveloped but then would shine brightly on certain scenes. That being said, I figured that Margot wouldn't be as good but I wasn't expected to sit through something as utterly unamusing, annoying, boring and plain lame as it was. I can't think of a single good thing about it.

 

[elevation2u]

A Cronenberg hater!!

I really thought it was quite excellent.

What did you find excellent about it?
I'm curious

 

[anitram]

Well, first I totally disagree with you that the actors didn't do a good job. They portrayed the Russian mob quite well, and I thought Viggo was very, very believable. Just the manner of conversation, the body language, etc, it came across as very Eastern European to me, and I appreciated that (although as I said I didn't buy Armin Mueller-Stahl as anything but a German). The simplicity of the explanation of what happened to the uncle, and the throwaway "He's old school, he knows how it is - you are exiled or you are dead" or whatever it was is a perfect summation of how far away Anna was removed as a 2nd gen immigrant from the cold realities of the Russian underground.

I liked the bathhouse scene as a good example of when nudity isn't gratuitous (it was almost necessary in this instance). I liked the naivete of the 2nd generation immigrant, and I really liked how they used London as a backdrop to tell the story, particularly the London that North Americans don't really envision.

Just a few things. I can see why it wouldn't be a movie for everyone, but a 4/10 seems quite unnecessarily harsh. That's the beauty of movies, though, to each his own.

 

[lazarus]

YOUTH
WITHOUT
YOUTH

(dir. The Maestro, Francis Ford Coppola)

I really don't understand the lukewarm critical reception to this film. When David Lynch puts a camera to his masturbatory fantasies, he's fawned over like a genius. And while I also thought Mulholland Dr., I don't understand how one can support that film and call Youth Without Youth pretentious, baffling, impenetrable, etc.

Plot-wise it's a very hard film to describe. Essentially it's about a 70 year-old linguistics professor who is struck by lightning and after recovering finds he has been transformed physically back to half his age. In addition, he gradually discovers mental powers including an ability to learn new languages almost instantly. Throw into the mix a subplot about the Nazis trying to capture him for their own use, and a chance meeting with a doppelganger of a former love, and you have a film that is some kind of intimate epic. It bounces from country to country and covers a period of 40 years, but there's no big scenes of travelling or crowds, set pieces, or other things that you'd associate with such an ambitious project.

What Coppola is more interested in that this represents a metaphor for his own life: a director in his older age who has lot his creative nerve, and seizes upon a chance rebirth. It's true that this film seems more like something a film school student would produce, someone in love with the idea of making movies and willing to try anything, go down any rabbit hole. This film raises a lot more questions than it answers, but the benefit is that it allows you to ruminate on your own mortality, the unfulfilled dreams you may have, the regrets of things done or not done. And in that sense this film is very much a cousin of the work done by Wong Kar-Wai.

On the technical side Coppola is as gifted as he was in his prime, the number of breathtaking images too high to count. Supposedly the camera does not move in any of the shots in the film, but you'd never know it because of their quality. The whole film was shot in Romania (doubling at times for Switzerland, Italy, and India) with a local crew and it has a decidedly European flavor to it throughout. Tim Roth deserves credit for going along on this ride and making the character as believable as possible.

Well worth the 10 year wait, and I'll be even more excited about his next project. One of cinema's greatest talents is back.

 

[No spoken words]

YOUTH
WITHOUT
YOUTH

(dir. The Maestro, Francis Ford Coppola)

I really don't understand the lukewarm critical reception to this film. When David Lynch puts a camera to his masturbatory fantasies, he's fawned over like a genius. And while I also thought Mulholland Dr., I don't understand how one can support that film and call Youth Without Youth pretentious, baffling, impenetrable, etc.

Plot-wise it's a very hard film to describe. Essentially it's about a 70 year-old linguistics professor who is struck by lightning and after recovering finds he has been transformed physically back to half his age. In addition, he gradually discovers mental powers including an ability to learn new languages almost instantly. Throw into the mix a subplot about the Nazis trying to capture him for their own use, and a chance meeting with a doppelganger of a former love, and you have a film that is some kind of intimate epic. It bounces from country to country and covers a period of 40 years, but there's no big scenes of travelling or crowds, set pieces, or other things that you'd associate with such an ambitious project.

What Coppola is more interested in that this represents a metaphor for his own life: a director in his older age who has lot his creative nerve, and seizes upon a chance rebirth. It's true that this film seems more like something a film school student would produce, someone in love with the idea of making movies and willing to try anything, go down any rabbit hole. This film raises a lot more questions than it answers, but the benefit is that it allows you to ruminate on your own mortality, the unfulfilled dreams you may have, the regrets of things done or not done. And in that sense this film is very much a cousin of the work done by Wong Kar-Wai.

On the technical side Coppola is as gifted as he was in his prime, the number of breathtaking images too high to count. Supposedly the camera does not move in any of the shots in the film, but you'd never know it because of their quality. The whole film was shot in Romania (doubling at times for Switzerland, Italy, and India) with a local crew and it has a decidedly European flavor to it throughout. Tim Roth deserves credit for going along on this ride and making the character as believable as possible.

Well worth the 10 year wait, and I'll be even more excited about his next project. One of cinema's greatest talents is back.

I'm seeing this and Diving Bell and the Butterfly tomorrow. Glad you liked the film, Laz.

 

[Lancemc]

Glad to hear you enjoyed YWY, laz, though I figured you would. Hopefully I will as well, unfortunately I won't get to see it now until it goes wide, and even then probably not until I'm back in D.C., so probably in the third week of January some time.

BUT, last night I purchased my tickets for There Will Be Blood this Wednesday.

 

[impy13]

Walk Hard


Anyone else seen this yet? I went in with pretty low expectations, but I wound up really enjoying it. John C. Reilly was fantastic, as he has been in everything I've ever seen him in not titled Talladega Nights, and the rest of the cast was great too. Tim Meadows, in particular, had some great lines. It was nice to see him actually be funny again.

There are a few jokes that aren't any good at all, but it was consistent enough to be enjoyable throughout. If you're a Dylanphile like myself, you'll particularly enjoy a certain sequence. The Beatles portion was really good too.

Anyhow, I liked it. I'd see it again.

 

[corianderstem]

BUT, last night I purchased my tickets for There Will Be Blood this Wednesday.

Heh ... I hadn't seen you posting in a while and figured you were in a catatonic state, being so excited for TWBB.

One of the Entertainment Weekly film critics had TWBB as her top pick of the year. I may go see it as well.

 

[LMP]

Walk Hard


Anyone else seen this yet? I went in with pretty low expectations, but I wound up really enjoying it. John C. Reilly was fantastic, as he has been in everything I've ever seen him in not titled Talladega Nights, and the rest of the cast was great too. Tim Meadows, in particular, had some great lines. It was nice to see him actually be funny again.

There are a few jokes that aren't any good at all, but it was consistent enough to be enjoyable throughout. If you're a Dylanphile like myself, you'll particularly enjoy a certain sequence. The Beatles portion was really good too.

Anyhow, I liked it. I'd see it again.

I'd like to see that, too, but no one over 17 wants to see it with me. Shit is ridic.