Movie Reviews (20)14: Modern Times Edition

[bono_212]

I think they tried to get other voices in, making it clear that Jodorowsky was kinda the problem (through some fault of his own, and through some fault of others perceptions of him), but I think his presence in the documentary, his voice, kinda overpowered the 5 other people being interviewed and saying it was, you know, the director, or the length, or the fear that Jodorowsky would be unreliable, etc. So, instead of hearing the myriad reasons, all you really heard was Jodorowsky saying, I had a vision, they couldn't see it.

 

[LemonMelon]

I've been pretty good about documenting the newer films I've been watching, but I've seen a number of really wonderful classic films lately as well that I haven't mentioned. I went a couple of months without watching anything because it wasn't terribly convenient for me at my mother in law's, so I've done a lot of catching up.

Cul-De-Sac (1966)

One of the early classics of Polanski that I had not yet seen, this was somehow more disquieting than Knife in the Water despite being a "comedy." I adored the location and enjoyed the bizarre sexual tension between Donald Pleasance's inexplicably French wife and everyone else. The villain seemed to have stumbled in from a different film entirely. I would rank it pretty low among the Polanski films I've seen, but it is clearly the work of an auteur while remaining entertaining from start to finish.

7/10

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)

This shit was fucking wonderful. The cinematography and Leonard Cohen-driven soundtrack instantly grabbed me in the incredible first scene, but it retained my attention for its entirety thanks to sublime performances from Beatty and Christie. The ending snapped my heart in two. I loved The Player, the first Altman movie I had seen, but this one possibly cemented him as a favorite director of mine, though I have so much more to see.

9/10

Nights of Cabiria (1957)

I've always distantly respected Fellini for 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita, excellent films that never moved me, but this one certainly did. Cabiria is a remarkable character fleshed out by an incredibly believable performance by Fellini's wife. The bummer ending was telegraphed to us by the misery that surrounded it - it was simply too good to be true - but otherwise I found this to be a very captivating story. The hypnotist scene was difficult to watch but was a wonderful deconstruction of the character. And, of course, it looked beautiful.

8.5/10

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

I'm not certain how much I enjoyed this film, the first Cassavetes I've seen, but I respect every moment of it. This is one of the most exhausting films I've ever seen and it only grows more so as it goes along, especially as Peter Falk's character grew as unstable as his wife. The cinematography is so gritty and shaky that it makes you feel like part of the (extremely dysfunctional) family. I can't speak highly enough of Gena Rowlands' performance, which has to be one of the finest I've ever seen. As a psychology major, I've been exposed to a lot of footage of mentally unstable individuals for diagnostic purposes and...yeah...she was spot on. Really inspired work. I can recommend this film as a brilliant and highly influential work, but I don't know that I'll be rushing to see it again any time soon. It took a lot out of me.

8/10

 

[lazarus]

Nice lineup there.

 

[Lancemc]

My favorite Fellini and my... well, there's no choosin a favorite Altman, the mans made like a dozen masterworks.

 

[bono_212]

I just saw Pom Poko... Holy balls.

 

[LemonMelon]

Amen.

 

[bono_212]

 

[LemonMelon]

It was a kamikaze maneuver.

 

[LemonMelon]

Elevator to the Gallows is fucking gorgeous.

 

[Hewson]

The Way Way Back

My interest in this was that it was filmed locally, specifically the beach and house scenes are filmed in my town, on the beach where I spend many summer weekend afternoons. Carell has a house in town and is usually here for a month or so each summer with his family. The water park is not in this town, that was cinematic license, would take the kid a couple hours to bike there.

At any rate, I enjoyed the movie, most notably the cast of characters employed at the water park.

I'd give it about a 7.

 

[purpleoscar]

The Hunt 7.5/10: Well acted and well constructed movie about false accusations of child molestation. Mads does a good job of being stoic and tolerating the abuse from the public. The themes move from child molestation to the damage slander of any kind can create when it spreads to more and more people.

Spoiler

Even if a person is exonerated there will be a camp that will still believe the accusations. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” ~ Churchill. I would recommend seeing the alternate ending. I feel the one they chose is less heavy-handed and sends the same message.

 

[Lancemc]

Under the Skin be like whoaaaa. Glazer really wins me over with this one, love Sexy Beast though I may. He's hard to pin down, morphing in strange ways with each feature. This is one I'll be coming back to time and time again I feel. If nothing else it contains strong candidates for both most terrifying and most sublime images of recent cinema for me.

 

[bono_212]

Watched quite a few films this weekend, here's how it shakes out:

Good Morning, Vietnam: I'm a huge Robin Williams fan and having not seen this movie was a glaring hole, for me, so I finally got around to it as part of my 4th of July weekend viewing. It's a bit of a mess, but I thought Williams did a pretty solid impersonation of himself, right up until the end, when I got to see some of that brilliant acting that he's always good for. The soundtrack was fun, the film reminded me a lot of M*A*S*H, but a bit more serious. Overall, very much enjoyed it: 8/10

Thin Red Line: Along with the above and Team America: World Police this was the third and final film in my 4th of July weekend viewing. It was also the final Malick film for me to watch. It's definitely up there with his best, too. I thought it did a wonderful job of blending what we expect from him today, along with the brilliant story-telling of his early career. It's a nice transitional piece and the acting is, as usual, phenomenal. One of those few movies I really love Sean Penn in, too, so that's always a bonus. 8.5/10

Confessions - Watching a WWII movie got us talking about Japan in WWII and that led to wanting to watch a Samurai film, so we were going to watch Ran. Unfortunately, it's no longer streaming on Netflix, and I didn't want to watch a crap stream, so I'm waiting for the Disc to come from Netflix. In the meanwhile, we selected a film at random from our list of Japanese movies and came up with this. The direction is...basically too stylish, but I think, since he kept it up for the entire run of the film, it worked about as well as it could. The story is fantastic, though. I haven't had a film make my heart beat that hard through its entirety in quite a while. The beginning and the end are the stuff of masterpieces, as well. 8.5/10

Millennium Actress: After being so enthralled by Perfect Blue, I basically expect every film of Kon's to be gold. This was not quite what I was expecting, and it was a little hard to follow, but it was a treat to watch and things began to make sense by the end, so it came together beautifully. I was very much impressed and am anxious to finish his far-too-short filmography. 8/10

Hara-Kiri: This is basically one of the best Japanese films I have ever seen, at least from that particular era. It's similar in feel to Roshomon, but tells quite a different story. The sense of doom that surrounds the charactesr is palpable, and the reveal at the films ending is quite satisfying. Was very pleased and honestly, couldn't find anything to complain about, so it's getting the rare 10/10.

 

[Lancemc]

Pretty sure TTRL is my choice Malick these days.

 

[bono_212]

It's probably The New World, Badlands, TTRL for me.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, TTRL is great but there's more talking/exposition than Malick has when he's at his best. I prefer the simpler plot/character shadings of The New World, which is similar in its use of historical events and multiple narrators.

1. Days Of Heaven
2. The New World
3. The Thin Red Line
4. Tree Of Life
5. To The Wonder
6. Badlands

They're all great.

 

[LemonMelon]

It's Days of Heaven > Badlands > Thin Red Line for me. All very good/great movies. I don't know how to rank the Tree of Life and To the Wonder; I only like the Brad Pitt sections of the former, while the latter feels undercooked all the way through.

I haven't seen The New World but I'm looking forward to it.

 

[bono_212]

Yeah, TTRL is great but there's more talking/exposition than Malick has when he's at his best. I prefer the simpler plot/character shadings of The New World, which is similar in its use of historical events and multiple narrators.

TTRL is definitely the transition, I'd say, into the films that are more narration driven, it's a strong mixture of the two.

 

[Lancemc]

TTRL is certainly his talkiest, but understandably his only adaptation (Badlands is just inspired by true events, yeah?). What I like about it is how it marks the beginning of his fragmented perspective phase, with the more impressionistic imagery it entails, but is also shot more classically, with longer takes and logistic editing, whereas his last three films are almost purely instinctual and stream-of-consciousness in structure. So really TTRL should feel almost wishy-washy in comparison, and I think I used to view it that way, but it's really pretty much a perfect film for me now.

 

[LemonMelon]

Just finished Wings of Desire. Loved the concept, the cinematography, the use of color, Peter Falk, Nick Cave's hair, etc.

But the love interest...does she have an off button? Holy shit. The script is impenetrable enough as it is, but her inner monologues read like a syllabus from Existentialism 101. Wim Wenders probably loves Sartre, but even Nausea features some down to earth scenarios. Nobody thinks about that shit 100% of the time like this girl.

I had this very same problem watching Stalker the other day. Tremendously chilling and thoughtful movie, but the dialogue was so heavy-handed that it came across as corny and unrealistic. Maybe a cultural difference, maybe bad writing. Either way, that was a potential 10/10 I couldn't get into as much as I would have liked. Same thing here.

This is not a problem I generally have with Wenders; Paris, Texas is one of the best films I've ever seen and I'm excited to see more by him.

 

[purpleoscar]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes 7.5/10: Big improvement over the reboot now that the Caesar character can be established. There is some bland acting in parts but the movie actually tries to tell a good story.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

You just sat through a movie and didn't even know its correct title. Your posting history is really sad as it is, and this doesn't help.

 

[purpleoscar]

You just sat through a movie and didn't even know its correct title. Your posting history is really sad as it is, and this doesn't help.

Yes it's "Dawn". But really who cares about typos in a U2 forum?

 

[youarenotimmune]

Just finished Wings of Desire. Loved the concept, the cinematography, the use of color, Peter Falk, Nick Cave's hair, etc.

But the love interest...does she have an off button? Holy shit. The script is impenetrable enough as it is, but her inner monologues read like a syllabus from Existentialism 101. Wim Wenders probably loves Sartre, but even Nausea features some down to earth scenarios. Nobody thinks about that shit 100% of the time like this girl.

I had this very same problem watching Stalker the other day. Tremendously chilling and thoughtful movie, but the dialogue was so heavy-handed that it came across as corny and unrealistic. Maybe a cultural difference, maybe bad writing. Either way, that was a potential 10/10 I couldn't get into as much as I would have liked. Same thing here.

This is not a problem I generally have with Wenders; Paris, Texas is one of the best films I've ever seen and I'm excited to see more by him.

Wings of Desire was such a good movie. Homer the poet's "epic of peace" really affected me when I watched this in my teens.

 

[LemonMelon]

Election is awesome. Alexander Payne is hit or miss for me, but this one is right on the money.

 

[purpleoscar]

Election is awesome. Alexander Payne is hit or miss for me, but this one is right on the money.

I haven't seen it since it came out but I remember it being sharp as a knife and skewering everyone (left wing or right wing). He's definitely one of the better directors and even if I don't like everything he's done I always want to give his next movie a try.

 

[corianderstem]

Greetings From Tim Buckley

Well, that was surprisingly decent. Penn Badgley was way better than he had any right to be. Did a pretty good job mimicking That Voice as well.

 

[purpleoscar]

Tim's Vermeer 6.5/10: Decent documentary of a theory about how Vermeer was able to make photo-realistic paintings earlier than other painters. The theory still has no historical evidence but the logic behind it is interesting. It's nice to see some Vermeer paintings in HD. You also get a look at a rich person's hobby. When you're rich you still need something to do.

 

[purpleoscar]

Blue Ruin 6.5/10: Decent "revenge gone wrong" thriller. It's short, tense and grisly. There isn't too much to it but I like how it ends. The no name actors do a good job despite the material. As good as it was it feels like it will be forgettable by the year end. It's worth a VOD.

 

[purpleoscar]

The Immigrant 7.5/10: Okay this is much better. Joaquin Phoenix has a good performance in this one, especially by the end. Cotillard brings maximum pathos as the immigrant being manipulated into prostitution in order to save her sister from Ellis Island. The cinematography was a standout especially the last shot. I also noticed the score was very good which seems to be rare these days. The script isn't outstanding but it was still a good movie overall.