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FitzChivalry said:
:up: Good movie. I heard that it was originally billed as a comedy, but given that it's Scorsese, it's very dark, nerve-wracking, extremely tense and nothing at all like "comedy" in the mainstream sense.
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And Tim Burton was going to direct, crazy enough.

I absolutely loved it. The camera work was stellar, how it glided around most of the film and really heightened the sense of paranoia. It truly was a surreal nightmare put to film and a joy to watch... especially late at night.

Here's my updated Scorsese rankings:

1. Raging Bull *****
2. GoodFellas *****
3. Mean Streets ****1/2
4. Taxi Driver ****1/2
5. Gangs of New York ****1/2
6. The Last Temptation of Christ ****1/2
7. After Hours ****1/2
8. The Departed ****1/2
9. The Aviator ****1/2
10. The Age of Innocence ****
11. Casino ***1/2
12. Cape Fear ***1/2
13. The Color of Money ***

Up next: Bringing Out the Dead, The King of Comedy, Kundun
 
I love After Hours. It's so uncomfortably funny, almost painful to watch. Would you believe Marty actually won Best Director at Cannes for this film? And this took Picture and Director at one of the very early Independent Spirit Awards.

"Horst!! Kiki!! I didn't know!!"

And this exchange is priceless:

Marcy: My husband was a movie freak. Actually, he was particularly obsessed with one movie, "The Wizard of Oz." He talked about it constantly. I thought it was cute at first. On our wedding night, I was a virgin. When we made love - you've seen the movie, haven't you?

Paul Hackett: "The Wizard of Oz"? Yeah.

Marcy: Well, whenever he - you know, when he came...

Paul Hackett: Yeah.

Marcy: ...he would scream out, "Surrender Dorothy!" That's all! Just "Surrender Dorothy!"

Paul Hackett: Wow.

Marcy: Instead of saying something normal like, "Oh, God," or something normal like that. I mean, it was pretty creepy! And I told him I thought so, but he just, he just couldn't stop, he just, he just couldn't stop, he just... couldn't stop.
 
lazarus said:
I love After Hours. It's so uncomfortably funny, almost painful to watch. Would you believe Marty actually won Best Director at Cannes for this film? And this took Picture and Director at one of the very early Independent Spirit Awards.

"Horst!! Kiki!! I didn't know!!"

And this exchange is priceless:

Marcy: My husband was a movie freak. Actually, he was particularly obsessed with one movie, "The Wizard of Oz." He talked about it constantly. I thought it was cute at first. On our wedding night, I was a virgin. When we made love - you've seen the movie, haven't you?

Paul Hackett: "The Wizard of Oz"? Yeah.

Marcy: Well, whenever he - you know, when he came...

Paul Hackett: Yeah.

Marcy: ...he would scream out, "Surrender Dorothy!" That's all! Just "Surrender Dorothy!"

Paul Hackett: Wow.

Marcy: Instead of saying something normal like, "Oh, God," or something normal like that. I mean, it was pretty creepy! And I told him I thought so, but he just, he just couldn't stop, he just, he just couldn't stop, he just... couldn't stop.
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Her sudden serious turn at the end of it made it all the more uncomfortable. I was surprised at how many monologues Paul got toward the end of the film. My favorite part had to be the running storyline about the paper-machet sculptures and how he makes the Munch/"Scream" connection, only to be covered in it by the end of the film.

The Kiki / Horst line cracked me up, but seeing that it was Will Patton dressed in bondage gear without his usual drawl really killed me at 3 in the morning... Remember the Titans just got a little bit funnier.

I knew about the Cannes award, but not the Independent Spirit Awards one... that's great to hear.
 
Rosanna Arquette was just amazing in the film, as was Teri Garr.

Dunne is the quintessential awkward guy trying to be cool. I can't imagine anyone else doing that role.

Thanks, you just made me order The Martin Scorsese collection DVD set, which has this, GoodFellas (already own it), Mean Streets Special Edition, Who's That Knocking At My Door?, and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. $26, and I'll sell the GoodFellas for a few bucks. Not bad.
 
lazarus said:
Rosanna Arquette was just amazing in the film, as was Teri Garr.

Dunne is the quintessential awkward guy trying to be cool. I can't imagine anyone else doing that role.

Thanks, you just made me order The Martin Scorsese collection DVD set, which has this, GoodFellas (already own it), Mean Streets Special Edition, Who's That Knocking At My Door?, and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. $26, and I'll sell the GoodFellas for a few bucks. Not bad.
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Indeed.

Yeah, I could totally relate to Dunne throughout the whole movie, although I probably would've left Marcy's house a hell of a lot sooner than he did.

Oh, don't mention it. I only own GoodFellas and The Departed... there isn't a really great Woody Allen-level box set to get, otherwise I would've pulled the trigger on that ages ago.
 
I watched a movie last night. Cori was right about one thing. And now the gif she posted a few pages back makes so much sense :)

"Listen, you'll have to excuse me. I have a lunch meeting with Cliff Huxtable at the Four Seasons in 20 minutes"


"I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane"

"TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW YOU FUCKING STUPID BASTARD! YOU, FUCKING BASTARD"
 
Lila64 said:
Cori was right about one thing.
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Oh, you have to tell me which thing I was right about!

Was it the lulz?

jkjcw5-1.gif


Or the disturbing yet drool-worthy nakedness of Christian Bale?

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It's very cute as he chases the hooker with the chain saw. Good times.

;)

And it's hip to be square!
 
In other news, I just watched Laurel Canyon.

It was ....... all right. I like Frances McDormand - I wish she were in more flicks.
 
Wall-E

To me this feels like the film that Pixar has been building up to throughout their lifetime. Just take a look at the shorts they've produced over the years, from the pre-Toy Story ones right through to those they attach before all of their features. The majority of them feature no dialogue and focus on expression and body language to carry the story. Cases in point being those that don't involve 'living' characters, such as Luxo Jr. and one involving the sole unicycle in a bicycle store whose name escapes me.

Wall-E continues this ambition by having the whole of the first act feature very little dialogue and what dialogue there is merely fills in some exposition background and is filmed as live action. Wall-E himself is a remarkable creation and his character animation is sublime; every facet of human expression is worked into his mechanical body and some of it is really quite complex. The scene when he returns home after a hard days work is brilliant for this. He wearily yet carefully takes off his dirty shoes before going inside, lovingly adds his new possessions to his collection and in what might be the stand out moment for me longs for a partner as he watches an old Hollywood musical. His expression as he clasps his hands together to mimic the couple onscreen and gazes up at them is beautiful.

Things get even better once Eve arrives and his initial fear and shyness slowly gives way to awe and his awkward attempts to woo her. Eve herself is well realised and her aesthetic embodies the sleek efficiency of our current and progressing technology. The animators have less to work with when expressing her emotions, but through her eyes, tone of voice and the way she carries herself they manage it. I'm tempted to think that the viewer projects a fair bit onto her blank body, but that's a credit to the direction as it never feels manipulative or too heavy handed in these early scenes.

When Wall-E does manage to catch her attention the film becomes so sweet. His eagerness in sharing all of his favourite treasures with her is a joy to watch and raises a few laughs, but it's what happens after their initial night together that I really loved. It brings back memories of all the best romances IMO, such as Before Sunrise / Sunset, Brief Encounter and Manhatten. I love a good romance when it's done right without ever feeling fake and forced, but when it just lets the characters get to know each other in their own time.

Such ambition in a kids summer movie is to be applauded and it's a shame when the second act kicks in and the film gets busier with that blasted plot. It by no means ruins the film, but whenever Wall-E and Eve are offscreen it never engages. There is still much fun to be had in the little touches that are never in short supply (my favourite being the fire extinguisher in space) but the plot and it's handling is frankly uninspired. It does however allow for some interesting social commentary that doesn't normally get raised in kids films (fuck off Ferngally) and even though it's far from subtle it does at least offer some ambiguity in the filmmakers' intentions and a number of 2001 references.

So overall this film isn't the perfect creation that it could have been had Pixar not felt an obligation to their younger audience and shareholders, but the pros os the film far outweight the cons to make it one of my favourites of the year. So far my top two are No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood (both 2008 releases here in the UK) but if I can only count 2008 productions then this is #1. It's been on my mind constantly since yesterday and if it's still out in a few weeks I'll be seeing it again, something I rarely do at the cinema.

BTW, where's the previous film review thread? I wanted to reread some of you guys' opinions but can't seem to find it.
 
Ace. I think it's great how this year we've been given two big summer films that have both shown a level of ambition and vision and broken out of their respective genres / styles. The Dark Knight has shown us what can be possible with a superhero film and Wall-E had the guts to, at least initially, dispense with the standard animated kids film conventions (although Studio Ghibli have already been doing that for decades, but still). When you compare last summers' excess of franchise films to this years' output, it's definitely a case of quality over quantity.
 
Reign of Fire

Thanks, TNT, for putting this on TV on a Sunday morning and opening a slot in my Netflix queue. I didn't know anything about the movie other than that McConaughey is in it, and it's pretty cheesetastic. I did not know it was about dragons, so I was already full of lulz as it started.

Christian Bale, what are you doing in this movie?

Oh hi, Gerard Butler. You're very pretty too, but I am not as baffled by your participation in this silly movie.
 
Last night I saw Elizabethtown (Orlando Bloom :drool: ) and Mad Money. Neither were anything worth really getting up on a soapbox telling others to see them. They were OK.
 
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