Review the movie you just viewed (all the way to) 11

[powerhour24]

The films may not seem like the work of a hired gun, but they're still scripts that were brought to him. One could say the same thing about the last three features that Scorsese has worked on, and one of them was also a remake of a foreign hit which was in very familiar territory for the director.

I just feel that both directors have enough clout at this point to initiate their own projects and that's what I'd prefer to see them working on instead of just choosing something that happens to fall onto their desk at the urging of an agent or producer.

Oh, and BTW, I don't know if you saw what Fincher is doing after Dragon Tattoo, but it's an prequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Sigh. Though at least that's something different for the guy.

To be fair, it seems that beyond Seven and Zodiac, he is always a director brought in on a project with a finished script.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea could be pretty interesting, if completely slight. Though should Dragon Tatto be a rousing success, I hope the studio doesn't take the series out of his hands.

 

[lazarus]

Good to see you guys enjoyed it. While I have a hard time objectively calling this better than Mulholland Dr, it's maybe the Lynch film I treasure the most. Things always get a little dusty in the Laz household during that scene where Merrick visits Treves' home, and a few others as well.

A shame that this had to come out the same year as Raging Bull, because John Hurt was certainly Oscar-worthy. As was the cinematography, though I wouldn't argue with the Academy's choice there either (Geoffrey Unsworth for Polanski's Tess).

Anthony Hopkins was also great here, much better than his mannered work in Silence of the Lambs. And Gielgud, and Hiller, and Bancroft...Lynch got very lucky here I think.

 

[lazarus]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea could be pretty interesting, if completely slight. Though should Dragon Tatto be a rousing success, I hope the studio doesn't take the series out of his hands.

There are like four or five writers already listed for 20,000. Not a good sign, even if one of them is Michael Chabon.

 

[powerhour24]

I meant interesting to see what he could do with the genre, not that it was likely to be good. We'll see if he even ends up doing it, I'll have my doubts.

 

[Carek1230]

I saw Kings Speech today. Loved it. Usually I find these historical drama flicks to be sooo long drawn out and boring but this one was none of those. It was under 2 hours, captivating, emotional and well produced in all ways IMO. I can see this film earning many awards, deservingly so.

 

[powerhour24]

See, it looks like it's going to be cliche Oscar bait, but they did a much better job making the film than they did marketing it. Though, it still is Oscar bait.

 

[powerhour24]

The Lady From Shanghai, seriously underrated.

 

[bono_212]

Re: The King's Speech: Is it Oscar-Bait simply because it came out in December? A lot of movies pull that shit every year, to mixed response. As I said in the random thread, I'm probably not going to see it in theaters, but I hope that the story can hold its own, along with the acting, in spite of them clearly trying to go for the gold.

 

[lazarus]

The Lady From Shanghai, seriously underrated.

Yeah. And to think that like Ambersons, we're missing almost an hour that is lost forever.

 

[powerhour24]

But at least we got the fucked up amusement park denouement.

 

[powerhour24]

Re: The King's Speech: Is it Oscar-Bait simply because it came out in December? A lot of movies pull that shit every year, to mixed response. As I said in the random thread, I'm probably not going to see it in theaters, but I hope that the story can hold its own, along with the acting, in spite of them clearly trying to go for the gold.

It does hold its own. I call it Oscar bait because it's a period, costume, Britishy movie, true story, real man overcoming adversity, starring a number of actors acclaimed for films that could be similarly described.

 

[bono_212]

It does hold its own. I call it Oscar bait because it's a period, costume, Britishy movie, true story, real man overcoming adversity, starring a number of actors acclaimed for films that could be similarly described.

Which does indeed = Oscar Bait. But I'm glad to hear that you also think it holds its own.

 

[lazarus]

But at least we got the fucked up amusement park denouement.

Even that sequence was supposed to be way longer. Welles spent a long time designing and constructing all that shit and it was like 30 seconds long.

 

[Saracene]

Field of Dreams

I thought it was corny but moving, though I don't particularly care for either baseball or Kevin Costner. The only bit that still made me go ehhhh despite my soppy mood was "the cute precocious kid adorably comes up with a genius solution that saves the day" moment - that was just too much.

 

[Carek1230]

Re: The King's Speech: Is it Oscar-Bait simply because it came out in December? A lot of movies pull that shit every year, to mixed response. As I said in the random thread, I'm probably not going to see it in theaters, but I hope that the story can hold its own, along with the acting, in spite of them clearly trying to go for the gold.

It's definitely going to hold its own and win or at least grab Oscar nods. The acting is top notch and the story not only well written and acted but true/historic. I felt everything in this film was well done, from the screenplay, acting, costumes, scenery to music. Well done. I didn't know about this film until I caught one of those "The Making of..." or "Behind the scenes" shows on BBC about this project.

 

[Lancemc]

Watching it again this week, it is the editing that is being criminally underrated here, I hope it wins the Oscar for that category.

Probably my favorite aspect of the film behind it's sound and score. As I said earlier, I think it's telling I prefer the film more in the vein of "music video" form and aesthetics. But yes, it's extremely well edited. Fincher is good at montage.

 

[corianderstem]

Songcatcher

Musicologist in early 1900s travels to Appalachia and discovers something awesome about their music. Other plot points follow, as they do.

I completely loved this. Plus, Aidan Quinn is nice to look at.

Apocalypto

Now that I have a gajillion movie channels on cable, I stumble across all sorts of movies I didn't think I really wanted to see, but decided to DVR it anyway.

It held my interest, although I was tempted to start fast-forwarding through the ending, with the endless chase scene through the jungle. I did really like how they ended that chase, though.

No idea how historically accurate any of the Mayan scenes were (or even how much detail is known about that culture). Might need to read up on it, out of curiosity.

 

[powerhour24]

That movie would have been infinitely better had it not been shot digitally, and not have slow panning shots across someone's dramatic eyes make up nearly 50% of its runtime.

 

[bono_212]

Field of Dreams

I thought it was corny but moving, though I don't particularly care for either baseball or Kevin Costner. The only bit that still made me go ehhhh despite my soppy mood was "the cute precocious kid adorably comes up with a genius solution that saves the day" moment - that was just too much.

If I remember correctly, and I may be wrong here, but doesn't the kid not so much as come up with the solution as she is sort of "possessed" by the idea like everyone else is? Are we talking about the same part?

 

[corianderstem]

That movie would have been infinitely better had it not been shot digitally, and not have slow panning shots across someone's dramatic eyes make up nearly 50% of its runtime.

Ha. Yeah.

Plus, it was on IFC, and it's just so incredibly weird to have a graphic, gory scene of human sacrifice followed by some inane, perky commercial.

 

[LMP]

Robert Duvall called Apocalypto one of the best films he's seen in the past 25 years. That's awesome... as is Apocalypto.

 

[Saracene]

If I remember correctly, and I may be wrong here, but doesn't the kid not so much as come up with the solution as she is sort of "possessed" by the idea like everyone else is? Are we talking about the same part?

I meant the bit near the end when the daughter tells everyone how it will be possible to save the farm. Hmm I haven't considered the possibility that she was "possessed" by the idea, I guess it just came off as really contrived and overly cute to me.

 

[lazarus]

The Illusionist is absolutely phenomenal. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and a really nice tribute to Jacques Tati. The main character has been animated to a near-perfect copy of Tati's Hulot character, and the almost dialogue-free script is also a testament how wonderful a story can be when told primarily through images.

As I said before: Fuck Pixar. They have never, nor will they ever make a film this good.

 

[Lancemc]

I kind of love Apocalypto. It's fairly trashy, as that's Mel Gibson for you, but you have to admire his complete commitment and... well, insanity. The final few minutes of this one knock it out of the park as things take a sharp and wild turn into CrazyChristianLand.

 

[corianderstem]

Yeah, totally. I knew there were only a few minutes left in the movie, and those fools were still running through the jungle. I was all "Better wrap this up soon, fellas! How you gonna get out of ..... WHOA, awesome."

 

[powerhour24]

 

[bono_212]

I meant the bit near the end when the daughter tells everyone how it will be possible to save the farm. Hmm I haven't considered the possibility that she was "possessed" by the idea, I guess it just came off as really contrived and overly cute to me.

I can easily see where you'd get that, but if I'm remembering the scene right, James Earl Jones picks the idea right up off of her and gives that (really awesome) monologue right? Yeah, I think that was sort of the whole thing "possessing" them, as it had the whole film.

The Illusionist is absolutely phenomenal. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and a really nice tribute to Jacques Tati. The main character has been animated to a near-perfect copy of Tati's Hulot character, and the almost dialogue-free script is also a testament how wonderful a story can be when told primarily through images.

As I said before: Fuck Pixar. They have never, nor will they ever make a film this good.

That's great, I can't wait to see it.

I don't hate Pixar, I think they have something good going for them, but it's getting way too "commercialized". I don't enjoy/look forward to their films in near the way I used to. Mostly because every other film of theirs is now a ploy to get viewers in the seats, and they didn't used to be like that.

 

[lazarus]

The problem is that from a design standpoint, the films look too uniform. There's a character type just like what Disney streamlines over the years.

With the exception of a few films (Atlantis, Hercules) I don't feel that modern corporate animated product really has any kind of artistic vision behind it, and it causes me to check out of most of these high profile titles before they're over. Pixar doesn't make bad films, but there just isn't anything very fresh.

 

[MMP]

Gotta disagree with you on this. While Pixar is not a no-mistakes company like some people say, it's hard for me to not see things like the Toy Story trilogy, Ratatouille and Wall*E as amazing and original works.
Haven't seen much from Disney lately. Last one was Hercules, which I like a lot.

 

[powerhour24]

I don't hate Pixar, I think they have something good going for them, but it's getting way too "commercialized". I don't enjoy/look forward to their films in near the way I used to. Mostly because every other film of theirs is now a ploy to get viewers in the seats, and they didn't used to be like that.

Granted I'm not pumped for the amount of sequels they're doing now, but from 2007-2009 all they released were not-easy sell original films, and all of them soared, not exactly commercialized.