Last (x) movies you saw

Mine:

First half: Wow, this is fantastic! I can't believe I'm gonna actually wind up loving a LvT film!
Second half: nvmd

i can't conceive of watching any more lars van trier, fuck that guy. trading him off my team on madden as soon as i get home.

Iron Sky - this was so so bad. disappointing.
Paul
Inglorious Basterds
Point Break
Children of Men
In The Mood For Love (again)

xpost

yeah, as soon as I heard he had a new one coming out this year I was like, ugh I just know I'm gonna get talked into watching this eventually.

And then I saw that Shia LaBoeuf was in it and my resolve strengthened.

too many in the last month

most recent rewatch: Decalogue eps 1, 8-10

My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1937) B+
The Boondock Saints (Duffy, 1999) C
Vampire's Kiss (Bierman, 1988) I have no idea, B-?
The Woman in the Fifth (Pawlikowsku, 2011) B-
The Station Agent (McCarthy, 2003) B
Daybreakers (Spiering brothers, 2009) B-
Jamon, Jamon (Luna, 1992) C+
Le Havre (Kaurismaki, 2011) B
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Resnais, 1959) A-
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (de Bont, 2003) D

Why A- for the Resnais? Grumble grumble

Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, 2006) - Still working this one through - one the level of filmmaking 'talent', Costa blows them all away. I think my issues with static films has been talked about here and elsewhere; I can see it on the level that you are documenting (word deliberately used) static lives, and you have the device of the letter to a loved one (a deeply felt letter from a man of basic literacy) that never makes an appearance (a ghost) and its repetition is a device that makes the thing work by handing some forward movement.

The extras are erratic: the essay by Jacques Ranciere seems great in parts (but like the film it is to be given another once over), the interview is much more of a bore-fest than the film could ever be -- but you do find out he's a fan of punk so the title of the film takes on another, unexpected, resonance.

Contrast this with: Gesher (Vahid Vakilifar, 2010). As Iran supposedly gains power in the world from its resources (Oil, enriched uranium) that supposedly translate into international power -- apower gained but the people on the ground forgotten: it can't prevent the descent of three male lives into the daily toil of degrading jobs and inhuman living conditions. Again, another static document. The oil rigs at night are amazing to look at (v much like the ending of Apocalypse now) but you don't get enough of a notion of their interior lives. Gesher is the name given to a mollusc that starts life as a "delicate, vulnerable creature before developing a hard shell" but this metaphor doesn't follow through: no delicacies or hard shells! The story of the prostitute whose fate isn't known is a further addition to the negative column.

Yearning (Naruse, 1964). A great, great drama of bottled up passion among the lower middle classes of Tokyo (own a cornershop that was destroyed re-built from its war-time flattening...) The soap opera-ish score offsets the arty-ness, this could be a reason for why this film isn't as well known as those by Ozu etc etc.

India: Matri Bhumi (Rosselini, 1959). Quite an astute view of India, spends much of its time in the countryside with not a trace of an attachment to a bogus Western spirituality. You'd expect nothing less from the man who made Rome, Open City

I caught This Is Not a Movie in its three night run at the local. It definitely gives one a lot to think about.
Really frustrating/sad/scary but hilarious and touching, too. What are the important things in life?

Watched The Two Escobars last night when I should have been sleeping.

I guess it isn't too surprising that I am feeling a little anxious today.

South (3.5)
Knuckleball (4.5)
Blood and Wine (3.0)
Hearts and Minds (4.0)
China Moon (3.0)
Everybody Wins (3.5)
Velvet Underground Under Review (3.5)
Femme Fatale (1.0)
La Jetee (4.5)
Sans Soleil (3.0)

I know the latter rating makes no sense--I explained the problem I had on a Marker thread, but that’s a subjective thing; it got many votes in the recent S&S poll. China Moon and Blood and Wine (Rafelson) were better quasi-noirs than I thought they’d be, although both started grasping at straws towards the end.

Tried to watch A Place in the Sun but too disturbing to finish. Haven't watched it in years and was really wanting too. Now I can't finish it.

Precious (Lee Daniels, 2009) - this ws ok, when the story is set-up in such a way its hard to find a way to argue against, so I don't argue for. Anyone know the Italian neo-realist film she was watching?

Beast of the Southern Wild was.... okay? I expected less but wanted more.

this seems to be the beasts of the southern wild thread: felt like a 2h arcade fire video (although it was actually only 90 minutes)

From Russia With Love last night at IFC. Bond films are pretty stupid, at least from the Connery era. Dude seems borderline mentally disabled.

:(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t1_usmB30s

Why do Chinese girls taste different from all other girls?

i hardly ever have time for movies anymore but i watched fellini's satyricon and enjoyed it quite a bit

i think i read somewhere that it is basically a scifi movie abt romans and that is pretty otm

this seems to be the beasts of the southern wild thread: felt like a 2h arcade fire video (although it was actually only 90 minutes)

― caek, Sunday, September 2, 2012 3:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

hah

I watched these this weekend:

Chungking Express
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams
Moon
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

The Dark Knight Rises
A Dangerous Method
Bartok (Ken Russell)
The Student From Prague

Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Jules and Jim
Juliet of the Spirits
The Home and the World

didja like jiro? did you see it on the big screen?

Me And Orson Welles
The Phantom Carriage
Saboteur

Penumbra (2011)

this seems to be the beasts of the southern wild thread: felt like a 2h arcade fire video (although it was actually only 90 minutes)

― caek, Sunday, September 2, 2012 3:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

hah

― Hungry4Ass, Sunday, September 2, 2012 10:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i saw this last night (& liked it okay, the set-pieces start less than the scenes-in-hospitals middle), i do wish all movies didn't sound like a sufjan stevens record now, it's oppressive.

Zero for Conduct (1933, Vigo) A-
Campaign, the (2012, Roach) C : leave the improv to the rehearsals next time please
Hereafter (2010, Eastwood) D- : a slow nothing of a film
Muppets, the (2011, Bobin) B
Tron: Legacy [2D] (2010, Kosinski) B : love the future fantasy look, killer ziggy was fun, shame about the plot, dialogue, pace, etc.

Ornette was hella dated but interesting. dude is a genius. and crazy. the castration story!

is that when ornette contemplated cutting his balls off to avoid lustful urges?

yep. went for a circumcision instead.
spoke with someone who went to a party at his house and said he was running body mod videos around the house. apparently it's a thing.
anyways, i'm going to see wayne white's beauty is embarrassing doc soon after hanging out at a pr/art weirdo event last night with him and like fifty other nudniks in bushwick. good times.

I watched Serial the other night, the Martin Mull film from 1980. Pretty bad, but in an interesting way. I have a really vague memory that when it came out, someone provided a blurb that gushed it was the first great film of the '80s. Seems to be what they were aspiring to make--or the last great film of the '70s--and they only missed by several light years. Strains for an Altman feel, but the director was a TV guy, and it really shows. (Lots of TV stalwarts in the cast.) One fascinating performer: Stacey Nelkin, who was supposedly the basis for the Tracy character in Manhattan.

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsN/12723-7921.jpg

lol clemenza giving Knuckleball! the same rating as La Jetee and better than Hearts and Minds. (I saw it and it's a good sports doc, but come onnnn.)

the Italian clip in Precious is of de Sica's Two Women.

Expressing my own personal reaction. Like George Costanza says: what am I, trying to win an Academy Award here? I wrote a bit about why I liked Knuckleball so much on the baseball movies thread.

Girl Model is fucking brutal.
http://www.girlmodelthemovie.com/trailer.html
the fibroid scene is some serious madness. the lead character is somewhere between insane and evil.
will be on POV eventually but be warned, it's a tough watch.

Citizen Kane
Zodiac
Fallen Angels
Shallow Grave

Red Dog (2011) Now I want my very own Kelpie!

Beauty is Embarrassing is cool, a little too feel good for my taste but fun. Wayne White is an awesome dude.

Girl in Progress (2012)

The Stranglers Of Bombay
Amarcord (Blu)
Stardust Memories
Two English Girls
The Avengers

Carnival Of Souls (Henk Harvey, 1962)
Eyes Without A Face (Georges Franju, 1960)
Threads (Mick Jackson, 1984)

^comments on the Horror movie poll thread.

Total Recall (Len Wiseman, 2012). So Beckinsdale has a great arse. Must we do this again?
Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012) - comments on the thread.

Lawless
Dredd

what was Dredd like?

I posted about it after I goit home, I thought it was great. Look up my entry under Best Dredd (I think). i have to head out for a bus or I'd look up the URL.

Best Dredd

Dredd has a leanness to it that is missing from many current action movies. Loved it.

Yeah a lot of my FB friends are giving it kudos. I thought the trailer looked good but I was skeptical that it might be all action and no plot though.

watched 'arbitrage' - is bad, & teal 'n orange

best line is by gere - "what's an applebees?"

Before Sunrise (lots of talking)
In The Loop (funny)
Tintin (disappointing)

Summer Wars is nutjob crazy; major climax is a virtual hanafuda card game... with THE HUMAN RACE AT STAKE
great animation, solid voice acting and a fun film overall tho