Rate the last film you watched.

[mixed]

Walk the Line. I really enjoyed this one. Joaquin Phoenix is such a fabulous actor, his performance is very powerful and real. The narrative may be a little linear but its a true ish account so that can't be helped. Great songs to obviously. 8/10

Dunston Checks in
Heh what a film! One of those from my childhood, seen it about 20 times over the years. One thing about it, I always think its a really nicely storyboarded film and kinda creative, plus you gotta love that monkey! 6/10

The Man. Fairly routine but ocassionally hilarious comedy. Samuel L Jackson and Eugene Levy onscreen at once is a treat. Levy is a really talented comedian, subtle, great face. 7/10

[Nomansvally]

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) with Alec Guiness playing 8 charaters. I was enchanted during the whole film. This was one of those film-moments where the film continue to amaze progressivly. It's top 10 material now and a 5/5 of course!

Best damn black-comedy ever!

[Nomansvally]

I just saw The Wicked Lady (1945), it's a cruel British flick about a really evil dame. Great roles and great acting and especially the highwayman character played by James Mason. a 4 out of 5!

[blackmoses]

Watched two masterpieces from Kubrick.

Lolita 10/10!!!!!
This film is fantastic, like all Kubricks.


Barry Lyndon 10/10!!!!!!
Another breathtaking film from the great Kubrick. This is his fourth or third best so far...

[Nomansvally]

I wish I'd seen Lolita - one of the few Kubrick films I've not seen, but BARRY LYNDON is my favorite film ever!

[criterionmaster]

A Child Is Waiting (Cassavetes, John 1963 IMDB) 10/10

The film is perfect. It was heartbreaking to watch but also very uplifting. Each performance is excellent; every actor nails his or her role. This may even be Gardland’s best performance. It’s about a woman who comes to work at a school for disabled kids. The kids are all real kids, which makes some scenes even sadder. Cassavetes’ film could not be truer; it is just a stunning underrated film. And what an impact it has left. Just a beautiful film, if you get a chance to see this you definitely must.

[mixed]

Where did you see a child is waiting?

Anyway I watched Elizabethtown. Its quite similar to some other films like Garden State but I think it rose above the likes of that. Its was just so touching and Cameron Crowe is an impressive writer. He also crafts some nice moments. Little quirks like riding on an empty plane. I'd actually say he's one of the few writers around at the moment that can capture scenes of human emotion and trait.

9/10

[criterionmaster]

mixed said:

Where did you see a child is waiting?

I caught it on the great TCM. It was on at 3:30 in the morning here so I had to stay up quite late but it was worth it. Before that were Faces and Woman Under the Influence which I re-watched and they are still 10's. Woman is so hard to watch still, the dinner scene I found myself turning away from the screen.

And...

Sleepaway Camp (re-watch) 10/10

Still one of my favorite slasher films. It has one of the best slasher film endings of all-time. I just can't get enough of this film, tons of parts I found myself having to pause the film until I finished laughing.

[mixed]

Its a shame that tcm in the UK really sucks ass.

[blackmoses]

Sleepaway Camp 10/10!
Loved this. Never laughed so much.

Rewatched Dazed and Confused 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watched the end to Back to the Future. One of the best endings ever!

[criterionmaster]

Dazed and Confused (re-watch) 10/10

I love this thing!

School of Rock (w/Linklater and Black Commentary) 10/10

This is a great team. I was thinking of giving this track a 9 even though it was excellent just because Linklater should have gotten his own track. But this is still an amazing track.

[criterionmaster]

Tokyo Drifter 9/10

My thoughts can be found here.

[PTAhole]

Oh, boy. I've watched a lot of movies lately. I'll post thoughts later.

Dazed and Confused (rewatch)- 10/10
Willow (rewatch)- 8/10
Melinda and Melinda- 8/10
Pi- 9/10
Match Point- 10/10
Royal Tennenbaums w/ Wes Anderson commentary- 10/10
Manhunter (rewatch)- 10/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark (rewatch)- 10/10

Good stuff...

[Clark Nova]

OK, I've got a double-feature...

Elephant (Gus Van Sant) (2003)



So it got some rave reviews and won the Palme D'Or, so I had very high expectations coming in. So an hour and 20 minutes later, the main thing I felt was...disappointment. The first half or so was absolutely interminable. Sure, the whole following-the-student-through-the-hallway thing was new and not done before, but maybe for a reason...to me, it just doesn't work. I mean, do we really need to see a kid's back going through hallways for the entire duration of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? It becomes incredibly grating after just a little while, and when Van Sant does it again and again, it's just impossible. The film does pick up a little when it focuses on the two shooters and their mindsets, and the shooting is appropriately jarring and disturbing, but something's just missing. I may be stretching here, but it's been said that Akira Kurosawa's Ran is God's view from heaven on the characters, never interfering, and this is similar, even with both films using the cloud shots. But while Ran observes fleshed-out, dynamic characters, this film just feels voyeuristic, without any message to send out. Innovative, sure, but also incredibly annoying in my book.

6.5/10

[Clark Nova]

Videodrome (David Cronenberg) (1983)



Cronenberg at his very best, and my 2nd favorite of his after The Fly. I was very surprised how well the effects hold up to this day, and it's incredible how the film's message is so much more important today than it was in 1983, with all this reality TV nonsense and other TV stuff dominating our lives. Woods needed to come through for a film like this since he's in every single scene and becomes increasingly paranoid and hallucinatory, and he certainly does. Like his Max Renn, we the audience eventually have no f**king clue what's real and what's a hallucination, and because of this, Cronenberg succeeded in making quite a film.

9/10

[satantangofan]

Yes Andruini. The photography is top notch. But the film itself is a hollow experience imo. I can't believe that The New World was made by the same person who gave us Badlands and The Thin Red Line. People seem to be arguing that The New World is so important because it does away with traditional narative...well, I say it is just plain lazy, clumsy filmmaking. Malick is no Tarkovsky. And there is an infintessimal difference between taking nice pictures and making a good film.

[satantangofan]

The Duck of Death, I thought your giving Elephant 6.5 stars was generous. I actually found Van Sant's trilogy of displacement & disaffection (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days) to be vacuous, shallow and lacking even fundamental insight. A perfect example of style over substance. Van Sant claims to be a disciple of Bela Tarr, and his overlapping, long-take, multi-angled/perceptual shots, camera following the actors etc are lifted (some might say as homage) from Satantango.

Van Sant lost the plot after the excellent My Own Private Idaho. Perhaps his trilogy is a metaphor for his own personal crisis.

Forget Van Sant. Check out Tarr.

[mixed]

I think in some odd respect that last days is a slightly better film than Elephant. Its just runs with this creativity which I find striking and cool. Though it can be a tiring experience, some of the shots are really effecting, such as the take which is slowly panning back from the window which the Cobain esque character is playing guitar in. This lasts almost three minutes but with the music and all it just hits you and resonates. I think its a hugely powerful if languorous film.
Elephant can always be whined at for its emptiness and the unwilliness to explore the characters in much detail. I think the hollowness is somewhat purposeful, everyone in that school on that day was just a person with their own boring little lives. Its as if we are not meant to be affected by what happens, rather just see it. That may not make a lot of sense but this is what I feel. But maybe it was just badly written and realised, I dont know for sure.

[PTAhole]

Got a few more...

Life of Brian (r/w)- 10/10 Best Python film in my book.

Chicken Little- 1/10 This was so bad, I wanted to puke. Everything about this movie is terrible. My cousins liked it thought, so maybe it's a decent kid's movie.

The Sting (r/w)- 10/10 This is one of my favorite movies. It has all the elements of a good film: plot, character, humor, suspense, everything. A perfect movie.

......

[kiddo]

Kill Bill vol. 1
(rewatch) Pretty satisfying revenge-film with great cinematography and good acting. The style of the film feels quite fresh, even now, and overall this is a good film. 7.5/10

Kill Bill vol. 2
(rewatch) I prefer this one over vol. 1. The content is filled with more interesting themes and the story becomes much more interesting. The characters also becomes more complex. So, as a whole, I like this a bit more than the vol. 1. The music in both are fantastic, btw. 8.5/10

Titanic
(rewatch) Why do they have to focus on this stereotypical love story? The film has a nice visual frame, but the stereotypical characters, melodramatic music and horrible script makes this film utterly boring. A bad film. 3/10

Corpse Bride
This was a fun little animated movie. Visually cool and a bit typical theme, though satisfying in its originality and it`s great atmosphere. Not that funny all the time, but overall pretty good. 7/10

Shark Tale
Not much new here. Many of the jokes are used so many times before, and the whole thing seems to be a little out of date. Some nice visuals and a couple of good points and funny moments makes this ok, though (I saw it together with some kids, so the sound was in Norwegian. Think it would have been better with english language). 5/10

Small Time Croocks
My first Allen-film. And what a film it was. Great tone all the way through. Absolutely an entertaining and very funny comedy with strong elements of satire. I will definitive check out more from Woody. 8.5/10

[Clark Nova]

satantangofan said:

The Duck of Death, I thought your giving Elephant 6.5 stars was generous. I actually found Van Sant's trilogy of displacement & disaffection (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days) to be vacuous, shallow and lacking even fundamental insight. A perfect example of style over substance. Van Sant claims to be a disciple of Bela Tarr, and his overlapping, long-take, multi-angled/perceptual shots, camera following the actors etc are lifted (some might say as homage) from Satantango.

Van Sant lost the plot after the excellent My Own Private Idaho. Perhaps his trilogy is a metaphor for his own personal crisis.

Forget Van Sant. Check out Tarr.

Style over substance. I couldn'tve described it better myself. Guess Elephant and The Boondock Saints go hand-in-hand.

[Clark Nova]

And I'm glad someone agrees with me that Kill Bill Vol. 2 is superior to Vol. 1. Sure, Vol. 2 has less action, but it's so much more complete and emotionally resonant than Vol. 1's blood-fest. Also, I think a 3/10 is a little harsh for Titanic. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like it at all either, but it was quite a sight to behold on the big screen at least with the sinking ship. That alone made it worth checking out (though hardly worth a second watch), but I agree that the love story was absolutely dreadful. I'd probably give it a 6 or 6.5/10.

[kiddo]

I find Elephant great. Van Sant observe the peoples actions and doesn`t try to analyse the situation. Instead he opens up for the viewer to think for themselves. Elephant is for me a superb study of what happened that day. Van Sants observation is brilliantly delivered, and makes this film so minimalistic that it feels very real. This is far from style over substanse. He uses a special style to convey substance; but the substance is for us to explore. He will not tell us anything, but opens up for further exploration.

[satantangofan]

Awww come on Kiddo! What special style does Van Sant use? Ok, so his technique is to be objective to the point of being derealised. Hardly original. I dont want to be told anything but do need to be engaged before I want to explore...I guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree on this one my friend.

[Nomansvally]

I share your opinion as well Satantangofan!

[criterionmaster]

I really like Van Sant as a director. I enjoyed Elephant but movies that border on being pretentious overtime don't seem to hold up for me. You are right there is no substance but the style does make up for that a little.

Now about Kill Bill. I think Vol. 1 is better and that Vol. 2 kind of gets lost in its dialogue. And the whole thing seems very uneven, long drags of story and character (which I love don't get me wrong) then a scene of violence. I find that Tarantino is trying to pay homage towards old kung fu and samurai films and the first succeeds brilliantly, while the second I find doesn't do it as well. But maybe I am wrong.

[kiddo]

No, I do not mean that Van Sant is very original. But the style of the film is very suitable. I`m engaged by seeing people react as in real life, to see something made so excellent. Van Sant is cold, but the viewer put their own warmth into it. Ok, THAT sounded pretentious. Hehe. But I can easily understand you guys. I can see why the film do not appeal to you. But for me, it worked as a fucking cloud of thunder (whatever that means?)...

[kiddo]

criterionmaster said:

I really like Van Sant as a director. I enjoyed Elephant but movies that border on being pretentious overtime don't seem to hold up for me. You are right there is no substance but the style does make up for that a little.

Now about Kill Bill. I think Vol. 1 is better and that Vol. 2 kind of gets lost in its dialogue. And the whole thing seems very uneven, long drags of story and character (which I love don't get me wrong) then a scene of violence. I find that Tarantino is trying to pay homage towards old kung fu and samurai films and the first succeeds brilliantly, while the second I find doesn't do it as well. But maybe I am wrong.

I thought vol. 1 was to empty, and it isn`t enough in a film to pay homage to other films. It has to have something to add. Vol. 1 was nearly just a assamble of stylish action-scenes, great soundtrack and cool dialogue. vol. 2 was a bit more than that, though I respect, lets say, Sympathy for Mr. Vengance and Oldboy more as films trying to say something. While the two i mentioned says that revenge is meaningless, Kill Bill somehow concludes that it may be an act of greatness. Or at least something that can be defended.

And I must add that Budd (Michael Madsen) crushes every other character in the film(s)

[satantangofan]

I find the whole, which Kill Bill is best - Vol 1 or 2? rather futile. Don't you guys feel a little cheated that it was originally meant to be one film but the studios decided to break it up (to make more money)? I mean, the running length of the film as a whole is roughly the same as loads of other excellent films: Once Upon a Time in America, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Andrei Rublyov, The Deer Hunter, La Dolce Vita...can you imagine arguing about which is best, the first or second half of Apocalypse Now Redux?

[criterionmaster]

Yeah I see what you are saying and look forward greatly to the rumored Whole Bloody Affair, combining them both.