Rate the last film you watched.

[Clark Nova]

ah, Braindead...Peter Jackson at his very finest...

[kiddo]

Il Gatto a nove code (The Cat O`Nine Tales)
Quite an uneven experience. The start is pretty good, but in the middle of the film Argento seems to be a bit unsure where he will go with the material. The murders are not as nicely done as in, lets say, Suspiria or Tenebrae. But some of the acting is pretty good. Especially the blind man. The music is also satisfying. I love how Argento uses the music to create atmosphere and style. The las twenty minutes or so are also very good. The scene in the graveyeard particulary shows the great touch Argento adds to the genre. That scene is so tense. But as said, the film is a bit uneven.
***/*****

(After checking out some Empire-magazines lately, I`ve found out that the 5-star-rating is pretty suitable)

*= Horseshit
** = Pretty bad
***= Good
**** = Excellent
***** = Brilliant

[kiddo]

Kagemusha
Excellent camerawork and nice music makes this quite a satisfying Kurosawa-work. I found it a bit confusing inparts though, and some of the "asian-cultural-thing" sometimes leave me cold. I didn`t get as much out of it as I had hoped for. The film feels a bit unfinished, and sadly that destroys some of the great parts of it. I see the brilliance of kagemusha, but the annoying flaws overshadows some of it (Need a rewatch soon)
***

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man`s Chest
My expectations was quite low, and the film didn`t manage to impress me either. It was fun in moments, but overall it felt just overly pompous (is that the correct word?).
**

[Clark Nova]

Yeah, Kagemusha was basically Kurosawa's test-run for his masterpiece, Ran. I haven't seen it myself, but I'd expect it'd be underwhelming compared to Ran just for that reason.

[agentknight]

Amadeus

A decent semi-biography of Mozart with great performances all round (Tom Hulce in particular) and gorgeous cinematography. My main complaint is that it was a little too modern for what was supposed to be a period piece.

7/10

[Clark Nova]

What makes Amadeus too modern? I didn't think that...if it's Hulce's American accent, I had no problem with that...added to the charm of his off-kilter character. Anyway, here's a real doozy:

Blue Velvet (David Lynch) (1986)



Incredibly f*cked up and creepy, but excellent. The opening shot of the swarms of insects beneath the clean-cut, green grass says it all about the message of this film: there's darkness beneath even the glossiest, most perfect veneer. It's got a great noir feel, and an undeniably creepy undertone. It's dull at times, and some of it feels like nothing more than an extended Heinekin commercial, but every second Dennis Hopper's on screen certainly makes up for that. His performance is bar-none one of the most frightening I've ever seen. Anybody who can without rhyme or reason beat and rape while sucking on his happy gas easily ranks near the top of my favorite movie villains list.

8.5/10

So that brings my David Lynch experience to 4 films: I loved 2 (Mulholland Dr., Blue Velvet), hated one (Eraserhead) and was pretty much indifferent towards the 4th (The Elephant Man)...didn't love it, didn't hate it. So I guess for me, the jury's still out on this guy.

[captainofbeef]

National Treasure (rewatch)

6/10
The guiltiest of all my guilty pleasures. I love history and the way all the history is tied into this film makes it a blast to watch. Sure, it is a piece of complete and utter trash. But at least its a fun piece of trash.

[mixed]

You call something a complete and utter piece of trash and give it 6/10? 2 or 3 out of 10 would be more apt...

[PTAhole]

That's probably the worst movie I ever sat through in the theater.

[captainofbeef]

Its is my complete utter piece of trash though. I think it is a blast to watch. If I didnt like the movie, I would give it a 2 or a 3, but I did like it for no apparent reason. Thats why its called a guilty pleasure. I dont want to like it, but I do.

[mixed]

Fair enough, i feel the same way about the starsky and hutch movie

[satantangofan]

Just watched The Proposition and I urge you all to do the same. Second best film of the year after Cache (although I'm seeing L'Enfant on 24th July). Beautifully scripted, shot & performed. And that Nick Cave score...sublime *****/*****

[captainofbeef]

I can't wait to see that!!!

[criterionmaster]

Last watches:

Don't Look Back - 10/10 the best music documentary I have seen.

The Doors (rewatch) 9/10!

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland 7.5/10 Good documentary on a great CD.

American Beauty (rewatch) 10/10

A Personal Journey 9.5/10 An amazing documentary with Scorsese, he talked about some films I really want to check out.

(reviews will come sometime soon)

[agentknight]

What makes Amadeus too modern?

The characters spoke and behaved like modern day Americans. This is made most evident when the title character dies and his wife yelps "WOOOOLFIE! WOOOOOOOOOOLFIE!"

[kiddo]

The King of Comedy
An underrated Scorsese-film, with an equally underrated performance by Robert De Niro. This is a great film, with comedy and seriousness mixed in a bag that manage to say something about the world we live in today. The film seems fresh and far from out of date. The camerawork is solid and the acting brilliant all the way through.
**** (Excellent)

[satantangofan]

The King of Comedy is one of Scorsese's best films & one of De Niro's most demanding roles. To play a shmuck with such conviction & gravitas. Genius. And the film is so bloody relevant to todays obsession with immediate success & the glamourization of the inane.

[mixed]

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. Hmm I'm pretty divided about this. The first act is mostly boring but some of the imagery is beautiful. When the story takes off though I found it rather convoluted. Some of the scenes though are stunning. Such well composed images and creative camera work. Notice the mise en scene, often something else is happening in a single shot, a rotating fan, something. This makes each shot interesting. A conversation park has whilst sitting in a childrens inflatable ball, its just great innovation. I thought that the film was often vacuous and dehumanised though. I felt nothing but indifference for both characters. That may be a risk with having one of the main characters as a mute though, you can't invest a great deal in character development. It was really a disappointing film. So beautiful and remarkable in strokes, but disappointingly limited and lacking in other areas. The ending will haunt me for days. 3/5

Sword of Doom - Its never a good sign to be watching a film, pausing it, then thinking up excuses in your head to delay resuming the watching of it. I hate those cramped sets. They just box up the story completely and these samurai films are so formulaic. Cliche wife motive, strong lead character, incredibly confusing plot. They are just quote boring. I just dont like them. Sorry. 1/5 Maybe it gets better after the first 70 minutes...

[PTAhole]

Clerks II- This was phenomonal!!! Smith's second best after the first Clerks. Fantastic. The best movie of the year so far.

[Nomansvally]

I just saw the 156 minute version of Scorsese and De Niro collaberation New York, New York (1977)

It's a long and mood-changing musical-film in the musicbusiness of the 1930s. Overall filled with good music and art direction. De Niro really plays sax! If you like early Hollywood musicals this is a MUST-SEE.

And my verdict is.....3.5/5

Now I've finally seen all the eight films they've made together, phew!

Anybody seen this?

[satantangofan]

Yeah! I saw New York New York a couple of times in the early 80's & liked it. I just bought the new DVD but haven't seen it yet. I'll let you know when I do.

[Clark Nova]

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones) (2005)



Excellent, excellent film. Thought it started out a little too slow in establishing the story and characters, but it really picks up with the aftermath of Mel's shooting and the beginning of Pete and Mike's "adventure" to Mexico. I liked how the timeline was a bit skewed, revealing information like Mel's request to be buried in Mexico and both points of view of the shooting as the film went along, not barraging us with information at the front.

Jones is incredible in this, both as the lead and as the director, combining great character drama with well-placed humor, like the scenes when he tends to his dead friend. These should be gruesome and unwatchable scenes, but even with the sight of a decaying body, these scenes are incredibly touching...a testament to a great filim. More people need to see this.

9/10

[blackmoses]

Goodfellas (rewatch) - 10/10
American Beauty - 9/10
Caddyshack - 8/10
The Leopard - 9/10
The Doors - 10/10
Day the Earth Stood Still - 10/10!!!
Ikiru - 10/10!
Jules and Jim - 9.5/10
Clerks II - 10/10!!!!!
Miller's Crossing - 9/10

Might comment later.

[Nomansvally]

- Black Narcissus (1947) 5/5 - Deborah Kerr and her nun sisters experience mission gone to madness. Cinematographically superb and great character developments and parallels.

Allright Satantangofan!

Hey Black Moses, Day the Earth Stood Still is really a superb film. Seen Army of Darkness? Remember "Klaatu Verada Nikto"? hehehe

[Clark Nova]

Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) (1957)



Outstanding. Even though Ran is overall a better film than this, this is probably the more faithful Shakespeare adaptation. As always, Mifune was nothing short of perfect, and the cinematography was just beautiful...which is of course typical of Kurosawa. Also, it's probably got one of the most memorable endings ever and one of the coolest and most dramatic on-screen deaths I've ever seen. Kinda scary to think that real arrows were actually being shot a Mifune...that wasn't acting, folks. He was geniunely scared outta his mind, and I don't blame him. ;D

9.5/10

[PTAhole]

Lady in the Water- 8/10 Very underrated. The main complaint people seem to have is that it's confusing. I knew what was going on the whole time. No twist this time. I think that might be a good move for Shyamalan-a-ding-dong. Most people seemed to like it in the theater, so maybe it's a critic thing.

[Clark Nova]

I'm not even gonna bother seeing Lady in the Water. I've had it with Shyamalan. After the brilliant The Sixth Sense (should've won best picture, I thought), I've hated everything he's made after that. Unbreakable was just awful...terrible acting and a stupid "twist" ending. Signs was decent but the ending was terribly formulaic and lame, and the Village's twist could be seen a mile away. Guess "Shyamalan-a-ding-dong" (LOL!) let success get to his head after Newsweek called him the next Spielberg.

[PTAhole]

I LOVE Unbreakable, but yeah, Signs and The Village are pretty weak. Lady in the Water is an improvment, though.

[criterionmaster]

M. Night stold Sixth Sense from Fanny and Alexander somewhat. But I still do like that film.

mixed said:

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. Hmm I'm pretty divided about this. The first act is mostly boring but some of the imagery is beautiful. When the story takes off though I found it rather convoluted. Some of the scenes though are stunning. Such well composed images and creative camera work. Notice the mise en scene, often something else is happening in a single shot, a rotating fan, something. This makes each shot interesting. A conversation park has whilst sitting in a childrens inflatable ball, its just great innovation. I thought that the film was often vacuous and dehumanised though. I felt nothing but indifference for both characters. That may be a risk with having one of the main characters as a mute though, you can't invest a great deal in character development. It was really a disappointing film. So beautiful and remarkable in strokes, but disappointingly limited and lacking in other areas. The ending will haunt me for days. 3/5

Sword of Doom - Its never a good sign to be watching a film, pausing it, then thinking up excuses in your head to delay resuming the watching of it. I hate those cramped sets. They just box up the story completely and these samurai films are so formulaic. Cliche wife motive, strong lead character, incredibly confusing plot. They are just quote boring. I just dont like them. Sorry. 1/5 Maybe it gets better after the first 70 minutes...

Sword of Doom's ending is one of the best ever. You must finish it.

[PTAhole]

Sham-hammer list:

1. Unbreakable
2. Sixth Sense
3. Lady in the Water
4. The Village
5. Signs

Haven't seen his first two movies.