Movie Thread

[elapid]

I watched Driver last night and Moneyball tonight. Both terrific movies. Driver reminded me of some of the good '70s movies - suspense and little dialogue. Moneyball was an eye opener, especially not being a baseball fan. However, the underlying message of big money and rich teams and "there's no i in team" seemed to resonate across all professional sporting codes. Good casts and solid acting in both movies.

 

[Quixote]

I saw the newer version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last night. I was really surprised...it was very good. I had previously read all three novels and saw the earlier movies. I assumed that the remake would be "over the top" and geared for folks who can't tolerate subtitles. Anyway, this new version with Daniel Craig follows the book closely. Its pacing, editing, acting, etc is excellent.

 

[bladerunner]

Obviously for me, Bladerunner [with Harrison Ford, directed by Ridley Scott] is a must watch.

Also, just watched Nikita [Anne Parillaud directed by Luc Besson] and The Others [Nicole Kidman directed by Alejandro Amenabar] again. Highly recommended.

For some classic one-liners in films try this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSEY...MWsONKcoDkWdVYiQ&index=190&feature=plpp_video

 

[Le breton]

Tree of Life was very good as are most of Malick's films. Woody Allen film, Midnight In Paris was an embarrassment. I walked out and I'm a Woody Allen fan generally, my pick for worst film of the year.

Tree of life : Nice photography, but that does not make a movie. I went to see it with 5 or 6 friends, most hated it. I didn't understand what in it would make it a great film, but at least i didn't feel like leaving the theater.

On the other hand I thoroughly enjoyed Nostalgia de la luz which bears some common points with Tree of life.

Midnight in Paris showed a different facet of Wooden Alley -as one of my daughters once called him - not his greatest movie, but still very much worth seeing

Of courses, considering where I live I had to see "Intouchables great fun. Some obviously sick or very US centered people in the States - without a clue about life elsewhere on the planet - called it a racist movie, how ridiculous can you get?

I also very much enjoyed Carnage (Polanski)

Some time ago I saw the latest of Almodovar, La piel que habito some critics called it his best, but I really didn't see the Almodovar I like in that movie.

It's easy to predict that Bérénice Bejo ( with Jean Dujardin in The artist)will become a big star. As for the movie itself, it must be great, but I was tired and had a few 10 seconds naps.

 

[elapid]

I watched "We Need To Talk About Kevin" on the weekend. What did you all think? Initially I did not like the quick fire jumps from past to present, not because it was difficult to follow but rather because it was distracting and I found it detracted from developing the storyline. But then the scenes became progressively longer, and this seemed to add to the storyline in a reverse climactic way - the start being all hectic and the end, despite the ending, becoming almost calmer as all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle started to fit together. Other than that, obviously a very disturbing movie with good acting by both Tilda Swinton and John Reilly.

 

[Angliru]

I'll agree w/BikeBoy. I liked it. Simple movie, lots of action. Love Denzel Washington and Chris Pine did a nice job. The thing I liked about it most was it was a true story. I'm sure it had it's dose of added Hollywood drama, but it's amazing how the situation portrayed by the moving actually can happen, and did, and more amazing what people did to neutralize the situation. In one word, it was entertaining.

I enjoyed it also but I couldn't understand why, aside from the potential danger, that they didn't attempt to reach the engine from the top of the cars earlier in the ordeal. For me it seemed an obvious option but I'm certain my memory fails me and thus can't recall why this effort wasn't made earlier.

Denzel is always great though. My favorite actor. The guy oozes charisma.

 

[gobuck]

The new "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" needed subtitles just like most movies. The background noise drowns out the voices. It was good but I enjoyed the swedish version better and I am american.

 

[Angliru]

As an aside, I recently picked up an Apple TV, and one of the coolest things is the ability to take a movie, anything, rip it, and convert it in iTunes to an Apple TV movie. From there I can watch it on my regular TV (instead of the computer). While it takes up disk drive space after a while, it's really handy and typical Apple easy/friendly to use.

I have four movies coming up to watch soon that are either at home from Netflix, borrowed or now on my Apple TV. Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm torn between "Ides of March" and "Contagion". "Ides of March" because I'm an admirer of Clooney and Gosling and political thrillers and "Contagion" because any reason to bare witness to the absolute beauty of Marion Cotillard is always worthwhile.

 

[Angliru]

Gosh you guys have interesting and eclectic taste in movies.
How do you find the time to watch so many and still post on here??

I am a die-hard Kurosawa fan...especially anything that Toshiro Mifune has done. I think I've seen almost every movie that Mifune has made...while in later years some of his work was in somewhat 'lesser' style of samurai flick he was a pretty amazing actor...check out some very early work. One of my faves is "The Hidden Fortress".
and of course Sanjuro and Yojimbo. There are a few obscure hidden gems like "Drunken Angel" and "Stray Dog".

Over the holiday my whole family of four went to see "Tin Tin". I quite liked it...visually perfect and the characters were just excellent.

"Throne of Blood" is my favorite Mifune/Kurosawa movie although "Ran" has to be my favorite Kurosawa movie of them all. "Seven Samurai" is also up there.

 

[Quixote]

Denzel is always great though. My favorite actor. The guy oozes charisma.

A couple of class reunions ago I asked a classmate (who was involved in the production side of Hollywood) if there was a "can't miss" actor. Without a moment's hesitation she said, "Denzel is money in the bank."

 

[Quixote]

I saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy last night. Fortunately for me, I am a big John le Carré fan and have read almost all of his novels. This seemed to be important as I liked the film a lot. My wife, on the other hand, who isn't into JL, found the rising dialog as a disruption to a refreshing nap.

 

[Angliru]

I really liked these two...
Jean de Florette and Manon des sources.

Man, that brings back memories. We have a very good film series here in Detroit at our Art Institute and I was able to catch both of those there among many other great foreign films. I haven't taken advantage of it in quite a while but just the mention of these two great films makes me yearn to make a return.

 

[SHAD0W93]

I saw Public Enemies and Troy for the first time a couple days ago.

 

[Angliru]

Saw holmes game of shadows last night, kinda enjoyed it but the 1st was better, jeremy brett was the best holmes ever in that old UK tv series.... I also really kurosawa n japanese sword films. January or 2012 will have cool movies releasing..btw has anyone seen tinker tailor sailor spy, cant wait to watch it.

I'm with you on both Japanese sword films and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy especially with Gary Oldman who is a phenomenal actor (and greatly unappreciated IMO). Regarding the sword films, I make an effort occasionally to watch the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero" back to back because they compliment one another so well being such visually beautiful and exciting examples of that genre.

 

[knewcleardaze]

Man, that brings back memories. We have a very good film series here in Detroit at our Art Institute and I was able to catch both of those there among many other great foreign films. I haven't taken advantage of it in quite a while but just the mention of these two great films makes me yearn to make a return.

My local library has a good variety of movies on DVD.

 

[Boeing]

War Donkey sucked a big one

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Another big Gary Oldman fan. He's a total chameleon of an actor.

Finally got around to watching Apollo 18. It was average. Props for the way it was shot, the look and sound of it it, making it feel authentic. Decent idea, well edited I guess. But it had several plot holes and just wasn't compelling enough in the end. Something lacking in the writing. And I don't mean dialog, I mean story.

Tree of Life was fascinating, unique, a throwback to experimental films of the late 60's. It was also strange, and boring at times. Hard to pinpoint a comment on it though. Like nothing I've ever seen.

Driver reminded me of some of the good '70s movies - suspense and little dialogue.

Despite my joking with BroDeal, I actually love and miss that era and those kinds of films, as they are hardly made anymore. Films like Juggernaut, Three Days of the Condor, Sleuth, Day of the Jackal, The Conversation, Parallax View, Shoot, The Domino Principle, Magic, The Silent Partner, etc. etc.

Even drama films aren't made like that. And I don't mean long slow epics like The Deerhunter, Out Of Africa, or Gandhi. I just mean drama, period. I guess people's attention spans aren't what they once were in our fast paced society. I think the only pure drama I've seen in recent years that is paced like films from that era is Michael Clayton, which I thought was superb. If anyone knows a recently made film in that vein, let me know.

 

[Le breton]

...........

Since we aren't talking about recent movies anymore, 2 outstanding French movies of the last ten years come to my mind :

Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien Harry, he's here to help you
with Sergi Lopez

The director creates a very disturbing atmosphere that makes the spectator very uneasy

Caché also distributed under the title Hidden with Auteuil and Binoche. Daniel Auteuil at his very best, I can't think of a better actor performance ever. The atmosphere is so heavy it makes you sick.

I don't know if you can find them in English. To fully appreciate the 2nd one you probably need some acquaintance with the French colonial past.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Saw "Ip Man" yesterday.

Good Martial Arts movie.
Somehow true story starting in 1930 and it is mainly about Bruce Lee's Wing Tsun master.
Story is simple but nice, and includes some cute and obvious anti Japan- and dont hold back- Propaganda.
Anyway, good fights and Ip Man kicks ***.

Just learned that there are Ip Man 2 and 3 already. Will have a look.

 

[El Pistolero]

Rundskop is a pretty good movie

They recently released it in the USA and it's an Oscar nominee for best non-English movie. The Loft is also a decent movie, they also made an English version of it(with that Scofield guy from Prison Break as one of the actors).

 

[DenisMenchov]

Rundskop is a pretty good movie

They recently released it in the USA and it's an Oscar nominee for best non-English movie. The Loft is also a decent movie, they also made an English version of it(with that Scofield guy from Prison Break as one of the actors).

You're Belgian, right? Have you seen 'le gamin au velo' ???

 

[El Pistolero]

You're Belgian, right? Have you seen 'le gamin au velo' ???

Not yet, but I've been willing to watch it though. I heard some good things about it.

 

[search]

"Throne of Blood" is my favorite Mifune/Kurosawa movie although "Ran" has to be my favorite Kurosawa movie of them all. "Seven Samurai" is also up there.

Watching Ikiru in cinema two years ago was incredible, but all in all Seven Samurai is my favorite I'd say. But it's difficult to say, he did so many movies I really like...

going to Berlin next week to have my annual Berlinale-visit - so 'm looking forward to see lots of great movies

Rundskop is a pretty good movie

that one looks interesting, it'll be in cinema here this month, I hope one of the local ones will screen it.

I don't know much about belgian cinema at all but last year i watched De engel van Doel and that one was really fascinating (don't know if it's out on DVD/Blu-Ray yet)

 

[mewmewmew13]

"Seven Samurai " is my all-time favorite movie! It really grows on me more every time I watch it. The actors are all amazing.
Also, hard to pick a second favorite from Kurosawa for me....I enjoy "the Hidden Fortress" for its humor..."Throne of Blood" of course is great. I really do love "yojimbo" and "Sanjuro"....gosh could go on and on.

Alpe is correct...many do not have the patience for a movie that does not flash quickly in front of their eyes...I believe you need to settle into a rythm with many of the old excellent movies.
That is very true when watching Jaques Tati flicks...the humour needs time to develop and in seems slow and plodding if you are in a real hurry...but they are so hilarious and infecting!


I didn't mention how much I love Toshiro Mifune

 

[TexPat]

Watched Ed Norton in Leaves of Grass last week on the telly with my wife. We cringed at all the redneckisms from our previous lives in that neck o' the woods.
Mr Norton is a code-switching genius.