Moss Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Enjoyed the heck out of this one tonight. Link to post Share on other sites
Artifice Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Not without its flaws, but still a moving reminder of the politics of fear and the abuses of a too powerful executive govt. I wish it had spent some more time discussing the consequences on a broader scale, but I understand the script was based on Wilson's and Plame's books so that's to be expected. Also, I can't tell if it was just another case of Penn over acting, or if Wilson is that smugly self righteous in real life, but thank goodnesss for Naomi Watts - she carries the film. Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Enjoyed the heck out of this one tonight. The wife and I watched this a few nights ago, enjoyed it, too. Good flick - Bill Murray's character was great. Link to post Share on other sites
lamradio Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Just watched this film for the 3rd time last night... This is definitely one of my favorites of all time. It's also very underrated... Unfortunately a western without a lot of action doesn't appeal to most people. But this movie has everything.. Acting, beautiful cinematography, writing, etc... Of course Brad Pitt is excellent in it. If anyone is going to play a troubled, depressed outlaw it would be him. I also became a Casey Affleck fan after seeing this movie.. There's just something about him that creeps me out (in a good way). The dialogue in the movie is also brilliant.. It may be a little difficult to understand at times but that's exactly how they talked back then... There is a scene where Jesse gives Robert a gun for a gift, and Robert say's "Such Extravagance".. I'm on a Western fix right now... Next up: The Unforgiven. Link to post Share on other sites
Oil Can Boyd Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 A very good adaptation of a book that I thought was great. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I am of two minds regarding the willfully provocative, unflinching, hammering sensationalism of Gaspar Noe--I thought I Stand Alone offered worthwhile insights into the psyche of the marginalized, but thought Irreversible was exploitative and fatuous--and feel similarly divided about his latest movie. I can say that the formal audacity of Enter the Void definitely held me in its grip, even during its long, trippy, abstract sequences. It has a beauty all of its own. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 This is definitely one of my favorites of all time. It's also very underrated...Agreed. I actually teach that film now--we study it as an allegory for our modern celebrity culture--which means that I have the opportunity to watch it again and again and again. My admiration only grows. Link to post Share on other sites
u2roolz Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Agreed. I actually teach that film now--we study it as an allegory for our modern celebrity culture--which means that I have the opportunity to watch it again and again and again. My admiration only grows. I would also use that, if I taught. (speaking of which a job like yours just opened up around here, although there's more focus on the production side of things.) That was the main thing/theme running through my head when I watched that. It makes/made me wonder how Affleck's character would have found fame in that time. Would making the paper in his town be enough for him? I mean, he can't go out and buy every single paper back then. He would assume that people would know who shot Jessie James and that this would be immortalized. And if I recall correctly that's how the film portrays him in the last act. A Western that Lamrod should seek out is which has Western sensibilities mixed in with a few different genres in a modern day Australian setting. I still haven't seen The Proposition. It's sitting in my huge DVD turntable. Link to post Share on other sites
GtrPlyr Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Just finished watching a doc about The Monks: Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Watched The Messenger last night. Great performances from all involved, particularly Ben Foster. Heartrending scenes of loss, including one with an (I think) uncredited name actor that just cleaned me out emotionally. Great spirit and humanity overall, and not obvious in any sense. Link to post Share on other sites
Oil Can Boyd Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Pretty good documentary about a pretty interesting couple. On a pretty meager income they become important - and obsessive - art collectors. Link to post Share on other sites
Sweet Papa Crimbo Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Best FakeMovie PosterEver Link to post Share on other sites
Moss Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Maybe I was in the wrong mood, maybe I heard too much hype, but this was not all that great for me. Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Made something very fun out of a topic that is pretty serious.And, I have to say, that Robert Downey Jr. gives what may be my very favorite performance of his. He is one of my all-time favorite actors, and his Principal Gardener role is dead-on perfect as a dad and principal who is just a person and is totally lost as to exactly how to handle certain situations. To use an overused critics' phrase: there is a lot of subtlety and nuance in his performance that just makes it so completely dead-on. He acts exactly the way that I feel sometimes as both a father and a professional. A little bit lost, but still expected to have all the answers... he's just stopped looking for them.An amazing performance in a really, really good movie. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist is probably not a better film than his earlier The Triplets of Belleville, but it's a closer match to my own sensibilities--I really like reflective movies, cunning visual jokes, and anything reminiscent of Jacques Tati. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45_2ZZlbirY Alexei Popogrebsky's How I Ended This Summer is one of the best movies I've seen in ages--it has the primal simplicity of a fable, and the throat-tightening suspense of a thriller. It's also about the conflict between youth and experience, and the precarious nature of good timing. Link to post Share on other sites
El Picador Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45_2ZZlbirY Alexei Popogrebsky's How I Ended This Summer is one of the best movies I've seen in ages--it has the primal simplicity of a fable, and the throat-tightening suspense of a thriller. It's also about the conflict between youth and experience, and the precarious nature of good timing. I'm glad you mentioned this. My wife (Russian) saw this in the theater in Novosibirsk a couple years ago and highly recommended it. I downloaded it but wasn't able to find subtitles in English. Now I am reminded of this and need to go watch it. Thanks for the reminder and another great recommendation, Beltmann. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Thanks for the reminder The movie is gorgeous. It's set in Russia's remote, partly radioactive Chukotka region, and the crew actually trucked across the Arctic Ocean, Werner Herzog-style, to capture the fog, the steep cliffs, the polar bears, the blue water, the stone fields. Nevertheless, the main emphasis is really the internal landscapes of the characters. Link to post Share on other sites
u2roolz Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I think Beltmann is controlling my Netflix queue. I put on my Netflix last night after the hockey game and the first film to be recommended to me was this. I had never seen this listed before. Very weird. I'll check it out later on. I've been in a summer film mood. My friend usually picks a year and takes summer films from it, but I will pick and choose for now. Although, I've been sprinkling some "indies" here and there to break things up. I didn't like Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. It felt like a retread of Lost In Translation which was done brilliantly. This film felt too abstract and didn't seem as focused as the other one. I did enjoy Woody Allen's You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger and Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe. I finally caught up with David O. Russell's stunning directorial debut Spanking The Monkey. Definitely an uncomfortable film to sit through, but very worth it. Alberta Watson's mother ranks up there with Melissa Leo in The Fighter. I also went back and rewatched Noah Baumbach's Kicking And Screaming which I didn't really remember anything about it. It was terrific and doesn't feel like anything that he's put out in the last decade. Anyone can still relate to that post collegiate ennui that seems like a virus that can run through a group of friends. Lastly, I finally checked out Baumbach's Mr. Jealousy which was very well done. Edit: I also enjoyed the heck out of Middle Men that Luke Wilson "porn-on-the-net in the mid 90s = credit cards online" Casino/GoodFellas lite flick. I have yet to run out to Boston to see The Tree Of Life. Huge fan of Malick and I really should make the trip this week. What I loved in theaters: X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Thor,& Bridesmaids. Hated: The Hangover Part II (it's like watching a photocopy) and The Beaver (Mel Gibson's story isn't as well fleshed out as Jennifer Lawrence & Anton Yelchin's much better love story The film officially jumped the shark when Jodie Foster went down on Gibson (in their get-back-together-love-making-session) and Gibson's hand puppet looks at him and they both have that look of pleasure. It was like something out of a Mel Brooks' film.) Link to post Share on other sites
Oil Can Boyd Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 The Hangover Part II (it's like watching a photocopy) Agreed. I'm not going to say that I didn't laugh but I felt sort of used when it was over. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 In Marcel Carne's Port of Shadows (1938), Jean Gabin plays an Army deserter who winds up meeting other lonely souls at a bar run by a man named Panama. He falls in love with a local girl whose godfather (Michel Simon) is a cultured shopowner who may also have a shocking propensity for jealousy and violence. It's a brutal yet graceful, beautiful example of poetic realism. Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Roadie (1980) I have probably not seen that movie since, well, 1980. Funny stuff. And what other movie features Asleep At The Wheel, Blondie, and Meat Loaf all in the same scene? None. Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Super 8Excellent entertainment. Although, I have to say that, in the 2 days since I have seen it, it is not really sticking with me in the way that the best movies do. I don't find myself thinking about the flick much. And, there are also no truly memorable individual scenes that I keep coming back to.Nonetheless, if you catch a matinee, it's a really good way to kill a couple of hours on a rainy summer afternoon. Link to post Share on other sites
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