Movies

[Sierra]

It's not truly a Darren Aronofsky movie if it doesn't make you feel bad about being alive.

[Idun]

Black Swan

Fantastic

Also a horror film.  Did not realize it was a horror film.  (I didn't sleep, and had a 7:30 appointment this morning).

Oh no, you didn't sleep because of the movie?! *I* had to resist getting a drink later on, because apparently someone sitting in front or to the right of me had been drinking a bunch of tequila. I wanted to lean over and ask if you smelled that whenever someone opened their mouths.

The casting for the two main characters was on point. I'm not much of a fan of Natalie Portman. For example, I feel the best role she's played up 'til Nina in Black Swan was in The Professional (which is an awesome movie in every respect). But being able to play a meek, sexually repressed overachiever with hallucinations worked out great. I'm also amazed at how much weight she's lost for the movie! I checked to see if there were any stand-ins, because ballet is some physically demanding stuff, and yep. Though apparently Kunis's stand-in was used much more, and Portman's was used after over-exhaustion in wide scenes?

I still want a solid answer for the ending, dammit. Considering what happened to the Old Swan Queen, Portman should have been okay? I want her to be okay, rather . . seeing all the crap she went through. But I suppose you can't be "perfect," every time.

[Captain K.]

Wait, Black Swan is a horror film?  Wow are they ever marketing that incorrectly.

[Sierra]

Tron Legacy: So this was good mindless fun. It looks super cool and the music is hypnotic (I obviously need to listen to more Daft Punk). Visual effects don't impress me much these days, but style does; I still love the aesthetics of the original, dorky as it was, and it's very nice to see it lovingly reimagined with the best Hollywood can afford. I don't normally put much stock in nostalgia, but I have to admit to sitting there with a big dumb smile when we first got to the grid. It's beautifully gloomy. It helps that, unlike every other 80's nostalgia cash-in to roll out in the last couple years, it does something other than just produce flashier explosions, and tries to actually add to the original material. It doesn't always make sense, but it doesn't spend more time beating you with exposition than it really needs to, so that's kind of okay.

Not without some bumps along the way, mind. I went back and read Snowfire's spoiler text, and yeah, all of those are valid criticisms. Last battle would've been more satisfying to see play out mano a mano than as a shmup. Still pretty entertaining, just a little sad that dramatic impact could've been maximized there and wasn't.

Also, Jeff Bridges was seriously channeling The Dude here. There were so many times his inflection (and sometimes the actual dialogue) sounded right from an older, world-weary, messianic Lebowski. Was also surprised and pleased that they didn't play the girl as the stereotypical badass/femme fatale the design led me to expect. Actually fairly endearing.

Had to laugh at the eighties music playing on the jukebox at Flynn's when he turned the power on. I don't know why, really, just Separate Ways isn't something I expect to hear in a movie in 2011. (Totally a guilty pleasure song.)

[Captain K.]

Season of the Witch:  Not too bad, better than I was expecting.  Nicolas Cage is OVERLY DRAMATIC MAN, but Ron Fucking Perlman makes up for him.

I'm really getting tired of the "possessed people crawl on walls like spiders" special effect.  Seems like it pops up way too often in movies.

[Cmdr_King]

Toy Story 3-  Don't often watch Pixar, but still this struck me as uncommonly good as standardized Pixar goes. Though still no Incredibles (shock, CK is biased towards unabashed super hero sendup)

[Idun]

- Harry and the Henderson's - 3/5. My boyfriend's favorite childhood movie. I was under-impressed. I didn't like Harry one bit.

- Race to Witch Mountain - 2/5. Boring.

- Explicit Ills - 2/5. For a connective narrative, the execution was very ineffective for the fall out in the end.

- Coco Before Chanel - 3/5. Nothing to really say about the movie . .  best wardrobe, perhaps? I am, indeed, a fan of Audrey Tautou.

Next up, A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop, starting season 2 of Spartacus, Fish Tank, L'Auberge Espangnole . .  and maybe something on my instant queue.

[Sierra]

Most favored childhood movies don't stand up too well twenty years later. Well, plenty of 'em from the eighties don't, at least.

Anyway, I watched Ed Wood recently for the first time in a while (best movie either Tim Burton or Johnny Depp ever made, by the way), which naturally led to me watching Plan 9 for the first time in a while (I own both of these, had just been a few years). You know, as bad as the effects were even for the fifties, it's the dialogue in this movie that always gets me. There's a special kind of badness here that I don't think any other filmmaker's ever truly reproduced.

"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future."

!

"That's the most fantastic story I've ever heard." "And every word of it is true." "That's what makes it so fantastic!"

!!

"One thing's for sure: Inspector Clay's dead. Murdered. ...And someone's responsible."

!!!

So inevitably I decided I needed to watch more Ed Wood after that (the only other one I'd seen was The Sinister Urge, and that on MST3K), and rented Bride of the Monster. There's no narration in this one, which is sad because Ed Wood narration is really special, but Lugosi looks like he was having a lot of fun at least. I totally need to avatar him in hypno mode. Also monster finds its conscience through the power of ANGORA, which is such a ridiculously obvious case of author fetish as plot device that I laugh just thinking about it.

Best line: "This swamp is a monument to death. Snakes, alligators, quicksand, all bent on one thing: destruction."

Glen or Glenda next.

[Shale]

Despicable Me: Lots of fun, even if it wasn't as supervillainy as I'd hoped (which is kind of surprising seeing as the movie centers on a plot to steal the moon, but it's true).

[Captain K.]

Red:  Hilarious.  Ugly Old Men (and woman) are awesome.

[Captain K.]

Decided to skip the Super Bowl and spend the day at the movies instead.

The Green Hornet:  Completely awesome.  Note to self:  make sure all future cars are front-wheel drive.

The Rite:  A disturbing lack of Anthony Hopkins crawling on the wall like a spider.

[Idun]

I finally saw Capitalism, a Love Story - and then I watched Restrepo.

Much better than his last infamous film - better music, better editing, better interview dialogue, better similes and allusions . . .
I'm obviously biased because I would describe myself as a Democratic Socialist. I loathe Capitalism - I believe the theoretical free market economy does not mingle at all with a Democratic society. America is a great example where it shows that those who have money have power, and despite our vote, it's been proved to be overridden in favor for corporate America. I don't want to get into it much, or debate . .  but I fucking hate "our" Capitalism. 5/5

Restrepo. Another documentary. If you want to know what it looks like, what the atmosphere is like for our troops in Afghanistan, this is the movie. 5/5.

[Veryslightlymad]

I've been watching movies lately.

The Corporation: Recommended to Idunie, based on her watching Capitalism, a Love Story. It's another damning anti-capitalism piece. Well, a damning anti-corporate capitalism piece. I'd argue that true capitalism is the thriving of a multitude of SMALL businesses, but I digress.

Something about Jack Abramoff I can't remember: Turned this off because it made me SO FREAKING UNCOMFORTABLE.

Jesus Camp: Was really hoping that this would follow SEVERAL of the camps and show things, but it only focused on one, specific Jesus Camp, which is, I mean, you can't make too much of a documentary about that. EVERYONE knows that there are crazy radicals of EVERY religion. The premise of this one was that there were tons of kids being indoctrinated into, not necessarily Christian beliefs so much as Conservative Republican beliefs, shamelessly using their religion as an intermediary. Unfortunately, since it only focuses on one Camp, it really strains that message. I mean, yeah! OK. One place CLEARLY does it. But if you want to make people care about something or feel moral outrage or whatever you're trying to do, you have to prove that it's a larger trend, and the film didn't do that. So without additional proof, I'll call this one propaganda.

Cabiria: Silent film, watched for a class I just dropped. Pretty weird movie. Never seen a silent film, but I was pretty impressed by some of the stuff that this was able to pull off during the time period, because there's some damn good special effects in this film. I was also kind of amazed to see a scene where they were sacrificing children in a giant incinerator. You'll never see that today, even with the disturbing rise in torture porn flicks. This is a pretty decent film, for a silent film, but silent films can be a real drain to watch, because the music score is repetitive, and the narration cards stay on the screen for an insultingly long time. The whole process is an ordeal and to be honest, I took a nap in the middle of it.

Good Will Hunting: One of my shrinks told me to watch this movie, I dunno which one, there's a not insignificant chance they BOTH did. Great film. I love me some Damon and Affleck goodness. And Minnie Driver is always welcome. Robin Williams does an excellent job at NOT being Robin Williams, and showing off a little range, and the whole movie hit very close to home, since like Will, I've been waffling around on a lot of potential, not really doing anything with it, and living miserably, when I could be out being practically anything I want to be. It really made me sit up and take notice, and started getting me to re-evaluate some decisions I've made. If I drop out of college, it very well might be Ben Affleck's fault. That mother fucker.

Conversations With Other Women: Really interesting movie for the art-fag in me that remembers being a film major. Aaron Eckhart is one of my favorite actors, so I knew going in that I was probably going to like this, but I was really intrigued by it. To be honest, the split screen didn't do much for me, but the story is still really OK. At the end of the film, it struck me that several characters were named, but neither of the main characters were. Yet those were the ones I cared about. That was a slick touch. Overall, this is an excellent movie that any art-fag like me would probably like.

Solitary Man: Dunno why I watched this. Indy kick, I guess. Good enough movie. Nothing really good or bad about it. It wasn't boring. Michael Douglas did a pretty nice job. Basically, a guy learns he has some kind of heart condition and might need some tests, and he says "Fuck it", never gets his tests, and spends the next six and a half years drinking, fucking much younger women, and becoming totally corrupt in what used to be a very successful business built on honesty. Naturally, this destroys his life.

The Education of Charlie Banks: Jesse Eisenberg kick, apparently, since he was in Solitary Man, too. This was.... wow. This was a really fucking amazing movie. Basically from start to finish I felt this one deep in the pit of my gut. Just extremely emotional and understated. Amazingly, this gem was directed by Fred fucking Durst, of all people. I really couldn't believe it. Anyhow, this may be the best movie I've ever seen, up there with Hero.

[Sierra]

Cabiria: Silent film, watched for a class I just dropped. Pretty weird movie. Never seen a silent film, but I was pretty impressed by some of the stuff that this was able to pull off during the time period, because there's some damn good special effects in this film. I was also kind of amazed to see a scene where they were sacrificing children in a giant incinerator. You'll never see that today, even with the disturbing rise in torture porn flicks. This is a pretty decent film, for a silent film, but silent films can be a real drain to watch, because the music score is repetitive, and the narration cards stay on the screen for an insultingly long time. The whole process is an ordeal and to be honest, I took a nap in the middle of it.

If you get it into your head to watch another silent movie, make sure it's Metropolis. Everyone should see Metropolis.

[Clear Tranquil]

So I picked up the Book of Eli and the Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus from the bargain buy shelf. Which should I watch first?

[OblivionKnight]

Zombieland

[Cmdr_King]

How to Train Your Dragon- fairly average, standard movie.  Probably one that wasa  lot better in theaters, what with the extended flight sequences.  Still, cute parts, I liked the montage of him basically doing naturalist stuff on the dragons.

[Grefter]

If you don't want to be supremely let down when you watch the second movie, watch Book of Eli first, because Imaginarium of Dr Parnasus is awesome.

[Hunter Sopko]

The Brothers Bloom: Awesome movie, plus you get a shot of Rachel Weisz's ass! How can you go wrong?

[Shale]

The Social Network: Good stuff. Well-written, acted, the whole bit. No particular moment or element really wowed me, but it adds up to a solid whole. Reading up on the real people, I was amused that one of the things Zuckerberg took public issue with is that the movie supposedly says he started Facebook "to get girls" when it does the exact opposite. He comes off as a clueless sociopath, not a skirt-chaser.

[superaielman]

Bourne Supremacy - Good enough.  It was highly entertaining and had decent pacing, though it did suffer some problems with poor lighting at points.

[Shale]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Probably the best HP movie I've seen thus far (so, not including HBP and DH Part 1). Streamlines the plot well, good casting, friggin' awesome visual effects and setpiece scenes. The fight in the department of mysteries deserves the hype it got, and compressing the timeline a bit did wonders for its setup to boot.

Unbreakable: More good than bad. It's the first M. Night Shyamalan movie I've seen, so I wasn't prepared for his methodical (to be kind about it) pacing, and the payoff for the movie is in the freaking end credits, which is stupid. Still, it was a pretty unique take on the genre and they obviously had fun setting up the last twist.

[Grefter]

True Grit - Finally watched it this week, been mulling it over this week.  I enjoyed it and it is a good movie.  The ending is pretty bad though.  The prologue 30 years later stuff is alright, but the climax and general ending of the story is really really meh.  All the way up to it though?  Great.

Regarding the stuff about the lead actress?  Personally I found the way she spoke quite fine.  It is all very formal, but she is a clearly intelligent young girl who is well read and most importantly that I think most people seem to be missing, associates with adults far more than she does other teenagers.  She is pretty spot on for a kid like that.  Expanded vocab that they flex far more than is really appropriate and prevents actual effecient communication is a pretty tell tale sign of it.

[superaielman]

Bourne Ultimatum- Thought it was better than the second. Julia Stiles was pretty awful, but they kept her dialog to an absolute minimum. Chase scenes were better than the second, and the payoff was better as well.

[Sierra]

Unbreakable: More good than bad. It's the first M. Night Shyamalan movie I've seen, so I wasn't prepared for his methodical (to be kind about it) pacing, and the payoff for the movie is in the freaking end credits, which is stupid. Still, it was a pretty unique take on the genre and they obviously had fun setting up the last twist.

Personally didn't mind the ending bit. The payoff for me was "Now that we know who you are, I know who I am." Although there was surely a more elegant way to end it than with captions, I really don't think there needed to be much of anything after that meeting.

~

Glen or Glenda: Wow. WOW. I've seen plenty of bad movies before. I've seen Ed Wood movies before. But I remain impressed almost beyond words at the overwhelming incompetence displayed in this production. It's an inspiring jumble from start to finish, a miracle of bad plotting and awkward presentation no other human being could've possibly produced. An impassioned, documentary-style plea for tolerance of crossdressing shoehorned into a grade-Z exploitation flick, starring the writer/director...in drag. And that would be recipe enough for self-indulgent trainwrecking, but it's also just so mindbogglingly incoherent in the way it's put together that I just sat there slackjawed the whole time, amazed that this movie even existed.

Bela Lugosi's some kind of magician or something who can make people disappear and utters the most baffling narration in cinematic history, it's like a quarter of the way into this hour-long movie before our title character even makes an appearance, and oh during a post-suicide scene here's a shot of a radiator for no god-damned reason at all, also here's some stock footage of stampeding buffalo, why was the devil the best man at the wedding I don't understand--and eventually we get to the part where the producer said, "There are supposed to be tits in this movie. Where are the tits," so then we get five minutes of Wood and Lugosi watching various striptease and S&M acts, and PULL THE STRING, PULL THE STRING.

Five stars, this was pretty special. "Only the infinity of the depths of the human mind can tell the whole story." You said it, Eddie.