CityLights said: I've never watched Rain Man, but I think the reason for the powers is because they were basing that character on a famous "savant" who had an astonishing memory named Kim Peek. Except that Kim Peek was NOT autistic, and ONLY possessed a photographic memory, and not any of the other powers Raymond Babbit does, such as being a human calculator. Besides, the film didn't need any of that bullshit to tell a significant, heartfelt, interesting story. Focus Decided to rewatch a classic; 12 Angry Men (1957)- A dozen jurors decide whether a murder suspect is innocent or guilty. Virtually the entire movie takes place inside a single, small deliberation room, and consists of conversations between the men. I had seen this before, but when I was 14, in a class. I thought it was a very good picture, about how men rush to judgment, and make decisions based on emotion, only constructing valid, hard reasons after the fact. However, the movie has a lot more to it. Each juror symbolizes something different in society or the way it thinks, but is simultaneously realistic enough for the audience to recognize from their own lives. Juror #12 is an ad man with nothing to say about the case, who cracks jokes, plays Tic-Tac-Toe with Juror #3, and actually switches between "guilty" and "not guilty" a couple of times. He literally has nothing inside of his head, and either refuses, or is unable to pay any attention to the court proceedings. Not every juror arguing for a guilty verdict is wrong-headed or biased, either. Juror #4 is a calm, intelligent man who argues solely by the facts. Once enough reasonable objections have been made to the testimony, he changes his vote. Obviously, in a film based solely on these elements, the acting and dialogue is brilliant. It really does a great job of showing the typical way men argue and think. Henry Fonda is outstanding as Juror #7 and Lee J Cobb as the furious Juror #3, but so is everyone else. A truly amazing masterpiece; one of the rare pictures as exciting and pertinent today as it was over a half century ago. 90/100 |
| El Espinazo del Diablo (2001) |
| I don't go to theaters much these days, and it's been years since I watched two in a row there... The Town Follows a group of bank robbers from Charlestown, an area of Boston, as they commit heist after heist. It's a classic case of an average premise and script elevated by excellent humor, strong acting performances, and a little bit more attention to the details. In particular, Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm were both outstanding. Also, the presentation of the scenes and dialogue was awesome; Ben Affleck is no joke as a director. Taken together, these elements make the "same old" robberies and character interactions fresh and exciting, even if the ideas behind them are nothing new. In fact, I was all ready to call the film "great"...until they fucked it up. The ending was absolutely horrible. Anyways, it's still a good picture that's worth checking out. 72/100 Red- An action comedy which understands its fucking role as such; it never gets too serious, and always cracks a joke right when the melodrama appears to be building. Yes, it suffers from some predictable scenes and encounters, but the humor is solid throughout, the pace is perfect, and most importantly, it's understated. It doesn't try to be outrageous, or present its characters as overly macho badasses. John Malkovich is the comedy highlight, and it's great to see that Ernest Borgnine is not only alive, but reasonably healthy, too. It's a fun, silly little picture, without any real source for annoyance. 70/100 |
| Glad you liked The Town. It was the last film I saw at the cinema and I was pleasantly surprised. Peolpe have been comparing Ben Affleck to Clint Eastwood already and while that is jumping the gun a bit, he is definitely worth keeping an eye on. |
Touka said: Glad you liked The Town. It was the last film I saw at the cinema and I was pleasantly surprised. Peolpe have been comparing Ben Affleck to Clint Eastwood already and while that is jumping the gun a bit, he is definitely worth keeping an eye on. Heh, Affleck is compared to Eastwood? Their directing styles and strengths are completely different! But yes, from what I saw, Affleck is definitely skilled behind the camera. In fact, probably more than he is in front of it... Focus- Finally watched another classic; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Follows a couple of bank/train robbers, played immaculately by Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The movie is a motley collection of outstanding scenes, some slow and funny, others sudden, explosive, and tinged with tragedy. They're as diverse as can be, and all serve to show the changing life and surroundings of our two protagonists. The film provides consistently great humor and adventure, but as with all of GR Hill's works, there is the occasional, unexpected depth, seen here with the constant premonitions and warnings of Butch and Sundance's demise, as well as the appropriate, yet sad ending. Great stuff. 83/100 |
| Mutiny on the Bounty |
| 20th Century Boys: Chapter 1 (2008) |
| Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking your Juice in the Hood (1996)- A parody of early 90's black gangster/hood films like "Boyz in the Hood" and "Menace II Society". It's not a consistently good comedy, as certain scenes are either lame or overly silly, but there are some really funny moments. The Wayans do a solid job selling the material, and one's enjoyment is enhanced from watching the films it parodies. Near the end, the gangster swerves and running gags (especially the hood grannie) become predictable, but thankfully, the film ends soon after, at a mere 84 minutes, before wearing out its welcome. Decent. 63/100 |
| Citizen Kane (1941?) Due Date (2010) |
WilioNov 7, 2010 8:16 PM
| -Fixing- |
| Blaxploitation! Boss Nigger (1975)- At its best when it goes with a light-hearted vibe. Williamson is a bit weak, but his deputy (Durville Martin), is hilarious, and the main villain (William Smith) is also good. Sadly, the film is directed and edited poorly; certain scenes don't need to be in here, accomplishing nothing, while others go on for far too long. I also would have liked more fights, and just more worthwhile moments in general. It's watchable, but not even close to the best blaxploitation of that era. 46/100 Dolemite (1975)- Utterly awful, but HILARIOUSLY so. Contains some of the worst, most pathetic fight scenes ever filmed, inept, emotionless line readings of idiotic dialogue passed off as "acting", visible boom mics, drunk directing and editing, and a protagonist who never changes facial expression once throughout the whole film, and mainly just screams "MOTHERFUCKER!!!" But it's just so insanely funny because of it, that you can't call the film less than watchable. 52/100 |
| Chocolate (Prachya Pinkaew) 2.5/5 The Departed (Martin Scorcese) 3.5/5 Hana-Bi (Takeshi Kitano) 4.5/5 3:10 to Yuma (James Mangold) 3/5 Zodiac (David Fincher) 4/5 Das Leben der Anderen (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck) 3.5/5 Grown Ups (Dennis Dugan) 3/5 Dragons Forever (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo en Corey Yuen) 4/5 Love Exposure (Sion Sono) 4/5 Koktebel (Boris Khlebnikov en Aleksei Popogrebsky) 3.5/5 I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (Chan-wook Park) 4/5 Enter the Void (Gaspar Noe) 4.5/5 Memories of Murder (Joon-ho Bong) 4/5 La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer) 4.5/5 Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky) 4.5/5 A Bittersweet Life (Ji-woon Kim) 5/5 Huang Jia Shi Jie (Corey Yuen) 3/5 Eat, Pray, Love (Ryan Murphy) 2.5/5 Red (Robert Schwentke) 2/5 Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola) 3.5/5 Amazing Grace (Michael Apted) 4/5 Ticker (Albert Pyun) 1/5 Paprika (Satoshi Kon) 4/5 The Social Network (David Fincher) 4.5/5 The Town (Ben Affleck) 3/5 Yeo-haeng-ja (Ounie Lecomte) 4/5 The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky) 3/5 Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata) 4.5/5 Watchmen (Zack Snyder) 4.5/5 Goemon (Kazuaki Kiriya) 3.5/5 Loft (Erik Van Looy) 3.5/5 Up in the Air (Jason Reitman) 4/5 Unthinkable (Gregor Jordan) 4/5 Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright) 3.5/5 I Come with the Rain (Anh Hung Tran) 2.5/5 Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood) 3.5/5 Flightplan (Robert Schwentke) 3/5 Public Enemy Number One (Part 2) (Jean-François Richet) 3.5/5 |
 |
| And finally : Seven Samurai (1954 ) |
| -Fixing- |
YoungVagabond said: Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking your Juice in the Hood (1996)- A parody of early 90's black gangster/hood films like "Boyz in the Hood" and "Menace II Society". It's not a consistently good comedy, as certain scenes are either lame or overly silly, but there are some really funny moments. The Wayans do a solid job selling the material, and one's enjoyment is enhanced from watching the films it parodies. Near the end, the gangster swerves and running gags (especially the hood grannie) become predictable, but thankfully, the film ends soon after, at a mere 84 minutes, before wearing out its welcome. Decent. 63/100 Aha, Don't be a Menace. What a classic! I should really give it another viewing. Wilio said: And finally : Seven Samurai (1954 ) What did you think of it? ----- ...and wow bakayaro-dude that sure is a hell of a lot of films. I am surprised you can keep track of them all! The last films I watched were... Watchmen (2009) Zatoichi (2003) Without a Paddle (2004) Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (2009) |
Touka said: ...and wow bakayaro-dude that sure is a hell of a lot of films. I am surprised you can keep track of them all! There are a lot of sites to keep track of one's watched movies these days. Personally, I use Criticker, which was recommended to me by someone on this site. Focus- Bit of a borderline inclusion as a "movie", since it's a made for television documentary, but it was very good; Once Brothers (2010) Narrated by Vlade Divac, it's the story of the Yugoslavian national basketball team in the late 80s, early 90s, who won the world championship and featured numerous NBA stars around the same age, including Divac, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, and Drazen Petrovic. They were all very close, like brothers. However, when the Yugoslav Civil War began, their friendship ruptured, as Divac was a Serb, and the other were Croatian. Anyways, it's probably the best basketball documentary ever, even surpassing "Hoop Dreams". Does a great job presenting various emotions, whether it's the youthful camaraderie among the Yugoslavian national team, amazement at Petrovic's play, the tragedy of the civil war, the grief and sadness of lost friendships, and in the end, Petrovic's untimely death. It does an equally good job at connecting basketball to recent European history and politics, showing how it affects even those indirectly involved. An absolute must watch if you're a fan of basketball. 74/100 |
| I normally hate double posting, but it's time for a PSA; (you can thank me later) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)- Annoying, sissy hipster douchebag guy tries win to the love (fleeting interest) of annoying, bitchy hipster douchebag girl. Hilarity ensues. I was recommended this movie by several people, and each time I wondered how could possibly be any good. The comic is fucking atrocious, and every time I see Michael Cera, I wonder how the hell anyone could employ him as an extra, let alone anything requiring speech or facial expression. Well, I got my answer. It isn't. Cera is at his most brutal here, burying every single joke with a prayer of being funny, and totally sucking the life out of this film with his wooden attempts at being "awkward funny". Now, there are actors who can pull the latter off, like Woody Allen, Ricky Gervais, or Jesse Eisenberg. With Cera, part of the problem is how slow and mentally retarded he talks and looks at any given moment. The lead female, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, also had me scratching me my head on how the hell she was cast. She's just utterly lifeless, providing zero amusement or interest at any point in the film. Adding insult to injruy, she's not even that hot, nor does she show any skin. What the fuck was this no-talent, ordinary-looking moron doing here? This film's primary problem is how freaking BORING it is. Listen, I have played almost every single video game in the NES and SNES libraries on an emulator, and damn near every fighter ever made. However, putting video game music, graphical life bars, and injecting it into the fucking dialogue does NOT make a movie funny all by itself. It can ENHANCE scenes and gags that are already funny by themselves, but it cannot carry an entire film. The first 30 minutes of the film show damn near nothing except supposedly hilarious moments with the characters of Scott's small town. Problem is, none of the jokes, most taken directly from the comic, are any good. They're lame, and so are the characters. Now, something like a gay roommate could be funny, if it's written properly. But when we're expected to laugh by the mere existence of said gay roommate? That's fucking pathetic. Even after the fights start, the film keeps reverting back to this, and that's when there aren't empty, static scenes of Scott moping alone on a swing. Riveting entertainment, no? "But what about the fights? Aren't they fun?" Sadly, they might have been the biggest disappointment of the entire film. The choreography and stunt work is pathetic. Anytime you can clearly see Michael Cera (he does a few of his own stunts), it looks more lame and limp-dicked than something from Dolemite. The fights with the stunt doubles are routine and generic, a little bit worse than in the crappy knock-off US martial arts films of the early 90s. And just to utterly kill any possible amusement in them, they overuse smash cuts, so one often can't even see what is going on. There are bright colors, sure, and a few cool animations. Overall, though? It's an example of a decent director saddled with a horrendous cast and script, with neither the tools or know-how to film fight scenes. Avoid this garbage like the plague, and if you're morbidly curious, download that shit. 32/100 |
| @Touka : It made me realised how big my prejudice was toward Japan cinema. I should watch more japanese film. @YoungVagabond ; Scott Pilgrimm Well I thought the film was great. |
| -Fixing- |
| Joong-cheon (2006) Korean fantasy. Something like Couching Tiger ... |
| "Ugetsu" ...just watched it...beautiful movie |
| @touka Vagabond is right keep my watched films on a (dutch ) film site. The chaser (Hong-jin Na) 4/5 Once Upon A Time in America (Sergio Leone) 5/5 Lucky Number Slevin (Paul Mc Cuigan) 4/5 The Machinist (Brad Anderson) 3.5/5 Oh yeah also watched The street Fighter with Sonny Chiba that dude is so badass 4/5 |
David-XanatosNov 16, 2010 2:36 PM
|
| @YoungVagabond - Woah, sounds like Scott Pilgrim was quite the disappointment. A shame, because I really like Edgar Wright. I'll just wait for the DVD release. @Wilio - I am very glad you've opened up to Japanese cinema! It really is a diamond in the rough with ever-growing potential. Japanese films really do have a beauty and originality unlike any other. The last film I watched is probably a testament to that - it was All About Lily Chou-Chou and I am still in awe. It has been a while since I have seen such an affecting movie. It is quite dark, yet utterly beautiful, completely mesmerizing and wonderfully shot. Absolutely loved the cinematography and the soundtrack is a delight. I can't recommend this enough. |
| All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) You know when it's a critic of war when the american doesn't take their own army in a movie. Beside, it was a good film. Very interesting and well acted. |
| -Fixing- |
| Hana and Alice (2004) My second Shunji Iwai film, not as good as Lily Chou-Chou but still fantastic. Wonderfully shot and superbly directed as expected, plus both Anne Suzuki and Yuu Aoi are a delight. Loved the final ballet scene and the sequence with Alice and her father. Very subtle, very touching. |
| Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie) 3.5/5 Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn) 3.5/5 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch) 4/5 |
|
Wilio said: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) You know when it's a critic of war when the american doesn't take their own army in a movie. You aren't aware that it was adapted from a classic Eric Marie Remarque novel of the same name? bakayaro-dude said: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch) The movie mostly sucked, but it did have ONE really awesome scene that I will always remember. Sadly, that's probably the only reason to watch the movie, heh. |
| AvP: Redemption (2010) Fan made movie available here |
Wilio said: @Vagabond I'm full aware of it. Still, I have yet to see an american movie that takes the american army as a critic of world war I. In contrast, all the movies I've seen with the american army were about heroism and such (Sergeant York for example). So you've never watched "Apocalypse Now", "The Deer Hunter", "Full Metal Jacket", OR "Platoon"? (I think I just named the 4 most famous war movies of all time right there...) Man, I feel sorry for you. (No sarcasm) |
| - Waterboys (2001) - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) - The Bird People in China (1998) - Blue Spring (2001) |
| The Bird People in China and Blue Spring? I loved them both. I have seen Blue Spring before but quite some time ago. It is a surprisingly good adaptation for an anthology manga and although Taiyo Matsumoto is my favourite mangaka I am never worried about movies of his manga turning out bad for some reason. Ping Pong, Blue Spring, Tekkonkinkreet - they just work. The only thing I was disappointed about in Blue Spring was that the chase from the last chapter of the manga and the 'Revolver' chapters were never included. The film is short as it is and it wouldn't have been hard to include them, so that lets it down quite a bit in the opinion of someone who is a big fan of the manga. Also, I loved, loved, loved that they left in the shots of the planes that are always a recurring theme in Matsumoto's work. The last one is brilliant. I am still kind of letting The Bird People in China sink in but I was incredibly impressed. It takes you on a miraculous journey and the ending is absolutely wonderful. I was hooked all the way through and I am so glad Mako was cast in this film, he was fantastic along with the other two main actors. Maybe a little too early to say, but possibly my favourite from Miike. |
ToukaNov 26, 2010 5:45 AM
| Yankee Doodle Dandy |
| Sintel (2010) Short, animated movie made by Blender Foundation |
| More (1998) Quite possibly one of the best short films I have ever seen. |
| Black Book (Paul Verrhoeven) 3.5/5 The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen) 3.5/5 Dry Summer (Metin Erksan and David E. Durston) 3/5 Hable con Ella (Pedro Almodóvar) 4/5 Ratatouille (Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava) 3.5/5 Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow) 4/5 The Girl Who Leapt through Time (Mamoru Hosoda) 4/5 Gomorra (Matteo Garrone) 4/5 Kids Return(Takeshi Kitano) 3/5 Reprise (Joachim Trier) 4/5 The Housemaid (Ki-young Kim) 2.5/5 House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou) 3.5/5 Iron Monkey (Woo-ping Yuen) 4/5 Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood) 4/5 Sint (Dick Maas) 1/5 The Other Guys (Adam McKay) 3.5/5 Cloverfield (Matt Reeves) 4.5/5 Thirst (Chan-wook Park) 3.5/5 A Tale of Two Sisters (Ji-woon Kim) 4/5 Fair Game (Doug Liman) 3/5 Pi (Darren Aronofsky) 4.5/5 Buried (Rodrigo Cortés) 4/5 The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski) 3.5/5 Genius Party (Atsuko Fukushima, Shôji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa and Shinichirô Watanabe) 4/5 Munich (Steven Spielberg) 2.5/5 |
|
| - 11:14 (2003) - Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007) - Superbad (2007) - The Invention of Dr. Nakamats (2009) - Marley & Me (2008) - Four Lions (2010) |
| My Wife is a Gangster 2 (2003) - Korean The Divine Weapon (2008) - Korean A Scanner Darkly (2006) Windaria (1986) |
| I have watched a bunch of documentaries, as well as one really bad film. Documentaries; The Best that Never Was (2010) 76/100 Really good Through the Fire (2005) 73/100 Very good Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008) 65/100 Entertaining Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001) 50/100 Average, watchable Movie: 9 1/2 Ninjas (1991) 20/100 Really fucking bad. |
Avarance- said: Eureka (2000) No words Is that in a good or bad sense? |
| Fantasia |
| Seppuku (Masaki Kobayashi) 4.5/5 Artificial Intelligence: AI (Steven Spielberg) 3/5 Los Abrazos Rotos (Pedro Almodóvar) 4/5 Un Prophète (Jacques Audiard) 4/5 Café Lumière (Hsiao-hsien Hou) 2/5 Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Chan-wook Park) 3.5/5 Die Hard (John McTiernan) 2.5/5 Insomnia (Christopher Nolan) 3.5/5 |
|
| Spellbound |
| Annie Hall |
| Black Swan (2010)- A frigid, naive young ballerina gets the lead in a production of "Swan Lake", only she can't master the dark, sensual "black swan". As she loses herself in the role, and has to cope with Badgirl Ballerina Mila Kunis, Overbearing, Strict Mother, and Lecherous Asshole European Director, "psychological thrills" ensue. I wanted to like this film, folks. I really fucking did. I love fucked up fairy tales, disorientation, horror, everything. And I know most people watching "Black Swan" will piss themselves with how good and "terrifying" it is. Here's the problem; it's the most predictable, routine film imaginable. Every smash cut, every horrifying vision in a mirror...it's so damn cliche, so easy to spot. "Black Swan" raises an awful lot of tension, but nowadays, that's so easy. All it uses are the same quick cuts, focus changes, and scary images of any two-bit, throwaway horror film. And what about the pay-off? The goddamn punch line to it? Nothing...just the simplest, most banal ending. Lots of cheap horror movie tension and little else. The whole time I was watching the clichefest, I was remembering "Perfect Blue". A cheap animated movie from the late 90s, not a star-studded Hollywood $13 million picture with a score by Clint Mansell. But everything that "Black Swan" failed at, "Perfect Blue" succeeded in. 50/100 2010 continues to disappoint! |
| Sunshine (2007) Speed Racer (2008) The Dark Knight (2008) Metropia (2009) Angel-a (2005) Next movie on my list is Haze. Good movie for Christmas. Horror ^^ |
| Centurion(2010) - it had some ok and unexpected gory scenes but overall it kinda sucked monkey ballz |
| Lets try and remember... - An Education (2009) - War of the Buttons (1994) - Into the Wild (2007) - Last Life in the Universe (2003) - Tokyo Sonata (2008) - Spider-Man 2 (2004) - Shrek Forever After (2010) - The Expendables (2010) - Four Lions (2010) - Inception (2010) - Insomnia (2002) - Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - Men in Black II (2002) Probably forgetting a few, but Tokyo Sonata was by far my favourite. What a wonderful film. |
| Fear of a Black Hat (1994)- A mockumentary following bumbling, stereotypical rap group NWH (Niggaz with Hats), done in a similar style to "This is Spinal Tap". It's simple, predictable, but well-executed humor, and the short song snippets go great with the funny one-liners. Some of the jokes fail, and others are just repetitive, but it's fast-paced enough to never get boring, and ends on a strong note. And on the plus side, even someone like myself, who doesn't listen to rap, understood virtually all the references to NWA, Easy E, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, MC Hammer etc. A funny, amusing parody, but nothing special, either. Check it out on Youtube if you're bored. 65/100 |
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