Cinemexperience: part deux., Some more filums you saw. Options

[blackcherry]

I should watch Zombieland, Survival of The Dead and The Poseidon Adventure as research for various shows. However, I want to watch The Departed and Shutter Island instead this weekend.

[maian]

I'm hopefully seeing Shutter Island this evening, if my housemate gets back to me. I'm looking forward to it; the book is a good little B-movie inspired romp, and what I've heard makes it seem like the film will be in a similar vein.

[curtinparloe]

'The Ugly Truth' (2009)

One of the most objectionably sexist and offensive films I've ever seen. Jaw droppingly bad. The restaurant scene where Gerard Butler is remote controlling Katherine Heigl's vibrating underpants is unbelievably awful.

Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves

The worst thing about the movie is that Heigl's character is so unlikeable, you feel like she deserves all bad things that happen Gerard Butler's the best thing in it.

[Sean of the Dead]

Vertigo
Went to see this at the cinema as part of a school trip. The print was terrible and I had seen it many times before anyway, so I had a little sleep during it and woke up during the dream sequence. Disorientating.

[maian]

I'm hopefully seeing Shutter Island this evening, if my housemate gets back to me. I'm looking forward to it; the book is a good little B-movie inspired romp, and what I've heard makes it seem like the film will be in a similar vein.

I saw it, and it was.

It was strange watching it, because the film seems like one that is best viewed if you have read the book already, or if you are watching it for the second time. If I was watching it without any prior knowledge, I'd probably have found it really predictable (you can suss out the secret of Shutter Island in the first 15 minutes) whilst also quite baffling, since it diverges a lot on its path to revealing that slightly too obvious secret. Scorsese throws hallucinations, lucid dream sequences, even trees at Leonardo DiCaprio, the federal marshall assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a patient at Ashecliffe mental hospital on Shutter Island, most of which never really impact or advance the plot so much as they extend the running time.

However, the most important thing to point out about the film is that it's a fun ride. I knew where it was going - as did my friend, who hadn't read the book but guessed the ending early on - but we both enjoyed seeing how the film worked its way to its climax. Scorsese is clearly enjoying being able to play around in a genre which he has never really tried his hand at before, and the film is delightfully unrestrained in the way that it embraces the pulpy story. Now that he's got his Oscar, Scorsese doesn't seem to want to make his film feel overly serious, instead offering up a lurid and oftentime silly tale of paranoia, gothic horror and Hitchcockian thriller.

In some ways, it's Scorsese's 'The Shining'; a master director turning their hand to horror with pulpy source material and crafting a film that is perfectly in keeping with their own distinct style. It's nowhere near as scary as The Shining, but it's an atmospheric and thoroughly entertaining experience, so long as you don't go in expecting it to be one of Scorsese's more significant films.

This post has been edited by maian: Mar 20 2010, 12:27 AM

[Henry Krinkle]

'Observe and Report' (2009)

Utterly baffling shifts in tone and pointlessly offensive and provocative scenes make this a real lowlight in Seth Rogen's otherwise pretty decent back catalogue. It actually contains a 'comic' scene in which Rogen has sex with an unconscious Anna Faris.

Is all this shit supposed to be ironic now? Because it ain't right and it sure ain't funny.

I saw this at the pictures.
We were the only ones in there.

Seth Rogens trademark big lovable goofball persona from his previous films is the only thing that buys him any goodwill in this movie.
That, and the scene where they beat some kids to a pulp.
Ever since kids made Will Ferrell lick that dogs egg in Step Brothers I've hated kids. Indiscriminately.

[PrincessKate]

I watched most of The Magdalene Sisters last night, what an extraordinarily harrowing film it is. It's also interesting how we tend to associate the laundries with Ireland when they existed all over Europe well into the 20th century.
Such amazing performances though, it's a rare film that when I watch it, I honestly forget that they're acting - Geraldine McEwan and Anne-Marie Duff in particular were mesmerising.

[logger]

Dead Ringers

Probably the best obsessive, drug addicted, insane twin gynecologists movie. Jeremy Irons is incredible twice over in David Cronenberg's best film. Forget Requiem For A Dream, this is the real deal.

(you can suss out the secret of Shutter Island in the first 15 minutes)

I didn't even know it was a book until after I had seen the film but I pretty much guessed the ending whilst they were still on the boat to Shutter Island at the beginning, but like you say, it's not the conclusion that matters but the fun getting there.

[maian]

Discussion of Shutter Island:

One of the things I found most interesting about it was that a lot of the performances in the film benefit from knowing the secret, since it turns them from being wooden and awkward to surprisingly nuanced; Mark Ruffalo's inflections are flat because he's a doctor trying to play up to his role, and as the film progresses he gets more assured because he's getting the hang of acting his role for the benefit of 'Teddy', but in the view of Teddy they just make him seem like he's over-compensating.

[Raven]

More Studio Ghibli, Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns.

Two good films, the animation in Whisper of the Heart is gorgeous.

And Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Good lord, how crap were the other kids that went up against Danny Radcliff?!

[Ade]

More Studio Ghibli, Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns.

Two good films, the animation in Whisper of the Heart is gorgeous.

Have you purchased the Ghibli Complete Collection Box Set recently or summink? Not that it matters. But a bonus 'woo' if you have. And I agree totally with your earlier comments re: Totoro.

[Raven]

Have you purchased the Ghibli Complete Collection Box Set recently or summink? Not that it matters. But a bonus 'woo' if you have. And I agree totally with your earlier comments re: Totoro.

I bought up eight of their films a year or two ago in the post-Christmas sales after seeing Spirited Away, but I'm only now getting around to watching them. I still have Princess Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies to watch (I've previously seen Princess Mononoke on TV though).

After that, I have a few other titles to pick up!

[fatseff1234]

I bought up eight of their films a year or two ago in the post-Christmas sales after seeing Spirited Away, but I'm only now getting around to watching them. I still have Princess Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies to watch (I've previously seen Princess Mononoke on TV though).

After that, I have a few other titles to pick up!

Nausicaa and Laputa FTW!

[logger]

Casino

After today's football I decided to cheer myself up by watching three hours of effing, jeffing and killings.

[sweetbutinsane]

A Beautiful Mind

It was good, though it did depress me quite a bit at certain points.