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

[Sostie]

Mission Impossible 4
Will they ever surprise us, live up to the title, and fail. Entertaining enough

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
I've heard of Tim & Eric. I knew what they looked like. But I'd never seen any of their work. Decided to watch this following a fairly amusing trailer, and like a lot of movies the trailer was funnier than the actual movie. Not even the likes of Will Ferrell and John C Reilly could rescue it. As for Tim & Eric, they're a poor man's Vic & bob.

Darkest Hour
Some unlikeable Americans and an Australian get stuck in Moscow during an invasion by some invisible aliens. Dull.

Gregory's Girl
Every time I watch this (must be over 20 times now) I come to the same conclusion. An almost perfect movie.

The Grey
A plane crashes in Alaska and the 7 survivors are hunted down by a pack of wolves. Had this taken a typical "Hollywood" approach this could have been terrible (it's directed by the man that gave us the A-Team movie). Turns out it is surprisingly un-Hollywood. The sort of film that a decade or so ago would have been an Art House breakout film. Top 10 Films of the year contender.

[NiteFall]

I also watched The Grey and was surprised at just how good it is. Although were anyone to ask me whether they should watch it my reply would just be "Liam Neeson punches out a wolf". If that image doesn't make you want to watch it then nothing will.

[widowspider]

The Hunger Games - There were several bits where I thought "I guess that goes into more detail in the books", such as the lead character's completely superfluous best friend back home, played by an actor far too handsome for such a minor role so I assume he's bigger in the sequel.

Correct. In the books there's also a lot more stuff at the beginning with him, before the Reaping. But his role is much expanded in Catching Fire.

[sweetbutinsane]

I also watched The Grey and was surprised at just how good it is. Although were anyone to ask me whether they should watch it my reply would just be "Liam Neeson punches out a wolf". If that image doesn't make you want to watch it then nothing will.

Sold!

[maian]

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
I've heard of Tim & Eric. I knew what they looked like. But I'd never seen any of their work. Decided to watch this following a fairly amusing trailer, and like a lot of movies the trailer was funnier than the actual movie. Not even the likes of Will Ferrell and John C Reilly could rescue it. As for Tim & Eric, they're a poor man's Vic & bob.

I've not seen the movie yet, but their shows are pretty good. I imagine that their style probably is a bit much over a whole film, but in ten-minute chunks it works pretty well. Though Awesome Show, Great Job! is nowhere near as good as Tom Goes To The Mayor or Check It Out With Doctor Steve Brule, which has the distinct advantage of just being ten-minute installments of John C. Reilly acting weird.

A Woman Is A Woman (1961)

Jean-Luc Godard film in which Anna Karina has a fight with her boyfriend (Jean-Claude Brialy) when he says that he doesn't want to have children, and she winds up finding herself torn between him and his best friend (Jean-Paul Belmondo, effortlessly cool as always). I'm sure it was ground-breaking at the time, and the way it plays with the form of the romantic comedy and the musical is interesting, but it all felt a little forced, with the constant self-aware moments - such as characters discussing Breathless or Jules et Jim - feeling a little on the nose. Some very good moments, but it feels less like a great film than a film which did something new and interesting which other people improved on.

Slacker (1990)

Richard Linklater follows a bunch of aimless arty types through the streets of Austin as they have a whole load of bizarre, amusing conversations. It's easy to see why it has had a huge impact since the incredibly lo-fi, low incident style seems like the sort of thing that just about anyone could do - Kevin Smith, amongst others, have cited it as a film that convinced them that they could make a film as well - but the film still works because it's really entertaining. The conversations never last too long, so even if one of them is dull or the characters are insufferable, another one will be along in a few minutes that might work, and the shaggy, hazy feel to the film is really charming.

[Serafina_Pekkala]

I don't think Slacker has dated very well at all.

Ides of March
Gosling is really good in this political thriller but I feel like something is missing here. The film only really got underway towards the end and spends too much time on the preamble. I do think Clooney is a great director and he is amazing in this role, which makes the movie even more disappointing. However - it is still a sophisticated viewing. Seeing the American election business is underway for the GOP - this is strangely appropriate. The supporting cast is awesome - particularly Giamatti go against Seymour Hoffman onscreen. Evan Rachel Wood is her usually coquettish self but only really steps up when her character has more to do. This would have been a better film if it had started about 2/3 of the way in and focused on the relationship between Gosling and Clooney AFTER the catalyst. Onscreen, they have amazing chemistry.

This post has been edited by Serafina_Pekkala: Apr 12 2012, 10:09 AM

[maian]

I don't think Slacker has dated very well at all.

I'd probably agree with that, but that's also part of what I like about it. It's so completely of its time, in terms of the characters it is depicting and the style of it, that I find it really interesting as an artifact of its day, and doubly so when considered in the context of American independent film and the importance that a lot of people have put on it since. It's weird to think that a film which is so artless, in a way, could be considered so seminal. More importantly, though, I do find it really entertaining as well as being really interesting from an historical context.

Red State (2010)

The best film Kevin Smith has made since Dogma. That is admittedly damning with faint praise, especially since the film itself is very, very flawed, but after watching Smith coast for the better part of a decade, it's exciting seeing him stretch outside of his comfort zone to tackle a subject that he clearly feels very strongly about. It helps that he's got Michael Parks as the leader of a religious cult that is two-part Westboro to one-part Branch Davidian giving one hell of a central performance. The 20-minute long sermon that he gives near the start of the film completely destroys any pacing the film might have, but it's also really mesmerizing, putting across nicely how someone so clearly crazy could have such complete control over their followers. The film doesn't have an ending and it loses its way once the ATF show up, but it's at the very least an interesting film.

The Baxter (2005)

The Baxter has a great cast - including Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Williams, Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux, as well as pretty much everyone from The State in one role or another - and a really terrific concept but the execution is really lacking. Showalter (who also directed and wrote the film) stars as Elliott, a self-described "Baxter", which refers to the wrong guy that the female lead of every rom-com nearly ends up with before the man they're meant to be with shows up to steal them away. By trying to tell the story of the guy who doesn't get the girl, Showalter tries to skewer the tropes of the romantic comedy genre but doesn't really go far enough in his satire, in the end creating a rom-com that is a little more self-aware and which has a slightly harder edge, but ultimately doesn't have the real bite to it that the set-up suggests. Still, it gets points for using Beautiful Child by Rufus Wainwright.

[logger]

North By Northwest

Cary Grant and James Mason have an absurd accent-off in Hitchcock's most McGuffinest film*.



*possibly, although I'm sure people willing to give it more thought than me will know of another

[Everlong]

Thor

This seemed to have got a bit of hate when it came out, but I liked it. Fun, even if there wasn't that much story. And Tom Hiddleston was good as Loki 'n' all.

Really want to see The Avengers now.

[logger]

A Night to Remember

I'm not saying James Cameron ripped this film off when he made Titanic, how many different ways can you re-tell the same, real life event that occurred in under less than a couple of hours, but James Cameron ripped this off when he made Titanic. And why wouldn't he, it's not only the best film about the Titanic, it's also just a very good film. I was surprised at just how good it was. It simply tells the story in a brisk and entertaining manner, with a lightness of touch it can get away with brief moments of sentimentality and even humour, letting the weight of the situation carry everything and a skillful cast and crew who know what they're doing.

The one thing I'll give Cameron credit for is that he knew that the most famous maritime disaster in history, in which 1500 people died wouldn't be quite dramatic enough, so he added a retarded romance full of Celine Dion, evil butlers and Billy Zane looking smug, because people are morons and now he's insanely wealthy.

[Julie]

Fuuuucckkkk... Cabin In The Woods was some good, fun, messed up stuff.

[gulfcoast_highwa...]

A Night to Remember

I'm not saying James Cameron ripped this film off when he made Titanic, how many different ways can you re-tell the same, real life event that occurred in under less than a couple of hours, but James Cameron ripped this off when he made Titanic. And why wouldn't he, it's not only the best film about the Titanic, .....

Except for Time Bandits.

[Raven]

A Night to Remember

I'm not saying James Cameron ripped this film off when he made Titanic . . .

But he did, even to the point of nicking several sections of dialogue word-for-word.

The one thing I'll give Cameron credit for is that he knew that the most famous maritime disaster in history, in which 1500 people died wouldn't be quite dramatic enough, so he added a retarded romance full of Celine Dion, evil butlers and Billy Zane looking smug, because people are morons and now he's insanely wealthy.

I was thinking, after watching the end of ITV's Titanic last night and the Titanic Voices program that followed, that someone really should just do a straight dramatised retelling of what actually happened. Get rid of all the loved-up couples and just tell the actual story.

Except for Time Bandits.

Which was on Film 4 yesterday afternoon. I wonder if that piece of scheduling was deliberate?

[sweetbutinsane]

A Scanner Darkly

Drugs are bad. And funny.

[logger]

The Cabin in the Woods

It was okay but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed after all the good things I'd heard. It just wasn't sharp enough, the script wasn't funny enough, the jumps weren't scary enough, there wasn't enough tension, it took way too long to set itself up, but probably its biggest flaw was that I really didn't care about anybody in it, (in fact, I wanted some to die as soon as they opened their mouths, Stoner Dude) which meant that by the time all hell broke loose the film had pretty much lost me.

Like I said, it's okay and if you don't have particularly high expectations it's diverting enough, but comparisons to Scream, whilst obvious, are totally undeserved, for me it's not even up to Scream 4. Which is all kind of a pity as it was a neat idea and you really could have done so much more. A bit of a wasted opportunity, really.

This post has been edited by logger: Apr 17 2012, 05:07 PM