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

[widowspider]

The Faculty

The best cast in the world, ever, star in this Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers b-movie fest. Some good examples of different b-genres, high school, sci fi, horror and the best homage to The Thing I've seen with the 'Let's see who's really real' scene.

It's the first time I've seen it and I thought it was pretty great.

Such a great film.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe fuck yourself.

Best line of the movie.

[Sostie]

Such a great film.

It certainly is. But then it's difficult to make a total balls-up with an Invasion Of The Bodysnathchers template.

Why doesn't Clea Duvall get more work. Haven't seen her since the 1st season of Heroes.

[Kick in the Head]

It certainly is.  But then it's difficult to make a total balls-up  with an Invasion Of The Bodysnathchers template.

Why doesn't Clea Duvall  get more work.  Haven't seen her since the 1st season of Heroes.

Well there's always Carnivale...

[logger]

Why doesn't Clea Duvall  get more work.  Haven't seen her since the 1st season of Heroes.

I thought that when watching. According to IMDB she was in Zodiac but I don't remember her.

[maian]

I thought that when watching. According to IMDB she was in Zodiac but I don't remember her.

She's the woman in prison that Jake Gyllenhaal interviews hoping to get the name of the Zodiac killer. It's right at the end.

She's great in Carnivale, too.

Who's That Knocking At My Door (1967)

Martin Scorsese's feature film debut in which a young man named J.R. (Harvey Keitel) falls in love with a woman (Zina Bethune) and struggles to conceal his private life from her. When he learns about a secret from her past, J.R. goes somewhat off the rails.

It's a very rough film, as would be expected from a film that Scorsese shot over several years and which underwent numerous changes during that time (started as a short film without a female character; gradually expanded and The Girl storyline was added to the existing footage; in order to secure a release Scorsese had to film a few sex scenes so that it could be advertised as a sexploitation film) but for its roughness and narrative shortfalls, it holds together quite well and manages to be entertaining and interesting throughout. Hell, any film in which Harvey Keitel waxes lyrical about The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is going to appeal to me.

What's most interesting about the film, certainly for anyone who's a fan of his subsequent work, is seeing the early genesis of Scorsese's techniques and themes. There's an energy to the film, in terms of how it's shot, that still pulses through Scorsese's work today, and the combination of fairly fluid camerawork and quick editing (Thelma Schoonmaker, his longstanding editor, worked on it and this marks one of their first collaborations), as well as his use of music to drive the narrative, are all hallmarks of his work.

Thematically, we see the appearance of Catholic guilt and Italian-American identity, as well as his mixture of the sacred and the propane to great effect. It's all much more obvious than in later films, and the fact that it all feels a bit overegged is a mark against it, but it still makes for a compelling little character study.

The performances are a bit suspect and the nature of its filming means that it doesn't quite hold together, but it's still a fascinating insight into the early development of one of the great artists of the medium.

This post has been edited by maian: Aug 19 2008, 08:49 PM

[logger]

She's the woman in prison that Jake Gyllenhaal interviews hoping to get the name of the Zodiac killer. It's right at the end.

I remember her now.

[curtinparloe]

The Departed
Good film, but not as good as Infernal Affairs.

The Lost World
Better for having more Jeff Goldblum than Jurassic Park.

[GundamGuy_UK]

I love Jeff Goldblum. He could ask me to do anything, and as long as he said "er" and stuttered enough when saying it, I'd do it.

He also pulls off the Ian Malcolm character perfectly, he's just like in the books. Or rather, Malcolm is just like Goldblum, because Jeff just plays himself in every role.

[Sostie]

He also pulls off the Ian Malcolm character perfectly

Oooh-er!

[GundamGuy_UK]

His theory is proved after Tim Murphy spots a juvenile Velociraptor in a field, and then when Alan Grant finds a Velociraptor egg shell. After the power fails in the park, he is critically wounded after being attacked by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Malcolm's theory is proved further in the following hours, when eight adult raptors escape their holding pen, after the auxiliary power unit fails.

He manages one last outburst about how the planet Earth cannot be destroyed when Hammond suggests so, and slips into a coma, where he apparently dies.

Sometime later, he is revealed to have survived and returns in The Lost World. He still suffers greatly as a result of the large fall he sustained after a Tyrannosaurus threw him into the air, so much that he needs a cane. He returns a changed character, and has a partner, Sarah Harding, who, it is hinted, is the Jurassic Park veterinarian's daughter.

In the book, he is pursued by brilliant but egocentric palaeontologist Richard Levine, who discovers an unconfirmed Ornitholestes corpse on a Costa Rican beach. Joined by Harding, Levine, and kids Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton, and Jack Thorne and Eddie Carr, he goes to Isla Sorna. He pursues Lewis Dodgson and his henchmen, George Baselton and Howard King.

The books really are better than the movies. Read that plot for the 2nd book and see how much of it is in the movie.

[dandan]

come and see - and i heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, "come and see!"

belarus, 1943. floria (aleksei kravchenko), a young teenager, is spending his time looking for a gun in the rubble and sand which marks a prior conflict. he finds a rifle. against his mother's wishes, he leaves his village, with partisan fighters, at dawn the next day. arriving at a hidden camp, deep in the forest, floria begins to a new life, only to find that he is left behind when the partisan force sets out to fight.

floria meets glasha (olga mironova), a girl of a similar age who has also remained behind, and the two are thrust together when a bombing raid all but destroys the mostly deserted camp. left dazed and deafened by the bombs, floria guides glasha back to his village, only to find it deserted. he has an idea where his family has gone, but the truth and what the war has in store for these two children is much bleaker...

now, my only knowledge of the partizans in belarus comes from the episode of 'ray mear's extreme survival', where he examines the survival techniques which allowed the bielski brothers, along with over one thousand jewish partizans, to survive in the vast forests and fight against the nazis. it is an excellent program, from an excellent series. i've also just discovered that a edward zwick is just finishing a film based on the bielskis, 'defiance', starring daniel craig, liev schreiber and jamie bell. i wonder how that'll turn out...

back on topic...

'come and see' is based on the writings of ales adamovich who, in his early teens, was a member of a partizan group and fought the nazis in belarus. he wrote about his experiences, in the book 'the khatyn story', which were then adapted by adamovich, himself, and the film's director; elem klimov.

the film is a bleak affair, yet utterly captivating and, at times, like a surreal dream. despite the style that klimov exhibits; in cinematography and sound design, the film paints with a stark realism which is unembellished with the cheap trappings of many a war film and shows the transformation of its central character, as his innocence is ripped from him, in a quite amazing fashion. i would love to see this film projected on a big screen with the volume turned up; the use of steady cam is quite exceptional and the use of sound during during floria's deafness is just great.

capping off the writing, direction and presentation is a blistering performance from aleksei kravchenko; aged fifteen, in his first acting role, he is, quite simply, amazing.

an outstanding piece of cinema.

[maian]

come and see

I watched that whilst I was studying the partisan experience during WWII and how it was reported in the USSR during the war (they're all heroes!), immediately after the war (some of them are heroes, though not as heroic as the real soldiers, some of them need to be sent to labour camps!) and how Soviet cinema, in particular, portrayed them over time. It was interesting seeing just how close to the reality of the situation they managed to make it, taking into account the severe restrictions upon all Soviet art even in the Glasnost period. As you said, it's a harrowing film but quite astonishing.

This post has been edited by maian: Aug 19 2008, 09:56 PM

[Hobbes]

come and see

Cinematically it's wonderfully shot, but the pace.......is.........so............slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Even for a Russian movie it moves about as quick as a wheelchair in peat bog.

[Ade]

Inside I'm Dancing

Dunno why I'd been putting off watching this for so long, as the trailers were excellent, and prompted me to buy it immediately. Bloody glad I finally got around to watching this last night, even if it did enduce some blubbage before the credits rolled. Funny, heartwarming, and superbly acted. I'd forgotten James McAvoy was in it, and damn good he is too, as are the rest of the cast.

McAvoy's turn as Rory O'Shea is superb, an utterly engaging role as a youngster with Multiple Sclerosis, whose arrival at a care home for the disabled brings instant disruption, thanks to his outspoken and coarse behaviour. An initially unlikely friendship soon blooms between Rory and Michael (a long-term resident of the home whose cerebral palsy has given him almost unintelligible speech pattern), when Michael realises that Rory understands him perfectly. Rory delights in leading Michael astray on one escapade or another - to paraphrase the tagline, he teaches him to "live life like he means it" - encouraging him to not let life pass him by. Finding a way around the system, the pair soon set up their own living arrangements, with an independent carer.

This was the best British film I've seen in a long while. Predominantly a comedy, there really isn't a dull moment as Rory's irrepressible, troublemaking spirit buoys this along at a steady pace. But it isn't without it's share of drama and pathos, and neither are overcooked, thankfully. This is well worth a viewing or two. Excellent stuff.

[dandan]

Cinematically it's wonderfully shot, but the pace.......is.........so............slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Even for a Russian movie it moves about as quick as a wheelchair in peat bog.

really? i completely disagree...

i thought i'd been watching it for about ten minutes when i noticed it had been on for an hour. the second hour (and a bit) flew by as well. i was tempted to watch it through a second time, but i had other pressing engagements...