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

[Jon 79]

Scream 4
Not as good as the 1st 2, but better than 3.
7/10.

[Ade]

I tried to watch the English dub of The City of the Lost Children on Wednesday evening but threw in the towel after 20 minutes because was so f****** bad (honestly, it was the worst dub I have ever sat through).

I then started watching the French subtitled version but my heart wasn't in it by that point so it's one for another night now. I will watch it soon, however, it looked good.

Definitely make sure you do get around to seeing the French language version; don't let the English dub experience deter you.

Dubbing totally spoils films for me. Subtitles are always the best bet in my opinion.

[sweetbutinsane]

The Truman Show

I shouldn't have waited so long to watch it again.

It's just marvellous.

I love that film, but it always makes me paranoid after watching it.

Weird Science

Strange. Not sure if I liked it or not.

[Raven]

Definitely make sure you do get around to seeing the French language version; don't let the English dub experience deter you.

I will have a stab at watching it this week, it was just too late to start reading subtitles when I decided to switch over earlier this week!

With the exception, so far, of the Studio Ghibli films I do try to watch films in their original language with subtitles where possible, for some reason though I thought this had been filmed in English - how wrong I was!

[maian]

I will have a stab at watching it this week, it was just too late to start reading subtitles when I decided to switch over earlier this week!

With the exception, so far, of the Studio Ghibli films I do try to watch films in their original language with subtitles where possible, for some reason though I thought this had been filmed in English - how wrong I was!

The presence of Ron Perlman? That convinced me that it would be in English the first time I saw it.

This post has been edited by maian: May 1 2011, 12:38 AM

[Raven]

^ Yep, that was what fooled me (as well as the text on the DVD sleeve that said it was in English).

[maian]

^ Yep, that was what fooled me (as well as the text on the DVD sleeve that said it was in English).

I hate it when DVD packaging features blatant lies like that; dubbing is not the same as being in English!

This post has been edited by maian: May 1 2011, 12:59 AM

[logger]

One Day In September

I was a bit thrown by the use of The Beta Band.

[maian]

Bird With The Crystal Plummage (1970)

Dario Argento's debut about an American writer who finds himself caught up in the investigation of a serial killer after he interrupts one of the attacks. Not as hallucinatory or creepy as Suspiria, but a thoroughly enjoyable thriller that's beautifully shot and chock full of great setpieces. Highlights; the attack that the hero interrupts, whilst not that spectacular, ends with him being trapped between two panes of glass and forced to look on as the victim tries to crawl towards him and is pretty chilling; a night time chase through the streets of Rome and a bus depot; and a final chase which makes great use of pitch blackness.

The Claim (2000)

Western adapted from a Thomas Hardy novel (The Mayor of Casterbridge) in which Peter Mullen plays the founder of a pioneer town who invites the railroad company (represented by Wes Bentley) to survey the land around it in the hopes that they will build the railroad, in doing so turning his little town into a new city. Things begin to unravel when the wife and child (Natassja Kinski and Sarah Polley) he abandoned years before show up in town. As he tries to make amends, other forces begin to conspire against him.

Michael Winterbottom's film is pretty big and ambitious film that combines the scale of something like Deadwood (and, oddly, Fitzcarraldo) with a more intimate study of Mullen's life and the aching sadness that he feels about the decisions he made in order to become who he is. The first hour is dedicated to getting the characters - which also include Mullen's common law wife, played by Milla Jovovich and Shirley Henderson as one of the prostitutes that works for her - in place for the second hour, which is all betrayal, destruction and heartbreak. It's a combination that works well, deepening the tragedy of the end of the film considerably.

Pretty great.

[GundamGuy_UK]

Thor

I went in not expecting a great deal after never really caring about the comic character and being told the movie was shit by colleagues at work. And I bloody loved every second of it. It was great to have a different kind of superhero movie, it was hilarious in parts, well acted by all (even Portman, who usually I can't stand), it looked and sounded great. Thorsome.

[maian]

Thor

I went in not expecting a great deal after never really caring about the comic character and being told the movie was shit by colleagues at work. And I bloody loved every second of it. It was great to have a different kind of superhero movie, it was hilarious in parts, well acted by all (even Portman, who usually I can't stand), it looked and sounded great. Thorsome.

It is bloody great. All the Thor-on-Earth stuff had me in stitched. I particularly liked the exchange that went something like this:

"I need a horse!"
"We don't sell horses. Just cats, dogs and birds."
"Well, give me one large enough to ride."

[Raven]

Kick Ass

Can one potty-mouthed, ultra-violent eleven year girl carry a film? It certainly seems that way!

A lot of nice touches and twists on the usual superhero concepts, but also somehow, slightly flat.

Still mostly enjoyable, though.

Also, I must be getting old, 'cause I'm sure films with this level of violence got 18 certificates when I was younger!

[logger]

Films with that kind of language got 18 certificates back in the day, never mind the violence.

[maian]

Profondo Rosso (1975)

Another Argento film, this time about a British man (played by David Hemmings) who finds himself caught up in the investigation of a serial killer after he stumbles across one of the victims. It repeats a lot of the story beats of Bird With The Crystal Plummage, right down to the location of a building important to the killer being discovered through its connection to a rare flora or fauna, but the whole package is a lot more slickly put together. Argento had clearly learned a lot in the five years between the films and his technique is much more assured and distinctly his, with more ostentatious camerawork and a much stronger emphasis on macabre humour. The murders are also really, luridly gruesome, which makes them more disturbing than I thought they would be.

This post has been edited by maian: May 2 2011, 11:06 PM

[GundamGuy_UK]

It is bloody great. All the Thor-on-Earth stuff had me in stitched. I particularly liked the exchange that went something like this:

"I need a horse!"
"We don't sell horses. Just cats, dogs and birds."
"Well, give me one large enough to ride."

Yeah, those bits were great!
"You dare attack the son of Odin!?" etc