The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

None of his films? I'll admit they can be frustratingly frenetic. If I'm correct Insomnia has an average shot length of 1.8 seconds (Take that Michael Bay).

Are you dreading the Nolan/ Snyder reboot of Superman?

Insomnia had all those quick flashes of dripping blood and stuff when Al Pacino is trying to sleep, that might be why.

[Al_The_Strange]

Next greatest blind-buy: The Decameron

Apparently, my forbidden love of Salo: 120 Days of Sodom has finally possessed me to investigate the other works of Pasolini. Fortunately, Salo is the only one he made that's outright sadistic in nature; his earlier works harkens to a more innocent time, and therefore, it never weaponizes sex or revels in sadistic violence, but uses eroticism to portray a world of naive, innocent ecstasy.

Oh yeah, there's a bunch of sex in this film (and I expect there's more to come in the other two parts of the Trilogy of Life ). It's done in an oddly jilted way, so it's never fully arousing or anything, it's all just kinda there. What I really enjoy about this guy's films, moreso than all the graphic sex, is the way he frames and ordains his films. The shots look gorgeous, the acting is always interesting (if not a bit exaggerated and cheesy), and the scenes overall are staged in pretty interesting ways. It all combines to make an experience that's consistently interesting and visually appealing.

This film covers a group of short stories, which all kinda run together one after another. The first half of the film includes the stories I found most interesting: the first sequence involves a dude who meets a chick who tells him she's his long-lost sister, but winds up falling for a scam; then it goes on to show this guy wandering into a monastery, acting all mute and dumb, but becomes a boytoy for all the nuns (lucky guy...); some guy moves in on another guy's wife, has the husband trapped in a giant jar while they get their groove on; and there's a fun little scene where this chick is caught in bed with a dude, and is forced to marry him. Around the halfway point, Pasolini himself makes an appearance as a painter, and then the film seemed to become a little muddled and meandering. Still plenty of interesting episodes, but in the end, it kinda leaves you wondering what the point is.

The film looks great, with solid photography and lots of interestingly detailed (and sometimes scuzzy-looking) sets and locales. Acting and writing are pretty cool. This production ought to rank as one of the most realistic-looking medieval movies ever made. Music is pretty odd at times.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Stories: Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: As long as you have no reservations about the graphic sex, rent it.

This Blu-Ray looks and sounds great.

PQ: 4.5/5, AQ: 4.5/5

[Al_The_Strange]

Next greatest rental: Men In Black 3

I avoided a blind-buy (and a theater trip, for that matter) based on so many mixed, negative, or apathetic-sounding reviews. They make it sound like the movie was just messy, stupid, sloppy, uneven, or something.

Frankly, heck no, there's not that much wrong with this film. I felt it was quite evenly paced, with frequent scenes of fun action and fun humor. Some of it would even rank as the best I've seen in the series.

I also felt the story was pretty decent. I think I might have been a little put-off by the negative chemistry the film portrays between J and K for the first half-hour, but it serves the story in the end. From then on, the film became a fine thrill ride, easy to follow, easy to enjoy, with some rather nice plot twists in the end that help tie up the franchise in a cohesive package.

As usual in Sonnenfeld's work, the film looks crazy, with its intense in-your-face camera work, and awesome editing. Acting is a bit mixed, admittedly; Will Smith came on a little too strong, but Tommy Lee Jones is still the man. Josh Brolin is practically perfect. I understand that the script was kinda hobbled together, but the seams only show a little; I felt it was cohesive enough to work. This production has fine and dandy sets, props, and costumes. Special effects are a hit-and-a-miss; the creature effects are at their best, but most everything else looks like it came out of an Austin Powers movie. Despite being more of the same, Danny Elfman's score is pretty cool, especially with more percussion and guitar added in.

As it is, it's way better than MIB2, and I'd put it neck-and-neck with the first film.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: A definite yes for fans, a rental for most everybody else.

This film looks and sounds great on Blu-Ray.

PQ: 5/5, AQ: 5/5

[jvince]

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
dir. Joseph Zito

The Good: This is actually... not that bad. Hot chicks (hottest slasher cast?). Corey Feldman. Crispin Glover's dance. Some nice kills. Weird banana girl (in fact, the entire film is just weird).

The Bad: Lame scares. By the numbers. Some stupid and unintentionally funny moments. Poor dialogue and delivery. And what is up with everyone (including the dog) just constantly smashing through windows in slow-motion?

The Bottom Line: The Final Chapter is probably the best installment in the franchise, but that really isn't saying much. If you want to see a Friday the 13th film, make it this one.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I gotcha. At first glance, I thought you might have been calling it out for being anti-Socialist, and therefore too fascist or right-wing (and the paralell does seem to fit), but I do agree that the film is not politically biased either way (or if it is, it'd be very subdued or muddled). If anything, I think it just took elements from the Knightfall comic series and tweaked them to work his way (using common gangsters instead of supervillains). I've also heard that Nolan was inspired by Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, so I figure that any politics or class commentary were probably carried over from that.

If there is any fascist element that stands out to me, it'd be the whole privacy invasion scene in TDK, but even then I think it was put in more for the morality of the situation rather than the politics. I also believe it was handled tastefully.





I can see what you mean. I think these are all issues that just never bothered me much. Although more runtime probably would have helped make the story flow smoother (I keep forgetting this sucker's script was originally something like 400 pages long).

I'm still gonna pick it up on Blu though.

To turn this around in a positive way, how stoked are you that Wally Fister is releasing his movie next year?, I mean on a shot to shot basis, the man's work is amazing.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Next greatest blind-buy: The Decameron

Apparently, my forbidden love of Salo: 120 Days of Sodom has finally possessed me to investigate the other works of Pasolini. Fortunately, Salo is the only one he made that's outright sadistic in nature; his earlier works harkens to a more innocent time, and therefore, it never weaponizes sex or revels in sadistic violence, but uses eroticism to portray a world of naive, innocent ecstasy.

Oh yeah, there's a bunch of sex in this film (and I expect there's more to come in the other two parts of the Trilogy of Life ). It's done in an oddly jilted way, so it's never fully arousing or anything, it's all just kinda there. What I really enjoy about this guy's films, moreso than all the graphic sex, is the way he frames and ordains his films. The shots look gorgeous, the acting is always interesting (if not a bit exaggerated and cheesy), and the scenes overall are staged in pretty interesting ways. It all combines to make an experience that's consistently interesting and visually appealing.

This film covers a group of short stories, which all kinda run together one after another. The first half of the film includes the stories I found most interesting: the first sequence involves a dude who meets a chick who tells him she's his long-lost sister, but winds up falling for a scam; then it goes on to show this guy wandering into a monastery, acting all mute and dumb, but becomes a boytoy for all the nuns (lucky guy...); some guy moves in on another guy's wife, has the husband trapped in a giant jar while they get their groove on; and there's a fun little scene where this chick is caught in bed with a dude, and is forced to marry him. Around the halfway point, Pasolini himself makes an appearance as a painter, and then the film seemed to become a little muddled and meandering. Still plenty of interesting episodes, but in the end, it kinda leaves you wondering what the point is.

The film looks great, with solid photography and lots of interestingly detailed (and sometimes scuzzy-looking) sets and locales. Acting and writing are pretty cool. This production ought to rank as one of the most realistic-looking medieval movies ever made. Music is pretty odd at times.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Stories: Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: As long as you have no reservations about the graphic sex, rent it.

This Blu-Ray looks and sounds great.

PQ: 4.5/5, AQ: 4.5/5

To be blunt, defend Salo. I'm unsure how I feel about this movie. It's either a masterpiece or one of the most hateful movies ever made.

Also: I think Arabian Nights is the best (not as much $&@?ing though)

[Steve46]

Finally watched Grave of the Fireflies on Blu-ray. Picture quality is all you could hope for. Stable, denser colors, damage-free. There's a new audio track which isn't anywhere near as good as the original. Luckily, the set includes Japanese audio and the original English dub. Upgrade for $13.09.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Steve46

Finally watched Grave of the Fireflies on Blu-ray. Picture quality is all you could hope for. Stable, denser colors, damage-free. There's a new audio track which isn't anywhere near as good as the original. Luckily, the set includes Japanese audio and the original English dub. Upgrade for $13.09.

[MikeCL]

Battle: Los Angeles

2.0/5

The intro starting right into the fight had me not liking that and so I was waiting for the title a few days later or whatever.. all in all having watched Battleship before this I would rate that higher then this one this whole movie felt very rushed like lets just put out a movie.. the last 40-30 min I was asleep, and it's never a good sign when I keep checking the time left.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I'm still gonna pick it up on Blu though.

To turn this around in a positive way, how stoked are you that Wally Fister is releasing his movie next year?, I mean on a shot to shot basis, the man's work is amazing.

Just looked it up. Looks interesting, I'd gladly give it a shot.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

To be blunt, defend Salo. I'm unsure how I feel about this movie. It's either a masterpiece or one of the most hateful movies ever made.

Also: I think Arabian Nights is the best (not as much $&@?ing though)

lol, I've always felt rather guilty for watching and enjoying Salo so much. If anything, watching Decameron reminded me of all of Salo's strengths in terms of set design, camera-work, acting, and everything else, rather than its graphicness or infamy.

Looking forward to Arabian Nights (if for no other reason than to see all the unique locales Pasolini filmed this thing in).

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Just looked it up. Looks interesting, I'd gladly give it a shot.



lol, I've always felt rather guilty for watching and enjoying Salo so much. If anything, watching Decameron reminded me of all of Salo's strengths in terms of set design, camera-work, acting, and everything else, rather than its graphicness or infamy.

Looking forward to Arabian Nights (if for no other reason than to see all the unique locales Pasolini filmed this thing in).

Enjoy is the last word I'd associate with Salo. Pasolini deliberately wanted to implicate the audience in the action, scar us, if you will.

Have you seen In the Realm of the Senses yet? It my favorite "dirty" Criterion.

[Al_The_Strange]

Ninja Scroll

Finally, one of my top favorite anime films made it to Blu-Ray. Plus, I got it as a wonderful Steelbook!

[Show spoiler]

This is one of the gateway drugs of serious, adult-themed anime. It'll draw in the younger crowd for all the raw, stylized, over-the-top violence and the frequent scenes of sex and nudity. The first twenty minutes alone contain an incredibly gnarly scene where an entire ninja squad is cut in half, and it literally rains blood in a forest; this is soon followed by a rather disconcerting rape scene. This is some seriously wicked stuff that western audiences never really associate with animation, thus drawing in something of a cult following (for the film and anime in general).

And yet, none of the sex and violence is all that gratuitous. It all serves its place in this tightly-paced adventure. Even without the R-rated stuff, the film stands really well on its own, with its frequently exciting fight scenes and superb visual composition. There's never a dull moment in this flick.

The story for this film is pretty simple, as it merely follows the footsteps of the mythic hero Jubei as he takes on eight demonic ninjas and stop a diabolical plot involving plagues. What really makes the story work is that it's unraveled gradually, so that it maintains some level of mystery. But what really makes the film endearing are its characters; Jubei shows adequate depth as the film explores his backstory, while Kagero offers some much-needed emotional dynamism. Combined with one wacky old guy and a plethora of unique bad guys, the film makes the most out of its skeletal story.

Despite a few cheap shots, the film is animated with really great quality. Most shots look really slick and detailed, with well-textured backgrounds and mostly-smooth movements. In terms of movements and overall detail, it looks better than most other anime features on the market. Voice-acting is good in its original Japanese language (and pretty cheesy in the English side). This production has awesome-looking designs for the characters, settings, locales, and props. Music is pretty cool at times.

5/5 (Entertainment: Perfect | Story: Good | Film: Perfect)

Recommendation: Yep!

This Blu-Ray looks really nice, sharp, and clean, with good colors and contrast. You might see some noise and dirt specks here and there, likely a source issue. I heard that a lot of DNR was applied to this, but aside from a total lack of grain, it's not all that noticeable. Sound quality sounded terrible on the English side (too much tinniness and distortion), but the original Japanese track is awesome.

PQ: 4.5/5, AQ: 4.5/5 (Japanese) 1/5 (English)

The UK Steelbook is region-locked.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Have you seen In the Realm of the Senses yet? It my favorite "dirty" Criterion.

I haven't seen that one yet. Chances are good that I'll be adding it to my rental list, along with most of the other Criterion movies I haven't seen yet.

[iam1bearcat]

during the last 20 or so hours i've been fiendishly working on claims that we have to go to court for (always fun ). decided to kill two birds with one stone, so while working, i watched some films...

The Lost World: Jurassic Park - 3.5/5

enjoyable, but also follows the formula of the first one a lot. also dislike how they suddenly make the raptors dumber, but only when the script needs it tat way very curious to read the book since the first book ends with A LOT of differences, so much so i'm curious how they even based the film off the book i always love the T-Rex attack on the industrial vans. Moore on the plate glass window still freaks me out i always forget Spielberg directed this because it just does not feel like a Spielberg film, aside from the scene mentioned above imo.

Jurassic Park III - 3/5

William H. Macy saves the majority of this film, although it's way too much a "run from one problem to another". More focus on raptors, which are the coolest dinosaurs, but still. also nice to see some things from the first book in the third film. interesting and a fun popcorn film, but doesn't contain any magic like the first two.

Friends with Benefits - 4.5/5

love this movie. very funny, and i enjoy the main cast. Timberlake still impresses the hell out of me, especially seeing how much i loathed him when i was 9 and N*Sync was plastered all over the world some parts of the film feel very 2011 / 2012, and i wonder how they will hold up in ten years time (Bible app, while hilarious, will it make sense in ten years? the flashmob things among others). but still, great film and a very fast 100 or so minutes. plus that Mila Kunis stand in (for the butt / naked shots) is terrific, as is Mila

The Notebook - 4.5/5

Ahhh, here we go. the film that ruined my life.

this film made me think all relationships are / were magical. boy how i'm still paying for thinking that even after all these years terrific performances from Gosling and McAdams, and McAdams became a BIG favorite of mine after this.

my god is it depressing though, forgot how much

i was taken back by how young they looked for the first hour or so of the film! but then in the second half they looked like they do now, so i don't know if that was the magic of film or make-up or what, but MAN did they do a great job to make them look 17 years old. kudos make-up department

also, because i'm a sucker for fate and destiny, is it weird that the same day i was watching this for the first time in probably 5 years that a girl i've had a huuuuge crush on for YEARS calls me after not talking to her for over 6 months? nope! it's fate dammit!

Jaws - 3.5/5

first time seeing this 'classic'.

i can appreciate it for what it was and still is. some terrifically tense scenes that made me think, "i can totally see why this freaked people out 30 years ago". dialogue and characters are a bit stale and very 70's, but nothing we can do about that now.

however, the last 30 minutes felt like 6 years. and maybe that was the point - the high tension of the monstrous shark attack looming, but i was pretty much just bored for most of it.

and i didn't know Sylvester Stalone was in Jaws! you learn something new every day!

Prometheus - 3/5

watched this again. interesting, but very... flat and not very engaging, at least not for me. for all the flash and wizardy and money thrown at effects, it doesn't have much else. i didn't care for any of the characters and the stupidity i thought would maybe die down just seems to become more apparent on repeat viewings (DON'T RUN IN THE SAME DIRECTION AND LINE THAT A FALLING SHIP IS ROLLING! RUN ANY OTHER FREAKING DIRECTION! ).

film feels very... cold.

and i usually love commentaries, but Scott's was so horrid after 20 minutes i had to turn it off

and just for Foggy...
...
...
...
...
penis snakes

[Foggy]

First time watching Jaws!?!

You've let down penis snakes everywhere

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Prometheus - 3/5

[...] i didn't care for any of the characters and the stupidity i thought would maybe die down just seems to become more apparent on repeat viewings (DON'T RUN IN THE SAME DIRECTION AND LINE THAT A FALLING SHIP IS ROLLING! RUN ANY OTHER FREAKING DIRECTION! ).

I watched that scene just briefly when I got the Blu-Ray in. It looks to me that Shaw and Vickers actually did veer to the left (our right) when they ran away from the rolling ship...the ship just kinda followed them. At any rate, the scene happens so fast, with debris and stuff falling all around them, that they wouldn't have had time to think or alter their course, they just followed their instincts.

Ultimately,

[Show spoiler]when both ladies tripped, Shaw proved the smartest by rolling away from the thing, whereas Vickers just kinda sat there and cried.

I'll bet that, if I was stuck in the same situation, I probably would have ran in a straight line too. It's just too hard to think about running in any other direction while under this type of stress.

Originally Posted by Foggy

You've let down penis snakes everywhere

Don't worry, there are meds for this type of thing.

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I watched that scene just briefly when I got the Blu-Ray in. It looks to me that Shaw and Vickers actually did veer to the left (our right) when they ran away from the rolling ship...the ship just kinda followed them. At any rate, the scene happens so fast, with debris and stuff falling all around them, that they wouldn't have had time to think or alter their course, they just followed their instincts.

Ultimately,

[Show spoiler]when both ladies tripped, Shaw proved the smartest by rolling away from the thing, whereas Vickers just kinda sat there and cried.

[Show spoiler]

[jvince]

Three Colors: Red (1994)
dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski

The Good: Outstanding performances from Jean-Louis Trintignant and the stunning Irene Jacob. Masterful direction and writing by Kieslowski. Piotr Sobocinski's cinematography and Preisner's score are flat-out elite.

The Bad: None.

The Bottom Line: An exceptional story of love, fate, and parallel lives (something Kieslowski delved deeper into with The Double Life of Veronique), Red is a masterpiece and the perfect conclusion to the much-lauded trilogy. A must-see.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by IronWaffle

I wholeheartedly second jvince's endorsement of The Dekalog. It is a masterwork and probably my Blu holy grail at this point.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

It's certainly not a didactic series. It explores, with much grace, the complexities and current significance of those words. Sometimes the film doesn't totally align with the commandment, which is just as well. A pretty immersive series indeed. Please release this CC.

If Criterion releases The Decalogue...

[P@t_Mtl]

Lancelot du Lac (1974)

Directed by : Robert Bresson
Starring : Luc Simon, Laura Duke, Condominas
Format : HDTV

Story : The story of Lancelot, his love with Guinevere and the other knights of the round table in the kingdom of Camelot.

Comments : Like many of Bresson other movies of this type, the actors are mostly amateurs who would never appear in other movies. They were also asked by Bresson to deliver their lines without emotions. If you are not use to it or never seen other movies from Bresson, it can be a little strange. while I do enjoy some of his other movies this one left me a little flat and cannot rate it as high as I might in other movies

Ratings : 3/5