viewing pleasures...

[mehem]

watched cache by michael haneke(funny games,benny's video)...as cold and brilliant as his other films(haneke and gasper noe maybe do "the cold" the best these days)...similiar to Antonioni in the way the director is part of the film...very "hitchcockian" or guy maddin...superb tension...

the mystery revolves around a family receiving tapes of them and don't know who is filming them...old family secrets are revealed,as everyone becomes a suspect...

another george,another anna,another animal...

[JFermaggio]

I'm not so sure these movies were viewing "pleasures", but I certainly didn't lose interest:

Thriller: A Cruel Picture
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Last House On Dead End Street

BTW, you're to blame, mehem, for all of these.

However:

A Real Young Girl is . . . well, wow. Nothing like I've really ever seen.

Oldboy threw me for a loop, but excellent.

Primer was very well thought out and played out, considering its budget.

Next up, Ichi the Killer

[JohnT]

This week I'm gonna catch

Million Dollar Baby
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Gallipoli
Time Bandits

(that last one is for the movie group. It was either that or "Princess Bride". :rolleyes: Luckily I just pretended that I didn't hear the "Princess Bride" nomination and had people vote on the TB one - at least it's Terry Gilliam!)

[mehem]

I'm not so sure these movies were viewing "pleasures", but I certainly didn't lose interest:

Thriller: A Cruel Picture
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Last House On Dead End Street

BTW, you're to blame, mehem, for all of these.

However:

A Real Young Girl is . . . well, wow. Nothing like I've really ever seen.

Oldboy threw me for a loop, but excellent.

Primer was very well thought out and played out, considering its budget.

Next up, Ichi the Killer

excellent,glad you enjoyed them...

i thought thriller may have deserved an x,but you can see where tarantino got his idea for darryl hannah in kill bill,and well ms. christina lindberg & edwige fenech(of sergio martino's excellent giallos) were about the hottest things around at that time...

btw that was a real cadaver they used for the eye shot,one of the director's friends snuck him into a hospital...

dark sky films, the freaks who distributed henry on disc are a great company...they have some killer stuff coming out....

http://www.darkskyfilms.com/?gclid=CJSh5bjW9IUCFSQPNAodymzkuQ

manson family & flesh eaters are must-sees...

the director of oldboy is about my favorite these days(2nd to miike)...have a copy of sympathy for lady vengeance coming( i can burn you a copy if you like),can't wait...three extremes is very well done,and showcases some of the best talent from the far east...both park(cut) and miike's(box) tales are superb,but i'll give it to fruit chan for the most disturbing story...a tale called dumplings...there's two three extremes,make sure you see the one w/ miike,chan,and park...

and as for ichi,damn i love that flick(some serious "oh shit" moments,but as a whole one fun & exciting flick)as well as most of miike's...even the ones that don't "shock" as much...love him or hate him he is the most versatile director in the game...the guy who plays kakihara in ichi is like japan's johnny depp,he's my favorite character in a film besides the kid in black in battle royale...the soundtrack by the boredoms is superb...

i gotta check out a real young girl and primer...

[gypsy]

the most recent miike -- his children's film, or whatever the hell it is -- is playing here in town. but i probably won't get to it, because i don't see movies at all these days.

i did see cache, tho. had very mixed feelings. here's some thoughts i posted on another message board a while back about the movie and haneke in general:

his movies tend to seem good to me while i'm watching them, because he's a kind of viscerally effective filmmaker, but they don't hold up so well when i think about them. same thing here. i'm not all the way in armond white's haneke-bashing camp, but i think cache wants to appear that it has more going on than meets the eye (hence the title) while actually delivering less.

i mean, i think he's interesting enough to watch. it's just that so far i find him less interesting than he seems to think he is. (and i was not happy with the piano teacher, i thought it was a bullying film despite a great lead performance. cache didn't bother me the same way, although i still think it's manipulative in not terribly original ways.) his movies create tension and discomfort (often from really mundane elements) in a way that i can enjoy aesthetically even if it's actually kind of unpleasant. but it seems to me that sometimes the physical force of the filmmaking gets mistaken for intellectual force. his ideas aren't necessarily up to his technique.

anyway, i basically enjoyed it while i was watching. it's pretty fucking suspenseful, for one thing. but i'm not sold on him as a thinker.

...and i would add, some months later, that i continue to find every explanation of the "mystery" at the film's center completely unsatisfying. especially the argument that the person making the videos was haneke himself, because that's the kind of postmodernist posturing that presents sleight-of-hand as some kind of deep insight. no kidding, we know he's the guy making the movie. that's not nearly as interesting or original an idea as he seems to think.

i don't know, he has this severe moralizing side to him that i find off-putting, even while i admire his undeniable chops as a filmmaker.

[gypsy]

This week I'm gonna catch

Million Dollar Baby
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Gallipoli
Time Bandits

(that last one is for the movie group. It was either that or "Princess Bride". :rolleyes: Luckily I just pretended that I didn't hear the "Princess Bride" nomination and had people vote on the TB one - at least it's Terry Gilliam!)

??? princess bride is great! but time bandits is fun too, so that was kind of a no-lose proposition. i was unimpressed with million dollar baby. haven't seen the skateboarding movie. i think i saw gallipoli ages ago, but maybe i really didn't, because i don't actually remember it.

[Deanna's Daydreamer]

Somehow Fermaggio, you watching "Henry-- portrait of a serial killer"

seems quite fitting.

It's YOU, baby.

And you wear it well.

[fluffy]

lately its been;

Control Room
Scratch
Darwin's Nightmare
Dig!
Bright Leaves
Yes Men
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices


oh and saw Superman yesterday. pretty darn good, and better than i thought it would be.

[spinetingler]

Somehow Fermaggio, you watching "Henry-- portrait of a serial killer"

seems quite fitting.

It's YOU, baby.

And you wear it well.

Watchd Lolita much lately?

[JFermaggio]

Somehow Fermaggio, you watching "Henry-- portrait of a serial killer"

seems quite fitting.

It's YOU, baby.

And you wear it well.

I know, I know . . . don't feed the troll. I can't resist. 5:26 a.m. JJJ? Geez that's awfully early.

You make no sense. I wear what well? I wear the image of watching a movie well? Are you trying to equate the subject matter of the aforementioned movie with my own activities? Are you implying that I'm a serial killer because I watch a film about one?

Nevertheless, a label YOU wear well is:

Creepy, aging 40-something loser who ogles under-aged girls and goes on and on about ancient BBS technology, Conan and grey boots

Can someone explain the grey boots?

[JohnT]

??? princess bride is great! but time bandits is fun too, so that was kind of a no-lose proposition. i was unimpressed with million dollar baby. haven't seen the skateboarding movie. i think i saw gallipoli ages ago, but maybe i really didn't, because i don't actually remember it.

TPB is a popular movie (though I don't care for it), but Time Bandits allows us more range for discussion since, with TB, we can now bring in the oeuvre of Terry Gilliam (Life of Brian, Brazil, Fear and Loathing, Baron Munchausen) if/when talk of the actual movie flags. Looking at TPB, the best candidate for post-movie discussion is screenwriter William Goldman, who used to write quality movies and still writes quality movie criticism.

I consider Million Dollar Baby (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405159/) to be the best fiction movie of the decade. The only two movies that affected me more were Fog of War (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/) and Rize (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436724/). I enjoy sad endings, the quieter the better. Your mileage obviously varies. ;)

Dogtown and Z-Boys (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275309/) isn't the same film as Lords of Dogtown (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355702/), but the original documentary on the subject. I'm sure you're aware, but wanted other people to know that there are two movies about the same subject: a documentary (2001) and then a movie about the very same subject as in the doc (2005).

The only two reasons I felt like getting Gallipoli (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082432/) is

1. I haven't seen it, except for the final 3 minutes.
2. Getting Million Dollar Baby put into mind Albinoni's Adagio which then put into mind those final 3 minutes and the fact that I haven't seen the rest of the movie.

$4 later and here we are.

[fluffy]

Can someone explain the grey boots?

its not even worth the time.

[jeffx]

i saw superman returns yesterday. it's better than the originals. the special effects are great. that routh kid does an impressive chris reeve. parker posey's funny. not a watershed film or anything, but a fun thing to catch in a big, loud theater.

[fluffy]

i saw superman returns yesterday. it's better than the originals. the special effects are great. that routh kid does an impressive chris reeve. parker posey's funny. not a watershed film or anything, but a fun thing to catch in a big, loud theater.

ive gotten to the point that i only go to the theater for the big whizbang quality films(thank god they are very few and far between) and just netflix the rest i can wait for. given the cost and now that i have a kid to watch, i dont get to the theater that much anymore.

but yeah i saw it yesterday too. really enjoyed it. glad they have made lex out to be much more evil than gene hackman, who always seemed to be more jokey than dangerous. glad they didnt overdo the action or effects either and did concentrate on the story. heres hoping they get everyone back for the next one, especially Singer. id say the film would have been crap without him.

[gypsy]

Looking at TPB, the best candidate for post-movie discussion is screenwriter William Goldman, who used to write quality movies and still writes quality movie criticism.

or rob reiner, who went from spinal tap to princess bride to a series of well-constructed and a-bit-smarter-than-average genre movies...before turning into the mundane hollywood slickster he's seemed to be recently. actually, there are probably as many good reiner films as good gilliam ones. but it's definitely true that gilliam's failures are a lot more interesting than reiner's. (plus i think i'm one of about 3 people i know who liked the baron munchausen movie.)

as for million-dollar baby, yeah, just cliche cliche cliche. i didn't believe either eastwood or morgan freeman's characters for a second, they seemed pulled whole cloth from the b-movie gallery of good-hearted, hard-bitten men. hilary swank is pretty great, i'll grant. but her horrible family is a jumble of redneck stereotypes. and the less said about the extremely contrived ending the better. (also, has clint had plastic surgery? his face looks weirdly tight in that movie, and his forehead creases vertically but not horizontally. say it ain't so, clint.)

[JohnT]

as for million-dollar baby, yeah, just cliche cliche cliche. i didn't believe either eastwood or morgan freeman's characters for a second, they seemed pulled whole cloth from the b-movie gallery of good-hearted, hard-bitten men. hilary swank is pretty great, i'll grant. but her horrible family is a jumble of redneck stereotypes. and the less said about the extremely contrived ending the better. (also, has clint had plastic surgery? his face looks weirdly tight in that movie, and his forehead creases vertically but not horizontally. say it ain't so, clint.)

I'm surprised that a movie that has a major character decide to sacrifice his soul could be called "cliche cliche cliche." Sure there were "boxing movie cliche's" in MDB, but like The Godfather, the cliche's were there to add versimilitude, not to dominate the movie. I think we discussed this very theme earlier (using other films, of course), in my X-Men thread.

And Frankie isn't "good hearted" - he's driven by anger: at himself, at his failed relationships, at his career. At the end of the film, he is destroyed "knowing" that he has ruined the lives of two women who were his daughters: one his real daughter, the other the surrogate he hoped that would right the sins he committed against the first.

Remember: this is a man who has been to daily mass for 25 years... a man who goes to mass 9,125 straight days, while still needling the local priest about Biblical inconsistancies, is a man with deep issues. Though it was never explained in the film, I always had the impression that what happened between him and his daughter, and his church-going, was always related.

And the problem with the family isn't the stereotypes, it's the family. I've known people like that, mean-spirited mothers who damn and curse any indicators that their children are getting "uppity" in an effort to make sure they, the mother, won't be found lacking. It's the opposing (but similar) mindset as the hyper-competitive mom, the woman who will be damned if her children ends up like this!

[gypsy]

it wasn't the meanness of the family i didn't believe, they just seemed like off-the-rack trailer trash. as for the spiritual dimension, imo it was told but not shown -- i.e., i didn't believe eastwood was in the throes of any great spiritual conflict. i didn't doubt for a second that he was gonna pull the plug -- it was what the storyline demanded -- so there didn't seem to be any real tension there. i dunno, swank was the only one who i felt like really bothered to create a character. clint and morgan kind of just showed up and did their thing. (as eastwood movies go, i believed the moral conflicts in unforgiven a whole lot more.)

but hey, it won oscars, so it must've done something right.

[el hombre suave]

Primer is really good but will make your head hurt.

[gypsy]

affirmative. i've still only seen it once. i need to watch it again on dvd so i can pause and rewind. although i'm still not sure it's possible to put the whole thing together.

[mehem]

...and i would add, some months later, that i continue to find every explanation of the "mystery" at the film's center completely unsatisfying. especially the argument that the person making the videos was haneke himself, because that's the kind of postmodernist posturing that presents sleight-of-hand as some kind of deep insight. no kidding, we know he's the guy making the movie. that's not nearly as interesting or original an idea as he seems to think.

i don't know, he has this severe moralizing side to him that i find off-putting, even while i admire his undeniable chops as a filmmaker.

even though i'm a card-carrying fanboy,i'm not in a hurry to see yokai(and that usually isn't the case w/ myself and his films)...i like miike the most when he has less to work with,and a big budget just doesn't seem right...i don't guess it's really important one way or another...

yeah i don't make it out to theaters either,in fact pan's labyrinth is about the only one i'm considering at this point...although i do wish i was in montreal in the upcoming weeks...

http://www.fantasiafest.com/2006/en/films/browse.php?type=features

btw...white of the eye is a fun little serial killer flick,directed by the guy who did demon seed(only out on vhs i think)...the things david keith wears in that flick...oh man...

speaking of haneke, my favorite film by him is funny games followed by benny's video...cache,time of the wolf,piano,and seventh continent fall somewhere there after,and for the most part i had an enjoyable time watching them all...anyway i see where he's remaking funny games,why?....no idea...the premise is again not anything new,but i enjoyed the final scene of funny games about as much as any ending i've ever seen in a film(and I really liked the two kids & the cat in the bag game),a re-imagining of his own work is just something i don't think is needed(even if it was done almost ten years ago)...but then most remakes aren't...

[Scott]

Just checked Corpse Bride out from the library

[mehem]

in my neverending quest to see all the movies based on rampo's novels,watched nakagawa's jigoku...the first hour basically sets up what is an incredible last 40 minutes...a high school student's friendship w/ another student(who is the epitome of bad influences) causes him nothing but trouble & grief... his life is made a living hell,and then he goes there...

nakagawa's(the godfather of japaneque horror)vision of "hell" is absolutely stunning,similar to the cinematography of bunuel,anger, and jodorowsy...here's a very good sypnosis...

http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/jigoku.shtml

save for gerald kargl's agnst,no other vintage release this year excites me more than teruo ishii's horror of malformed man(and his last three films- jigoku the remake,blind beast vs. dwarf,and screwed which stars ichi the killer's tadanobu asano)...now there needs to be a region 1 release of his joy's of torture...

http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/horrmalf.shtml

[Lee G]

Dogtown and Z-Boys is one of my favorite films of the past five years or so. The quasi-sequel, Riding Giants, is almost as good.

Okay, here's what I've seen lately:

Cars We took my son, and he loved it, except for all the parts that involved talking and feeling and mooning over the good old days. Me, I was just freaking out by how many personhours musta went into getting the way stadium lighting at a speedway looks just right, or adding in the perfect reflections on a shiny moving race car. Those Pixar people Aren't Right.

We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen Inspiring and saddening, the latter because a) D. Boon died at 27 effin' years old, and b) the punk-rock heroes of my youth are now old dudes. I thought Watt's fu manchu looked smashing, though, and for a few days thought about growing one of my own.

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things Tedious. Very tedious. Nice to see the old home town looking so, um, good.

Ultraviolet I'm usually all about mindless comic-book kick-and-shoot sci-fi eye candy, but even the prescence of Milla Jojovich couldn't make this one watchable. The search for the next Resident Evil continues.

Night Watch Crazy Russian flick not too far removed from the mindless comic-book kick-and-shoot sci-fi (more like fantasy) eye candy, but very creative and well done. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but every few minutes something else bizarre/bizarre-looking happens, so you don't notice so much. Apparently it broke all box office records back home.

Running Scared A not-bad gritty urban action flick starring the not-very-gritty Paul Walker and directed by the guy who did the not-very-gritty The Cooler. It gets ridonkulous toward the end with the his-and-hers predatory pedophiles and the black-light hockey shootout, but it keeps a tighter grip than most films in this genre. (It's no Four Brothers or Out of Sight, but it keeps up with their pace for a while.) The creepy kid in this is played by the same creepy kid who plays the creepy kid in Ultraviolet.

[mehem]

i really liked nightwatch...enough to hunt down the sequel(expect a lot more like that from russia in the upcoming months)...still have some old bones brigade and h-town videos,gonna have to check out dogtown...running too..heard bad things about heart from the get-go,but like i said i was hoping her father would show up...false hope,because i know that's never gonna happen...

[mehem]

when writing about a film i often get caught up in the narrative, technical aspects, and/or the general message(imo)i feel that the movie is trying to convey...i sometimes forget to just speak plain...after watching sympathy for mrs. vengeance,i'm reminded once again why i became enamored with film in the first place...this is an incredible and very moving film...

for those of you who have seen mr. vegeance or oldboy,you know what to expect(unjust imprisonment which leads to revenge and incredible visuals),for those who haven't...do yourself a favor and become acquainted with chan-wook park's films...especially his "revenge" trilogy...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451094/

http://www.lady-vengeance.com/lady_vengence.html

[jack frost]

Watched Kamikaze Girls last night. Very difficult to describe just how great a flick it is - plot summary from the official page:

"Momoko (pop idol Kyoko Fukada, pictured above) yearns to live in 18-century Versailles than in her back-country hometown of Shimotsuma, heartland of the yakuza. To escape, she loses herself in the dreamy, doll-like fashions of the "Lolita” scene. Her idol is Akinori Isobe, chief designer of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright—her favorite Lolita design hose. She travels all the way to Tokyo to shop at their store.


One languid summer, to help fund her expensive hobby, Momoko runs a
classified ad of brand-name knock-off clothes (produced by her dad) for
sale. She encounters a buyer named Ichiko (the real name is Ichigo), who
happens to live in her neighborhood.


Super-rebel Ichiko (model and J-rock icon Anna Tsuchiya, pictured below), is a “Yankee”-style member of the Ponytails motorbike gang, one of Ibaraki's "Wild speed tribes,” whose teeth-rattling customized bikes are decked out with fiberglass shields and bannered backrests.


Somewhat against Momoko’s will, she and Ichigo slowly develop a strong friendship as they share their feelings on the odd goings-ons around them."

The style of the direction is very slick/Tarantino/Danny Boyle, many extremely humorous moments, not quite as strange as a Troma movie but would definitely leave the average American moviegoer scratching his head. Overall though, one of the best movies I've seen in recent memory.

[JFermaggio]

Thanks mehem and jack frost for the movie suggestions. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Kamikaze Girls are now at the top of my Netflix queue.

Watched Ichi The Killer last night. Now I know why it's so popular. I still don't get the ending, but I don't want to mention anything that would ruin it for others.

For tonight:

Cache
Three Extremes

[JFermaggio]

I watched these this week:

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - great

Cache - decent, but I think it could have been condensed a bit.

Men Behind the Sun - Holy fucking shit! This is one fucked up movie. Probably the sickest thing I have ever seen.

Have you seen it mehem? I'm not so sure how I came across it. Perhaps one of you had a post about it?

http://www.horrorview.com/Men%20Behind%20the%20Sun.htm

[metulj]

Cycling and documentary nuts:

Hell on Wheels, a documentary about the 2003 Tour De France from a very different (not Lance) perspective, is worth your time. Really. NetFlix has it. You really start liking the riders featured as people, especially Erik Zabel and Andreas Kloeden.

[mehem]

I watched these this week:

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - great

Cache - decent, but I think it could have been condensed a bit.

Men Behind the Sun - Holy fucking shit! This is one fucked up movie. Probably the sickest thing I have ever seen.

Have you seen it mehem? I'm not so sure how I came across it. Perhaps one of you had a post about it?

http://www.horrorview.com/Men%20Behind%20the%20Sun.htm

i would probably have to put men in the top 10/25 most disturbing things i've ever seen...good to see you liked sympathy,i love park's work...you gotta check his other films(especially the other two in the revenge series and cut from 3 extremes)...and as for cache like i said i enjoyed it,but funny games and benny's video are still the two best things he's done imo....

i actually watched a dean cain film and enjoyed it...yes that dean cain...it's called lost and is a cross between phone booth and duel...danny trejo(moreso his voice)reallly makes the film interesting as he chases cain across the nevada desert after dean screws him over...

http://a.videodetective.com/?PublishedID=235606

also watched picture mommy dead,a not so bad made for tv movie...stars zsa zsa gabor whose murder goes unsolved,as her family squabbles over her fortune ...i'd rate it right below dark night of the scarecrow,don't go to sleep,salem's lot,something evil,bad ronald,devil thumbs a ride,daughter of the devil,baffled,sybil,and don't be afraid of the dark for made for tv flicks...

also caught the first two nightmares and dreamscapes episodes....really enjoyed battlegrounds w/ william hurt,didn't care for the other so much(even w/ all the lovecraft references),but they seem to be following king's stories quite nicely...and speaking of lovecraft call of cthulu,a must-see short put out by the lovecraft historical society...

http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/index.html

[jack frost]

Just watched another simply amazing flick from our friends in Japan, The Bottled Fools. The entire thing takes place in an elevator.

It's one of the most intense and engaging psychological thrillers I've ever seen. There is gore and occasional somewhat extreme violence, but it's not enough that anyone should be too put off by - certainly nowhere near the level of movies like Saw or Hostel. In fact, this is the kind of film that does "right" everything the recent wave of horror films (Saw, Hostel, the Hills Have Eyes, etc.) do "wrong" - instead of titillating you with unnecessarily gruesome cheap thrills, it sucks you in on a much more emotional level and also manages to have several plot twists that slowly build on each other, keeping you interested not just in the thrill but in the actual mystery of the plot.

[mehem]

Just watched another simply amazing flick from our friends in Japan, The Bottled Fools. The entire thing takes place in an elevator.

It's one of the most intense and engaging psychological thrillers I've ever seen. There is gore and occasional somewhat extreme violence, but it's not enough that anyone should be too put off by - certainly nowhere near the level of movies like Saw or Hostel. In fact, this is the kind of film that does "right" everything the recent wave of horror films (Saw, Hostel, the Hills Have Eyes, etc.) do "wrong" - instead of titillating you with unnecessarily gruesome cheap thrills, it sucks you in on a much more emotional level and also manages to have several plot twists that slowly build on each other, keeping you interested not just in the thrill but in the actual mystery of the plot.


yeah i seem to recall bottled fools having some rather intense moments,i agree it's a good flick...

now as for your...whatever your point is,saw and hostel are what they are... nothing else...they're silly little "trendy" horror films and to use them as the "shining" examples for the current "horror wave" is laughable...i don't think anyone really ever expected anything more when they watched them,except to be entertained and maybe have a good laugh...thrills or scares? hell no,nothing has come out of "holywood" in years,maybe decades that can do that...i didn't like saw,but enjoyed hostel(except for eli's piss-poor choice of language and gross generalizations)to an extent,especially miike's cameo...

but what about aftermath or cutting moments? both are chock full of gore,but have a message stronger than anything you'll ever see at downtown west...far stronger than anything bottled is trying to do...

as for greg and alex,they have a style and method that transcends "cheap thrills"(along w/ nacho cerda and douglas buck),you'd be hard pressed to find two young filmmakers who are better at it ...did you watch hills btw? far better than saw or hostel...

i seem to recall a conversation about miike's work....something about all his does is "shock"...while being unaware of his full catalog,and the fact he doesn't always do this...it's just the ones where he does that stand out...

[jack frost]

now as for your...whatever your point is,saw and hostel are what they are... nothing else...they're silly little "trendy" horror films and to use them as the "shining" examples for the current "horror wave" is laughable...

I don't think we disagree on anything except that I'm writing from the point of view of someone who is not deeply into or aware of horror films. I'm sure there are horror movies being made that I don't know about that are as good as the ones coming out of Asia, it's just that, for whatever reason, it's much easier for me to hear about Korean/Japanese cult cinema than American. And a lot of people I know are the same way. Perhaps because good Asian horror tends to actually perform well at the box office (ie the first Whispering Corridor was one of Korea's biggest movies), whereas Americans buy into the cheap thrills.

And I didn't say that Hostel or Saw are "shining examples of the current horror wave". But there actually are a lot of "horror" fans who would say that, just as there are "punk" fans who would say that NOFX are the best band in the world, or "goth" fans who think gothic music was invented in 1989 by Trent Reznor.

And hold on, you just said that Cutting Moments has more depth than "anything you'd see at Downtown West". I honestly would like to hear this argument, because I just completely cannot understand it.

[mehem]

i'll put this as plain as i can...there's certain director's works i never will see at downtown west(i seem to remember some distress when it looked like scanner wasn't coming)...like
maddin,swankmajer,noe,higuchi,ozon,park,ishii,miik e,quay bros.,buck,& cerda to name a few...i know a couple of freaks who work there and they do a hell of a job getting some things i wouldn't expect them to,that no one else around here will....but most of it is the same old trendy stuff and is lacking any resemblence to original material...same old blah,blah...meanwhile there's a lot of guys pushing buttons and doing remarkable work...most will never see or hear of them....i know i've logged many a miles just to see some of their work...

as for the harsh depth/reality of buck's or cerda's work,it's stronger than anything i've seen out there...and believe me i've checked them out(and i would never comment on anything i haven't seen first-hand),especially the shit that's spewed out from "holywood" ...which is why in the late 90's i turned my attention to the far east...

have you seen cutting moments? if not do yourself a favor and check out buck's trilogy...it's a look at the american family like no other...holywood producers will not touch this subject matter,but then again they won't touch anything that's not going to make it's money back...which is why i must say i'm surprised that they're paying him to remake sisters(my favorite depalma flick),even though he is a remarkable talent i can't believe "holywood" took notice...

http://www.glasseyepix.com/html/buckmain.html

calvaire is another(but not directed by buck)with subject matter holywood won't touch...

[jack frost]

have you seen cutting moments?

Yes, which is why I asked you to explain in detail to me what is so deep about it, or at least, how it has more of a message than "anything at Downtown West". No, Knoxville isn't a cult enough town that anyone would ever bring the movies you're talking about to a theater. That's because it's their job as a business to make money. You and I both know that they would lose money on every single director you named. Hell, Hal Hartley is my favorite director, but I admit they almost certainly lose money every time they get one of his movies.

But they also do still bring in some pretty amazing stuff.

I understand your main cinematic pleasure seems to be "button-pushing" film. That's fine, but surely you can understand that not everyone shares your opinion that those kinds of films are the most important being made? I sure wouldn't ever try and say that what I like is what "should" be popular. I know I like mostly weird shit, and that's fine by me.

[fluffy]

just finished watching The N Word, With God on Our Side and the first disc of season 1 of 30 Days.

[JFermaggio]

I saw Irreversible and Three Extremes last night. Some very strong content with both movies. "Dumplings" is just down right wrong.

Mehem, Netflix says that Lady Vengeance is unavailable. If you get a copy, I will trade you "A Real Young Girl" for it. Also do you have Laboratory of the Devil?


Next up:

Kamikaze Girls and Bloodsucking Freaks

[Deanna's Daydreamer]

No dipshit...

it has nothing to do with boots or a vague reference to Nabokov.....

it's all YOU, dorko.

It is YOUR CHOICE of videos, dude.

Henry Lee Lucas seems just up your allley, Fermaggio.





ON THE REAL.

[mehem]

Yes, which is why I asked you to explain in detail to me what is so deep about it, or at least, how it has more of a message than "anything at Downtown West". No, Knoxville isn't a cult enough town that anyone would ever bring the movies you're talking about to a theater. That's because it's their job as a business to make money. You and I both know that they would lose money on every single director you named. Hell, Hal Hartley is my favorite director, but I admit they almost certainly lose money every time they get one of his movies.

But they also do still bring in some pretty amazing stuff.

I understand your main cinematic pleasure seems to be "button-pushing" film. That's fine, but surely you can understand that not everyone shares your opinion that those kinds of films are the most important being made? I sure wouldn't ever try and say that what I like is what "should" be popular. I know I like mostly weird shit, and that's fine by me.


psychotic behavior in suburbia...grief's reality,when all hope is gone...can't say i've seen many things that tackle these subjects as well and with such intensity...the three as a whole work very well...

"not everyone"...who are they?...why jack are you labeling me a film-pusher? surely i'm not pulling anyone's arm behind their back,making them read my posts/threads...am i?...just talking w/ those who have simliar interests...

[jack frost]

psychotic behavior in suburbia...grief's reality,when all hope is gone...can't say i've seen many things that tackle these subjects as well and with such intensity...

My only response would be that it's possible to attack such subjects with weapons other than intensity.


"not everyone"...who are they?...why jack are you labeling me a film-pusher? surely i'm not pulling anyone's arm behind their back,making them read my posts/threads...am i?...just talking w/ those who have simliar interests...

Honestly, you often come off as elitist in your definitions of what "is" and "isn't" good cinema. If you're not, cool. But it sounds that way when you tend to refute many statements with some variant of "Yeah, but have you seen [obscure film]?" You don't seem to respect that some people don't have enough time to explore every single film genre that exists, and you seem focused on a fairly narrow spectrum of the film world. Maybe you're being friendly, I don't know, but it doesn't come off that way.

[mehem]

I saw Irreversible and Three Extremes last night. Some very strong content with both movies. "Dumplings" is just down right wrong.

Mehem, Netflix says that Lady Vengeance is unavailable. If you get a copy, I will trade you "A Real Young Girl" for it. Also do you have Laboratory of the Devil?


Next up:

Kamikaze Girls and Bloodsucking Freaks

there's a full length feature of dumplings which i haven't seen...like i said before,for once miike's or park's works aren't the most disturbing one...fruit chan's is...the scary thing is this type of thing was/is not only believed,but acted upon...miike's imprint(which showtime wouldn't play) is somewhat similiar...good to see billy drago again..

love the work of gasper noe...the beginning of irreversible is...well you wonder who deserves that,and then you find out why...check out his i stand alone(w/ the great phillipe nahon) ...

the guy who did bloodsucking just had another dvd released,i hear it's not too bad...

[mehem]

My only response would be that it's possible to attack such subjects with weapons other than intensity.



Honestly, you often come off as elitist in your definitions of what "is" and "isn't" good cinema. If you're not, cool. But it sounds that way when you tend to refute many statements with some variant of "Yeah, but have you seen [obscure film]?" You don't seem to respect that some people don't have enough time to explore every single film genre that exists, and you seem focused on a fairly narrow spectrum of the film world. Maybe you're being friendly, I don't know, but it doesn't come off that way.

douglas' intensity is his weapon...it's part of his style,i think he pulls it off well(not to mention he can make the most comfortable things,uncomfortable as hell)...it's how he shares his ideas...i don't think he would want to go about doing it any other way...the fact that you disagree with my opinion of his work is fine,i welcome open discussions and different opinions...

i wonder,why so much interest in me? "i don't seem to respect"...i've not disrespected anyone...more speculation...try harder...


back on topic,no films tonight although i am looking foward to viy & trouble everyday later today...alice was the only viewing pleasure i needed,great show...great place to see one...

[Lee G]

Recently:

Scoop Aka the new Woody Allen. After overturning expectations with the fairly steely Match Point, he remakes that film as a wacky supernatural comedy. Very disappointing, and one of the more tedious stretches I've spent in a movie theater in recent memory. Can't tell you how much it sucked, I really can't.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Surprisingly enjoyable comedy/drama/break-down-the-fourth-wall flick from former screenwriter du jour Shane Black. With all of Robert Downey Jr.'s recent troubles and crappy jobs, it was a pleasure to remember how good he can be, and Val Kilmer is quite good in this, too. Michelle Monaghan, as well. Gee, maybe Shane Black's not a cheeseball after all.

Duma We got this for Will to watch (he digs cheetahs), but as I was watching it, I was impressed by how much more ambitious and better put together and involving it is than most of the kiddie crap we see these days. Then I got to the credits: Carroll Ballard, the guy who did The Black Stallion. Now he knows how to make a movie for kids.

The Hills Have Eyes The remake. It was fun, I guess. I can't really get too worked up about it either way other than that.

16 Blocks I rented this for Mos Def, and he didn't disappoint. The rest of the movie did, though, quickly getting as ridiculous as almost all these cop thriller flicks do.

The Shootist I had to watch this for work. It was John Wayne's final film, and although Don Siegel tries really hard to make it all poignant and everything, it's mostly just corny and tired. I mean, it was released the same year as The Outlaw Josey Wales, and it doesn't have a fraction of TOJW's grit. Ron Howard definitely made the right choice heading behind the camera, but Lauren Bacall always does nice things for a movie screen.

[jack frost]

douglas' intensity is his weapon...it's part of his style,i think he pulls it off well(not to mention he can make the most comfortable things,uncomfortable as hell)...it's how he shares his ideas...i don't think he would want to go about doing it any other way...the fact that you disagree with my opinion of his work is fine,i welcome open discussions and different opinions...

Disagreeing with your opinion of specific films is only part of a general disagreement we seem to have which is that you very much seem to believe that button-pushing or extreme cinema is the best, or only, way to tackle subjects or inject life into a genre. I just think that a lot of films you've stated as regarding highly are button-pushing for the sake of button-pushing. I think I'm quoting or paraphrasing someone when I say this - it takes a lot more skill to affect an audience by not showing the monster. Which is why I'd rather watch a hundred American Beauties or Donnie Darkos than sit through something like Cutting Moments again.

[jeffx]

deadwood: still awesome.

matchpoint: i know i'm supposed to get my film lover's membership revoked for this, but i've never liked woody allen. he's not funny, and his movies are mostly dull and tiresome and full of characters that are not so much characters but half-cooked extensions of woody allen. there are exceptions, but not many. matchpoint is not a bad movie, but i didn't see anything in it to really turn me around on allen. the only character i bought for a second in this was scarlett johansen's. rhys-myers is stiff and terrible, and i would have never thought a brit would do such a laughable irish accent. the pacing and cinematography are pretty good, i guess.

mirrormask: mixed bag. the visual aspect is... just amazing. i mean, really amazing. everything else is kinda not. the awful music and stage-like blocking give it a cirque-du-soleil-on-mescaline feel. which is grating. and just about every character is irritating. still, it's worth watching for the effects.

tokyo godfathers: really beautiful anime about 3 homeless people in tokyo who discover an abandoned baby and try to return it to its parents. great animation, enjoyable characters, well-conceived and directed. very bittersweet.

[Lee G]

matchpoint: i know i'm supposed to get my film lover's membership revoked for this, but i've never liked woody allen. he's not funny, and his movies are mostly dull and tiresome and full of characters that are not so much characters but half-cooked extensions of woody allen. there are exceptions, but not many. matchpoint is not a bad movie, but i didn't see anything in it to really turn me around on allen. the only character i bought for a second in this was scarlett johansen's. rhys-myers is stiff and terrible, and i would have never thought a brit would do such a laughable irish accent. the pacing and cinematography are pretty good, i guess.

But, but . . . Rhys-Meyers is Irish.

Match Point was good, not great, and fairly atypical for Woody regardless, so I think your membership remains in good standing.

[jeffx]

But, but . . . Rhys-Meyers is Irish.

oh. i guess he just sounds stiff and awkward. i've seen him in other stuff like velvet goldmine and don't remember him being near as objectionable.

[jack frost]

I think the only Woody Allen movie I can conciously remember liking is Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask. Which I saw when I was 7 or so, around the same time my grandfather was introducing me to Monty Python and making me read US News and World Report.

...

Damn, that explains a lot about me.

[jeffx]

I think the only Woody Allen movie I can conciously remember liking is Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask.

yeah, i'll let that one slide, too.

[mehem]

Disagreeing with your opinion of specific films is only part of a general disagreement we seem to have which is that you very much seem to believe that button-pushing or extreme cinema is the best, or only, way to tackle subjects or inject life into a genre. I just think that a lot of films you've stated as regarding highly are button-pushing for the sake of button-pushing. I think I'm quoting or paraphrasing someone when I say this - it takes a lot more skill to affect an audience by not showing the monster. Which is why I'd rather watch a hundred American Beauties or Donnie Darkos than sit through something like Cutting Moments again.

well i love donnie(looking foward to his newest one)and really enjoyed american...both have their moments that some would find to be extreme,but maybe not as graphic as some examples i use...

but i hope you'll give buck another chance and check out his other two films in the family portaits dvd,they're not near as graphic as cutting,but show his skill as a filmmaker making the un-creepy,creepy as hell...the third one is probably the most moving(just like cerda's genesis is more moving than aftermath and not as graphic)and has the strongest acting in it...all 3 films tie together as one character...

as i said before i really don't like remakes and sisters is one of my favorites,but i'm looking foward to seeing what he does w/ it...and chloe is a good choice to play grace...

http://imdb.com/title/tt0486652/

btw sorry to hear about your gig,that sucks for everyone involved,hate to hear about it...

watching viy at work,an older flick from russia which seems to be about as good as any of tarkovsky's work...very pretty,has a somewhat gothic feel to it,similar to bell from hell and spiral staircase...

http://imdb.com/title/tt0062453/

[gypsy]

kind of by accident, i ended up watching gus van sant's columbine movie elephant last night. (i was intending to watch last sunday's "deadwood," but my hbo-on-demand wasn't working, grr.) so i was flipping around and it was just starting. not sure what to think of it. i found it visually compelling, almost dreamlike -- the colors were so sharp, and the use of short-focus was interesting, especially during the shooting scenes at the end where the people being shot were just vague blurs. and the interrupted chronology was effective, the way it keeps wheeling backward and then forward toward what you know will be the inevitable climax. the decision to not really offer "explanations" (beyond about 30 seconds of the one kid being picked on) seems smart, because we've heard all of the explanations and none of them suffice. otoh, minus explication, what's the point of the movie? maybe something like, a document of disruption. here is normal life, here is normal life disrupted. here is how easy it is to do that.

it left me feeling kind of not much of anything -- none of the kids are developed as characters, really, the movie's not really about emotional engagement. but it has lingered with me all day, enough to make me want to post about it, so...there's something there.

[Lee G]

kind of by accident, i ended up watching gus van sant's columbine movie elephant last night. (i was intending to watch last sunday's "deadwood," but my hbo-on-demand wasn't working, grr.) so i was flipping around and it was just starting. not sure what to think of it. i found it visually compelling, almost dreamlike -- the colors were so sharp, and the use of short-focus was interesting, especially during the shooting scenes at the end where the people being shot were just vague blurs. and the interrupted chronology was effective, the way it keeps wheeling backward and then forward toward what you know will be the inevitable climax. the decision to not really offer "explanations" (beyond about 30 seconds of the one kid being picked on) seems smart, because we've heard all of the explanations and none of them suffice. otoh, minus explication, what's the point of the movie? maybe something like, a document of disruption. here is normal life, here is normal life disrupted. here is how easy it is to do that.

it left me feeling kind of not much of anything -- none of the kids are developed as characters, really, the movie's not really about emotional engagement. but it has lingered with me all day, enough to make me want to post about it, so...there's something there.

Yeah, that was much better than I thought it would be, and yes, strangely haunting in a way that's hard to pin down. It's definitely the most successful of Van Sant's recent "experiments."

[jack frost]

otoh, minus explication, what's the point of the movie?

Movies are supposed to have points? :D

I thought it was not bad at all, certainly more entertaining than Good Will Hunting, which I think still tops my list of Worst Movies Ever.

[JohnT]

kind of by accident, i ended up watching gus van sant's columbine movie elephant last night. (i was intending to watch last sunday's "deadwood," but my hbo-on-demand wasn't working, grr.) so i was flipping around and it was just starting. not sure what to think of it. i found it visually compelling, almost dreamlike -- the colors were so sharp, and the use of short-focus was interesting, especially during the shooting scenes at the end where the people being shot were just vague blurs. and the interrupted chronology was effective, the way it keeps wheeling backward and then forward toward what you know will be the inevitable climax. the decision to not really offer "explanations" (beyond about 30 seconds of the one kid being picked on) seems smart, because we've heard all of the explanations and none of them suffice. otoh, minus explication, what's the point of the movie? maybe something like, a document of disruption. here is normal life, here is normal life disrupted. here is how easy it is to do that.

it left me feeling kind of not much of anything -- none of the kids are developed as characters, really, the movie's not really about emotional engagement. but it has lingered with me all day, enough to make me want to post about it, so...there's something there.

I love Elephant (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363589/), and consider it one of the better films of this rather lackluster decade.

The "point" of the movie was point of view: your viewpoint of the horror depended upon where you were when it was happening - I'm sure you noted the faint sounds of gunshots during some of the sequences, occurring as they were mostly out of the reference point of the characters; the deaths of their classmates, for a fleeting time, just part of the background noise of their lives. One person walks past the gunmen on his way from the school, unknowingly saving his life. Another is right there, and dies. Others are at various points in the school, their awareness dawning pretty much in relation to their proximity of the events.

Such is the way horror enters lives, coming out of the backdrop, from out of nowhere and everywhere. We saw it again this past week in Lebanon, as people slowly became aware that they were in a war zone, even though they were in one for days. Elephant was an attempt to recreate that in a Columbine setting.

It won at Cannes, by the way, perhaps the first American film made by a TV production company (HBO Films) to do so.

[gypsy]

yeah, but i think the movie was working on something a little deeper. i think your use of the word 'horror' is onto something. it basically is a horror film, but a for-real one. i think somehow it's about what horror is -- not so much where it comes from as what it means. it's interesting too that it didn't seem exploitative, which i think a more melodramatic movie would have. anyway, i got more out of it than i expected.

(you really think this has been a lackluster decade, tho? you're maybe watching the wrong movies.)

[gypsy]

(i like hoberman's review (http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0343,hoberman,48001,20.html). rosenbaum is pretty good too (http://www.fipresci.org/archive/archive_2004/rotterdam/rdam_jrosenbaum.htm).)

[mehem]

watched buñuel's ode to to the "working woman",belle de jour...as with all of his work,stunning...exterminating angel and simon of the desert are still probably my favorites...

also caught some of the first season of puppets that kill(canadian cable show)...not as good as trailer park boys,but still not bad...and forbidden zone,which i'll never get tired of....

tnt knows drama and the end of the whole mess(nightmares and dreamscapes latest) is no different...quite enjoyed it though(2nd to battlegrounds,haven't seen umney's last case yet),as the "whole idea" is quite fascinating(i don't remember reading this one)while scary at the same time...thought henry thomas and ron livingston were very,very good in this story of a filmmaker recounting his brother's experiments gone wrong...

[jack frost]

The other night I watched Battle Royale again. The first time I'd seen it, I was drunk and stoned in a room full of people, so I wasn't able to pay full attention. Watching it a second time it really hit me how great it is - I would probably put it in my top 5 of all time. On first viewing I had pretty much missed any of the subtlety or the "human" moments, especially the last 20 minutes.

It took me so long to give it a second viewing because it's a movie like Fight Club, where the rabid fans are the ones who missed the point most completely. Most people are like "OMG kids killing each other!!!!" when in reality there is so much nuance and yes, tenderness and even a sense of hope, especially with the teacher "requiem" at the end which I don't even remember seeing the first time.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm sure the American remake will probably ditch all the plot in favor of more EXTREME KILLING ACTION.

[mehem]

The other night I watched Battle Royale again. The first time I'd seen it, I was drunk and stoned in a room full of people, so I wasn't able to pay full attention. Watching it a second time it really hit me how great it is - I would probably put it in my top 5 of all time. On first viewing I had pretty much missed any of the subtlety or the "human" moments, especially the last 20 minutes.

It took me so long to give it a second viewing because it's a movie like Fight Club, where the rabid fans are the ones who missed the point most completely. Most people are like "OMG kids killing each other!!!!" when in reality there is so much nuance and yes, tenderness and even a sense of hope, especially with the teacher "requiem" at the end which I don't even remember seeing the first time.

well i'm sure it comes as no surprise that it's a favorite of mine...especially kiriyama...great cast...

if you haven't had a chance to read the book or mangas,highly suggest... they're all really good as well(and are usually pretty cheap on amazon,as is the uzumaki stuff as well) and dive more into those nuances you speak of...and the soundtrack,holy shit great compilation...but pricey, i have no problem dubbing it...

skip the sequel by kinji's son btw...how funny that "holywood" is going to remake it in '08...

[jack frost]

skip the sequel by kinji's son btw...

Eh, I'll probably watch it tonight just because it's on AznV and the cost of watching it on there works out to roughly 25 cents.

Agreed that the cast was perfect, especially Beat Takeshi and the guy who played the psycho... it occurred to me on the second viewing that the psycho doesn't speak a single line of dialogue throughout the whole thing but manages to perfectly use body language to sell the character.

Funny things is, I've seen a lot of amateur fanboy-reviews that talk about how the acting is "over-dramatic"... which I didn't see at all.

[mehem]

watched equinox and shriek of the mutilated(from the bigfoot collection)...both i saw parts of as a kid,had a good time seeing both again...good "b" movie fun...

fell asleep during art of the devil II,beer wins again...gonna have to check it out again,seemed to have a lot more action than the first(which i enjoyed)...great cg work from what i remember...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/mehem/ArtoftheDevil2PosterRipped.jpg

[Lee G]

Over the weekend, we tried and failed to watch Victim, a '60s-vintage British film in which Dirk Bogarde plays a respectable gent who's blackmailed because he's gay. The missus and I had both heard of it but neither of us had seen it, and it started promisingly enough, but the DVD was so low-budge that it didn't have subtitles. Between keeping it down so's not to wake the rest of the family and the sound of the air-conditioner and all the mumbly Brit accents, we couldn't make out anything anyone was saying, so we bailed. It looked like it would be good, though.

We successfully watched Tsotsi and The Proposition. I liked the former more than most stuff I've seen this year; the story follows a somewhat predictable curve, but it's handled well and the ending is just about perfect. The latter was written for the screen by none other than Nick Cave, and it wasn't half bad. Parts of it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but the cast was top drawer (Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Danny Huston, and David Gulpili, who's like the Aboriginal Gene Hackman). It mos def had a serious Blood Meridian vibe going on.

[mehem]

The Proposition The latter was written for the screen by none other than Nick Cave, and it wasn't half bad. Parts of it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but the cast was top drawer (Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Danny Huston, and David Gulpili, who's like the Aboriginal Gene Hackman)

looking foward to checking that out...

checked out the witch(directed by one of the best names in film, damiano damiani) ,the head(trivas),the devil's sword(good grief),and subject two...now two's storyine has been done again and again,but i rather enjoyed it,especially dean stapleton's perfomance(similar to jack in the shining)...

http://www.subjecttwomovie.com/

sheitan,vincent cassel's(brotherhood of the wolf) newest film looks interesting,but consider yourself warned...

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/video-trailers.html?bclid=16861849&bctid=24465903

[metulj]

I watched "Julia" (Jane Fonda) the other day. I imagine the either people were weirded out by this flick and the lesbian theme or just didn't get it back in the day. Not a great movie other than set design and photography.

[fluffy]

watching the doc A Bright Shining Moment right now, about the Mcgovern campaign. interesting how much it mirrors whats going on with the democrats right now, and the nation as a whole.

[Amy]

Viewing pleasures

[mehem]

gialli week...caught fifth cord,black belly of the tarantula,and what happened to solange...

also caught burn witch,burn,waxworks(german expressionist film),witch's mirror(gotta catch the other mexican classic,curse of the crying woman, based on the old llorana myths),and v for vendetta which is the first moore(card-carrying fanboy since swamp thing)film translation i didn't stop or get up and leave the theater...rather enjoyed it...

looking foward to small gauge trauma next(the best shorts from fantasia)...

http://www.diabolikdvd.com/category/Browse-All-Titles/Small-Gauge-Trauma-DVD-(13-Shorts-From-The-Fantasia-Film-Festival)-(NTSC-Region-1).html

http://www.synapse-films.com/shopping_cart/small_gauge.htm

[Scott]

We watched the Aviator last night, enjoyed it, Howard Hughes was a very complex individual to say the least.

Naked States a film by Arlene Donnely about Spencer Tunick who ask large groups of people to pose naked for him. It was a fun movie.

We started but haven't finished Cecil B Demented by John Waters. Doesn't seem that great, but I could be swayed.

All of these were checked out of the library.

[jack frost]

I saw the trailer for Pulse the other day, a remake of a Japanese movie called Kairo, and it looked pretty damn interesting, so I watched the Japanese version.

It's... okay. It's only spooky in literally a couple spots. It appears that, while the American version has the same plot and even has a few shots that are exactly the same as in the Japanese, it will actually be a lot more spooky and well-developed. Kairo really didn't even make sense; at about the 3/4 point of the movie, something happens, but it's not explained or even actually mentioned and, I suppose, you're supposed to just kind of guess? Which is strange because it's a massive event that, if you don't know what's going on, renders the entire last 1/4 of the movie completely incomprehensible.

So, looking forward to see if the remake lives up to the flat-out awesome trailers.

[Randall]

We successfully watched Tsotsi and The Proposition. ... The latter was written for the screen by none other than Nick Cave, and it wasn't half bad. Parts of it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but the cast was top drawer (Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Danny Huston, and David Gulpili, who's like the Aboriginal Gene Hackman). It mos def had a serious Blood Meridian vibe going on.

I liked that pretty well, too. I hadn't thought about the Blood Meridian vibe, but I think you're right about that.

Saw a 1989 "Zatoichi" film via NetFlix last week. Nice old Asian blood-spurter, with comedy. It was enjoyable, if not as stylistically curious as the 2003 take on the character starring Takeshi Kitano.

[jack frost]

How do the newer Zatoichi films compare to the originals?

[Quince]

I watched "Julia" (Jane Fonda) the other day. I imagine the either people were weirded out by this flick and the lesbian theme or just didn't get it back in the day. Not a great movie other than set design and photography.

Hm. You're right. Not great. But dense, dense with story. I remember taking it to heart like a weird personal treasure but also knowing I probably didn't get it since I was too young to.

[Lee G]

We started but haven't finished Cecil B Demented by John Waters. Doesn't seem that great, but I could be swayed.

It's Waters absolute worst film, IMHO.

[fluffy]

i watched a horrible documentary about organic living starring Woody Harrelson. like some sort of freshman college granola idealist film.

[Lee G]

Over the weekend, we watched V for Vendetta, which was pretty good, although I often wished V would just shut his hole. Natalie Portman is a good actress after all, it appears. We also watched Heat for the kabillionth time.

Before that, we watched The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the directorial debut of star Tommy Lee Jones. It starts off a little scattered, but it's one of the few films I've seen recently for which "literary" isn't mere faint praise. The ending is just devastating. Killer cast, too: Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, Homicide's Melissa Leo, and a brief appearance by Levon Helm. Recommended.

Also, we rented Magic, the '70s thriller with Anthony Hopkins as a psycho ventriloquist, which I had never seen. Not wholly satisfying, but pretty creepy in spots, mostly thanks to naturally creepy Hopkins. Ann-Margaret was so good in similar-vintage seriousness Carnal Knowledge, but she's not up to much here.

[Randall]

How do the newer Zatoichi films compare to the originals?

I've only seen the two, so I can't really say as far as the really older ones go. The 1989 one and the 2003 one have similar veins of humor running through them. The 2003 one had a surreal kind of musical thing going on, complete with a "Busby Berkley meets Bollywood" full-cast tap dance number at the end.

[straps]

Man, yall are some movie watchin people.
I saw Superman, it was cool. Made me feel like a kid watching the first Superman in the theater. Its the only movie I've seen on the big screen in possibly the last six months.
I haven't rented much, either.
Oh, and I guess me and two other people liked Baron von Munchausen.

[Raincrow]

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the directorial debut of star Tommy Lee Jones. It starts off a little scattered, but it's one of the few films I've seen recently for which "literary" isn't mere faint praise. The ending is just devastating. Killer cast, too: Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, Homicide's Melissa Leo, and a brief appearance by Levon Helm. Recommended.


The best movie I've seen this year. The subtly violent script by Guillermo Arriaga outrides and outshoots Cormac McCarthy.

[Lee G]

The best movie I've seen this year. The subtly violent script by Guillermo Arriaga outrides and outshoots Cormac McCarthy.

Yeah. A co-worker who's a Texas native suggested that Jones'd be better for the movie version of No Country for Old Men than the Coen Bros., and I believe he's right.

[jack frost]

Oh, and I guess me and two other people liked Baron von Munchausen.

I have never understood why that movie doesn't get much love. I think it's quite possibly Gilliam's best film. God, that part at the end... "And that was but one of the many occasions on which I died." That was so great.

And "The Torturer's Apprentice"! Oh man. "A eunuch's life is hard..."

[shoetick]

One of my favorites is "The Last Time I Committed Suicide." It was written and directed by Stephen Kay and based off letters Neal Cassady sent to Jack Kerouac, mainly from the "great sex letter." Anyhow, i think it was well done and just like what he did with the letters. Thomas Jane plays Neal and Adrien Brody plays a pseudo allen ginsberg. Also has Claire Forlani, Gretchen Mol, and Keanu Reeves in it.

here is a NYT review of it: http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=1&title1=&title2=Last%20Time%20I%20Committed%20Suicide%2C%20 The%20%28Movie%29%20%20&reviewer=Stephen%20Holden&v_id=154554&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes&oref=slogin

[jack frost]

One of my favorites is "The Last Time I Committed Suicide."

Oh, HELL yes. I've watched that movie dozens of times, and never get tired of it. That was the film that made me realize that Keanu Reeves actually is capable of acting, even though his part is pretty small.

[shoetick]

Oh, HELL yes. I've watched that movie dozens of times, and never get tired of it. That was the film that made me realize that Keanu Reeves actually is capable of acting, even though his part is pretty small.

yeah, i bought it and the soundtrack. haven't pulled it out in a while. But yeah, i've watched it a few dozen times as well. That movie made me fall deely in love with Claire Forlani. It's ok, Gnaw knows where she stands if Claire should break down in front of the house ;)

[mehem]

I saw the trailer for Pulse the other day, a remake of a Japanese movie called Kairo, and it looked pretty damn interesting, so I watched the Japanese version.

It's... okay. It's only spooky in literally a couple spots. It appears that, while the American version has the same plot and even has a few shots that are exactly the same as in the Japanese, it will actually be a lot more spooky and well-developed. Kairo really didn't even make sense; at about the 3/4 point of the movie, something happens, but it's not explained or even actually mentioned and, I suppose, you're supposed to just kind of guess? Which is strange because it's a massive event that, if you don't know what's going on, renders the entire last 1/4 of the movie completely incomprehensible.

So, looking forward to see if the remake lives up to the flat-out awesome trailers.

i had a similar experience when watching kario,which was unexpected because most of his other films keep you guessing to an extent(like his cure which i highly,highly suggest),but not as much as kairo/pulse when it came to connecting the dots...

cure(kyua)...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123948/

[jack frost]

Yeah, I keep meaning to watch Cure, hopefully I'll get a chance tonight. I've heard good things.

Have you seen The Descent, mehem? I can't decide if it looks great or horrible.

[mehem]

Yeah, I keep meaning to watch Cure, hopefully I'll get a chance tonight. I've heard good things.

Have you seen The Descent, mehem? I can't decide if it looks great or horrible.

yeah, i got the english release a few months ago...not a terrible flick by any means(and i thought it was better than dog soldiers),it was alright(on a second "sober" viewing i noticed a few things i didn't before,plus it's one of those that does just enough to make you wonder if everything is as it is),but it really didn't do anything to stand out...except for the lead character and the massive backdrops(appy mountains)...just a fun little flick,worth a rent,maybe matinee...

on a side note i didn't realize gans did silent hill,i'll have to check that out now...

[jack frost]

on a side note i didn't realize gans did silent hill,i'll have to check that out now...

Silent Hill is generally being acknowledged, post-theatrical-run, as being one of the finer Western horror movies in recent memory, and probably the best video-game-movie adaptation ever.

[mehem]

Silent Hill is generally being acknowledged, post-theatrical-run, as being one of the finer Western horror movies in recent memory, and probably the best video-game-movie adaptation ever.

yeah i really enjoyed gans' brotherhood of the wolf,not sure how i missed he was doing silent...

[Quince]

Pardon me for my wearing Grranimals to your Prada trunk show, but my boss just lent me The Graduate, and...just...has anyone remarked on Anne Bancroft's *clothes* in that movie? You could wear them this minute.

[mehem]

well,well,well...calvaire is finally coming to the u.s.,well maybe in theatres...i see amazon already has a dvd release date(lucky mckee's the woods as well)


http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/calvaire/trailer/

[artemis]

i'm looking forward to seeing the woods finally (sometime in october, right mehem?). i saw the descent last week and, yeah, it was fun, few good jump scenes, but not as gross or frightening as i'd been led to believe based on all the hype. good score. and good sound, and some really nice, memorable images.
i saw little miss sunshine monday night and loved it. it has a kind of american beauty as madcap comedy vibe about it, and the cross country trek in the broken down vw van reminded me ever so slightly of the grapes of wrath. my favorite character was the teenage son who hates everyone and doesn't talk, but all the characters are pretty fantastic and really well acted.
last night i saw leonard cohen: i'm your man. very intriguing. it's a tribute concert from january 2005 intercut with interview clips of cohen, and some of the performers talking about the influence the man has had on them. it was fun to hear nick cave talk, cause he has such a sweet speaking voice that is so dramatically different from his singing one. the performers were more or less decent, and some really stand out. julie christensen and pearla batalla do a rendition of "anthem" that's simply gorgeous, and everything rufus wainwright does is fabulous. the interview footage is fascinating, but that's just cause the man himself is so darned interesting. i could've watched hours of him rambling away.

[spinetingler]

Call me lowbrow, but the last two evenings I've watched The Longest Yard (remake) and Benchwarmers* and enjoyed both.
So shoot me.




*Jon Lovitz - enough said.

[artemis]

i record days of our lives and watch it after work every day, so i'm not in any position to call anybody lowbrow.

[Lee G]

Silent Hill is generally being acknowledged, post-theatrical-run, as being one of the finer Western horror movies in recent memory, and probably the best video-game-movie adaptation ever.

I watched it last night, and I have to say I agree. Surprisingly, winningly good, in a way that mixed the random creepiness and nightmare quality of j-horror and classic Italian stuff with the more mythical/moralistic narrative style of more 'Murican horror. Of course, Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction, The Rules of Attraction) wrote the script and Christophe Gans (super-loopy import The Brotherhood of the Wolf) directed, so no wonder.

Before that, we watched Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, which was also quite good. It wasn't so much a movie adaptation of the novel as a movie about the adaptation of the novel, which, considering the novel in question, makes sense. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, for the most part, but it certainly is amusing. I do find it a little hard to believe that Steve Coogan's character (an actor named Steve Coogan) wouldn't be a little more eager to sleep with Kelly MacDonald. After all, aren't most men of the Trainspotting generation a little eager to sleep with Kelly MacDonald, at least a bit.

Before that, we watched Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt, another winner. It always helps a documentary when the subject has, for whatever reason, spent a lot of time in front of a camera in his or her life. It's hard to believe there's this much great footage of a modestly famous person like Townes, but it worked out well for this film. Anyway, highly recommended. In fact, I'd recommend any of the above highly.

Before that, we watched Cache, which I enjoyed, although frankly I think I prefer Haneke's more overtly confrontational stuff. Still, fine work.

[artemis]

be here to love me's in my netflix queue, i just need to watch and mail back grey gardens before i can get my hands on it.

[jeffx]

last weekend i watched:

the matador - overhyped, and strangely milquetoast, but enjoyable. brosnan's good, so is kinnear.

ultimate avengers - the animation is relatively weak compared to most anime, or disney, or don bluth, or... hell, even the batman series. but the whole thing is a build up to the hulk's appearance, and hulk smash good. and i have a renewed interest in captain america from reading the current civil war and frontline run.

kiss kiss bang bang - a little too precious for its own good, but silly and cute. weirdly paced and scatterbrained, with pretty ridiculous deux ex machina, it's still worth watching just because everyone in it seems like they're having so much damn fun.

[straps]

Watched The Ice Harvest last night, as I have been meaning to for some time now. I am way behind on any kind of current release schedule. I liked it a lot, though I am glad they didn't go with either alternate ending on the DVD.

[Lee G]

be here to love me's in my netflix queue, i just need to watch and mail back grey gardens before i can get my hands on it.

Grey Gardens is one of my favorites; it might be my wife's most favorite.

[artemis]

Grey Gardens is one of my favorites; it might be my wife's most favorite.
cool. it got a high recommendation from my best friend in baltimore, too, so i'm sure i'll love it. it's just finding the time to sit down and watch it. hopefully this weekend.

[mehem]

i'm looking forward to seeing the woods finally (sometime in october, right mehem?). i saw the descent last week and, yeah, it was fun, few good jump scenes, but not as gross or frightening as i'd been led to believe based on all the hype. good score. and good sound, and some really nice, memorable images.


october 3rd(which is turning out to be a good day for releases,the roost,calvaire,and edmond to name a few)...i've heard really good things about it,some have said it's a lot better than may(and i really liked may,especially bettis' performance)...it was delayed for so long because of some of the language lucky uses in the film,the financial backers wanted him to change it and he stood pat(it was silly,like fire-crotch or something)...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H5TH0W/ref=imdbap_t_1/002-9996160-0915248?ie=UTF8

yeah i had fun watching the descent and i especially liked the lead girl's performance...wish i would've made the trip over to north carolina to check out their set...

watched the car with james brolin the other night...man i like that old lincoln...

[jack frost]

Finally got around to watching Cure, and it was amazing. Way better than Kairo. Not really a "horror" movie per se, but it gave me chills regardless. The ending pissed me off at first until I thought about it and realized it was actually rather brilliant.

[Raincrow]

,some have said it's a lot better than may(and i really liked may,especially bettis' performance)...

Angela Bettis is the best woman-playing-crazy out there. She snatched that mantle right offa Brittany Murphy (ie "Cherry Falls") and asphyxiated her with it like a bad stepchild. Too bad Bettis is trapped at the cult-level appreciation rung.

[artemis]

i really liked cure. chilling is an apt term for it. it's very unsettling and fascinating. i especially appreciated the actor who played the detective (koji yakusho?), he has such a marvelous movie face.
angela bettis rocks! she's fantastic in may (that final scene-wow!), which is such a fun movie.

[JFermaggio]

Recently seen:

Baise Moi
In My Skin
Black Christmas
Romance
I Spit On Your Grave
The Squid And The Whale
Kamikaze Girls
Suicide Club
Aftermath/Genesis
Family Portraits
Alive
Whispering Corridors
Hellevator

Out of that list, Baise Moi impresssed me the most. However, Black Christmas is indeed a classic - Margot Kidder plying that kid with alcohol was hilarious. Shame on mehem for suggesting most of these.

"Cutting Moments" from Family Portraits was pretty messed up.

I need a new list of movies mehem.

[JohnT]

Heh. Tomorrow I get to undergo the horror that is

Holly Hobbie and Her Friends.

I have already notified the mental health authorities to be on the lookout for an emergency call between 10:00am and noon, giving them location and description.

Regardless of what happens to my sanity, I'm sure Sophie will love it. :D

[fluffy]

Heh. Tomorrow I get to undergo the horror that is

Holly Hobbie and Her Friends.

I have already notified the mental health authorities to be on the lookout for an emergency call between 10:00am and noon, giving them location and description.

Regardless of what happens to my sanity, I'm sure Sophie will love it. :D

and i thought having to endure Oobie on Noggin was bad.

[mehem]

However, Black Christmas is indeed a classic - Margot Kidder plying that kid with alcohol was hilarious. Shame on mehem for suggesting most of these.
I need a new list of movies mehem.

black christmas is one of my favorites...billy started the first-person craze,and not too many know that halloween was originally supposed to be a sequel......speaking of kidder, buck(cutting) is remaking sisters...it's one remake i'll watch...cerda(aftermath)has just finished the abandoned(you can check out the trailer for H6 as well below)...

http://www.gomorrahy.com/trailer-park/movie-trailers.htm

here's a few more,trying to stay with the newer stuff(btw finished up your stuff)...

rooms for tourists
marebito
deathtrap
subject two
H6
nails
spider forest
save the green planet
lost(cain,trejo)
trouble every day
plaga zombie(mutant zone)
aswang
new blood
soft for digging
art of the devil 1 (two is ok)
rojo sangre
shutter
memories of murder
lost skeleton of cadavra
shallow ground
close your eyes
graveyard alive(a zombie nurse in love)...not jackson's...
ghost of the needle(a local guy)
zombie honeymoon
haze(tsukamoto)

that should keep you busy for a while...cheers...

jack glad you enjoyed the cure...i consider a j-horror classic...watched silent hill...enjoyed it,had to have my kid bro fill me in on the game details...nolan's newest looks interesting...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/theprestige/large.html

[jack frost]

I thought Haze was a good, interesting concept but ultimately was just painfully boring to watch - then again, I watched the "extended" version, so perhaps the short one would be more to my liking. It could have been more creepy, or more... anything. I lost interest in watching a black screen while a guy breathed heavily and freaked out after the first 5 minutes. Loved the ending, though.

[jeffx]

well, the girlfriend was feeling under the weather this weekend, so i got a lot of movie watching in.

HEAD - i love the monkees. i love jack nicholson. i love psychedelia. hence, i very much like this flick.

you, me and everyone we know - sweet and pretty. very feminine.

silent hill - the best game-to-movie adaptation yet, which isn't saying much. actually more enjoyable than playing the game, which i did. i'm not a fan of the adventure/horror movie genre (that's what videogames are for), but this is the best example of it i've seen, excepting brotherhood of the wolf, which i kinda consider a genre unto itself.

thumbsucker - another bittersweet indie coming-of-age/finding yourself flick. i like those, and even i'm getting sick of them. still, this one's fine. keanu reeves is funny. so is benjamin bratt.

[mehem]

the maid...could have done without the same old cheap scares and cut-scenes that make j-horror,j-horror(ghostly crawling girls etc.)...but it's tong's first effort(and the first film done in singapore by the locals) and there's some good here...

hard candy...a lesson in responsibilty and to the point...enjoyed slade's film almost as much as lady vengeance...almost...looking foward to see what he does with 30 days of night...

[Manovinyl]

Peaceful Warrior w/ Nick Nolte. One of my faves this year. Guy moves through his internal muck with prodding of guru like figure played by Nolte. I'm a sucker for these kinds of films. Looking forward to Fearless next week for same reason.

Crank with guy from Transporter. Pure testosterone. Storyline is a cross between D.O.A. and Speed. Loved it.

I've been living with out cable for a couple years now. Only thing I really miss is Daily Show... Now anytime I get around cable, it's like crack, just can't pull myself away. Anyway, favorite thing to watch at home is high production TV shows on DVD box sets. Watched all of Carnivale, Six Feet Under and Dead Like Me this year. Amassing all the Homocide sets now, waiting to have them all on the shelf before I start plowing into the best thing that has ever been on TV. Thank you, McKays.

[jack frost]

I hated Hard Candy.

Cabin Fever was on Sci-Fi the other night. It managed to be even worse than Hostel. Wow, what a horribly dumb and annoying movie.

American Movie was funny. If I'd been stoned, it would have been twice as funny.

[mehem]

I hated Hard Candy.

Cabin Fever was on Sci-Fi the other night. It managed to be even worse than Hostel. Wow, what a horribly dumb and annoying movie.

American Movie was funny. If I'd been stoned, it would have been twice as funny.

agreed on cabin and american,what made you hate hard candy?

[jack frost]

I hated Hard Candy because it made me feel stupid and insulted and manipulated. Even moreso because the whole point of the movie was button-pushing manipulation. Points off also for having two main characters that were equally unrealistic to the point where liking or disliking either of them was impossible. "Oh, she's cute! Wait, she's a psychopath." "Oh, he's nice! Wait, he killed a teenage girl before." And above all there was just absolutely nothing in the movie that entertained me.

[mehem]

I hated Hard Candy because it made me feel stupid and insulted and manipulated. Even moreso because the whole point of the movie was button-pushing manipulation. Points off also for having two main characters that were equally unrealistic to the point where liking or disliking either of them was impossible. "Oh, she's cute! Wait, she's a psychopath." "Oh, he's nice! Wait, he killed a teenage girl before." And above all there was just absolutely nothing in the movie that entertained me.

hard candy insulted you and made you feel stupid....damn man,overreact much?

don't you think the film is about responsibility,not manipulation? i mean if you didn't like it,you didn't like it...that's fair enough...

but i'm not sure i catch your point about the unrealistic character angle(not that i know what a 14 year-old kid or a pedophile is like,or would act like)...is it a sympathy issue,or not knowing enough about the characters?...


the storyline is what it is...but technically speaking the use of sound and the editing of this film is top notch,looking at the superb cinematography i realize the first AC must have had a blast and worked his ass off on some many close,moving shots...

[jack frost]

hard candy insulted you and made you feel stupid....damn man,overreact much?

I don't think so. It was the kind of movie that seemed overly loaded to exploit cheap thrills and emotions in the viewer.

(How can you not know what a 14 year old would act like? Weren't you 14 once, and didn't you know other 14 year olds?)

When I said the film was about manipulation, I didn't mean the story, I meant the actual film. The filmmakers were very manipulative. Even people who liked it admit that.

(And he wasn't a pedophile, he was an ephebophile.)

[mehem]

I don't think so. It was the kind of movie that seemed overly loaded to exploit cheap thrills and emotions in the viewer.

(How can you not know what a 14 year old would act like? Weren't you 14 once, and didn't you know other 14 year olds?)

When I said the film was about manipulation, I didn't mean the story, I meant the actual film. The filmmakers were very manipulative. Even people who liked it admit that.

(And he wasn't a pedophile, he was an ephebophile.)

hayley after looking at the pictures makes a comment about him screwing someone in them....that's more than an attraction...

as for slade,yes he wanted a reaction...he talks about that and what the film is really about in the extras...

as for being 14,hell i don't remember what happened last week...

[jack frost]

hayley after looking at the pictures makes a comment about him screwing someone in them....that's more than an attraction...

Huh?

Pedophilia is finding pre-pubescent children attractive. 14-year-olds are not generally pre-pubescent. Thus he was an ephebophile (someone who finds post-pubescent teenagers attractive). Attraction vs. action doesn't enter into it; if you think 8 year olds are hot, whether you act on it or not, you are a pedophile. If you think 17 year olds are hot, whether you act on it or not, you are an ephebophile.

It's a personal nitpick I have, because it seems fashionable now to throw around the "P" word for anyone who screws someone under 18, which unfairly characterizes it as a malicious deviation rather than a natural one. Regardless of whether screwing 14-19 year olds is a good idea or not psychologically, there's absolutely nothing deviant about finding them physically attractive (I mean, high school cheerleader car washes? Come on, now.)

Now, someone who finds only teenagers attractive is probably a little messed up, but that's beside the point.

[jefrey]

Silent Hill is generally being acknowledged, post-theatrical-run, as being one of the finer Western horror movies in recent memory, and probably the best video-game-movie adaptation ever.


Silent Hill was terrible, and the only movie i saw in theaters this year that i out-and-out hated. it was gorgeous and atmospheric, and pretty terrifying in parts, but it wasn't half the film it could have been. the performances were awful and the script was worse. my friend's comment as we left the theater, summing it up for all of us, who had been looking forward to it very much given its creative pedigree:

"that was ten minutes of the best Hellraiser sequel i've ever seen, and ninety minutes of complete bullshit."

[shady lane]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2006/20060424.jpg

[jefrey]

Cabin Fever was on Sci-Fi the other night. It managed to be even worse than Hostel. Wow, what a horribly dumb and annoying movie.


i thought Cabin Fever was pretty witty in a lot of ways. certainly better than most of the cynical trash that passes for American horror. it fell apart completely in the third act but i enjoyed the hell out of it.

and i felt that Hostel, despite a distastefully wrongheaded ad campaign, was a solid, assured extreme thriller with a lot on its mind but still possessing a surprising sense of fun.

[jack frost]

If you preferred Cabin Fever and Hostel to Silent Hill, I think we're going to have to conclude we have vastly different tastes in movies. I found Cabin Fever to be dumb when it was trying to be witty and tortuous when it was trying to be shocking. I do give it credit for having dialogue that accurately simulated a pack of retarded college kids. In fact, "cynical trash" is exactly how I would describe it.

I'm sick of talking about Hostel (ask mehem) but the bottom line is that, no matter how much anyone likes it, I think they honestly have to admit that if seeing dirty people hurting other people isn't something you're interested in, then it's not a "good" movie for you.

I guess Silent Hill is a love it or hate it. I personally can't see why anyone would hate it - I can see not liking it, but actively claiming to hate it is pretty extreme. Hate should be reserved for movies like Beerfest or, I don't know, Batman and Robin. Or Good Will Hunting. God, I hated that movie.

[JFermaggio]

Silent Hill was cool. It's the best adaptation of a videogame I've ever seen. If you were confused by the film - either you have never played any of the games - or you have never seen a David Lynch movie.

BTW, I bought a Prima Silent Hill Strategy Guide for 25 cents the other day at Goodwill. It's going for $34.99 on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Silent-Hill-Strategy-Guide-Ps1-Primas-Strategy-Guide_W0QQitemZ190033897850QQihZ009QQcategoryZ6205 3QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think I might sell mine.

[jefrey]

I guess Silent Hill is a love it or hate it. I personally can't see why anyone would hate it - I can see not liking it, but actively claiming to hate it is pretty extreme. Hate should be reserved for movies like Beerfest or, I don't know, Batman and Robin. Or Good Will Hunting. God, I hated that movie.

well i don't tend to see many movies that i end up disliking (who has the time?) so when a film does strike me as particularly loathsome it's always a complete surprise to me, and i guess that amplifies the negativity somewhat. but those rare unpleasant surprises usually have in common an air of grand possibilities squandered and fumbled, and Silent Hill positively reeked of it to me.

plus i've never found it worthwhile to dedicate much passion against movies, music, etc that are mediocre and ought to be judged as such. save the hatred for the stuff that earns it and deserves it!


for instance, as far as i'm concerned the worst movie of last year was The Corpse Bride. i'm sure there were fifty movies that weren't objectively half as good as Corpse Bride, and i probably saw a few, but boy oh boy did i hate hate hate hate that fucking flick





sorry, i'm rambling.

[JFermaggio]

Silent Hill was terrible, and the only movie i saw in theaters this year that i out-and-out hated. it was gorgeous and atmospheric, and pretty terrifying in parts, but it wasn't half the film it could have been. the performances were awful and the script was worse. my friend's comment as we left the theater, summing it up for all of us, who had been looking forward to it very much given its creative pedigree:

"that was ten minutes of the best Hellraiser sequel i've ever seen, and ninety minutes of complete bullshit."

Dude, if you disliked Silent Hill never, ever rent Alone In The Dark or House Of The Dead.

[jefrey]

i give you my solemn promise

[Lee G]

As I wrote upthread, I really liked Silent Hill. I also liked Hostel, although I thought Cabin Fever was a great idea for a movie that never managed to become an actual good movie. And no, I don't wanna argue about any of it.

Recently . . .

Stick It I loved Bring It On, and since this was written and directed by the woman who wrote BIO (a former roommate of my wife's when she was living in NYC, of all things), I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it's no BIO, although it does sport some pretty snappy dialogue, some ridonkulous visuals, and Jeff Bridges, who once again proves he can make almost anything play well.

My Neighbor Totoro One of the best movies for kids I've ever seen—my oldest son loved it so much that we went out and bought our own copy. Beautiful animation, sweet story, what's not to like?

District B13 . . . which is the goofy American title for Banlieue 13, a pretty decent Luc Besson-endorsed Euro-action thriller set in the Parisian slums of the future and animated by practitioners of parkour—aka, those guys who jump between building and climb seemingly sheer walls like squirrels. No great film, by any stretch, but I had fun watching it. It never stops moving.

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan Fabulous doc, highly recommended to any music nerds who haven't seen it already.

Friends With Money I rarely look forward to watching Nicole Holofcener's movies, but I'm always glad when I do. This one is a little formless and low on drama—three rich female friends cluck over their poor friend while wrestling with their own problems—but it captures contemporary society in a really interesting light (it'll be really interesting, for example, to see this in a few years, once this particular moment of classism and sporadic affluence passes) and the ending is one of those gonna-have-to-argue-about-that-over-coffee-afterwards endings. Plus Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand and Catherine Keener on the same screen.

Poseidon Silly remake of a movie that was pretty silly to begin with. Surely there's got to be something better for Andre Braugher to do than exude authority and hug Fergie right before they both drown. That said, I love Kurt Russell, especially in crap like this; he always seems to do his best to take chicken shit and make some chicken salad.

[gypsy]

i didn't know kurt russell was in the poseidon remake. i think he's the great b-movie leading man of his generation. a kurt russell film festival would have a lot of high points.

[Lee G]

i didn't know kurt russell was in the poseidon remake. i think he's the great b-movie leading man of his generation. a kurt russell film festival would have a lot of high points.

Indeed. In Poseidon he's sort of the co-male lead with Josh Lucas, and he seriously schools Lucas on how to do this (movie) hero shit, as well he might.