love

Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5997117 times)

¡Keith!

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26774
  • Bitch, I been around since LimeWire.
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14250 on: May 14, 2009, 02:38:50 PM »
If I don't do these now, I never will...

Dark Tourism: Holidays In the Sun (Manfred Becker, 2008)
Good luck trying to find this one. Whenever I google it I just get references to the screening I saw and one other festival. Which is a shame, because it's totally riveting. Becker's film documents one of the most ghoulish predilections of our age, dropping into the newly minted tourist hotspots of genocide sites in Latvia, Cambodia, Lithuania, Poland, Sarajevo and Vietnam and offering little in the way of contextualization beyond the thoughts of those who are visiting or working there. The result is one of the most uncomfortable meta-documentaries I've ever seen that gets right to the heart of our desire to experience death and destruction at a comfortable distance, and poses numerous questions about how we decide not only what is worth remembering, but how. By the end, as the sound fades on a list of further atrocity sites that could be potential day-trips where we can safely "meet confusion" before returning to the numbing safety of adventureless lives, I was absolutely reflecting on my own choice to be indulge in emotional tourism as a viewer, and as a visitor to these sites (I've been to the killing fields in Cambodia). I really hope this film gets more exposure soon - would love to talk about it with people.


weird, the guy's website seems to have been mostly taken down - looked like there was a trailer on there at some point.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2009, 02:41:03 PM by _Keith_ »

Thor

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 6535
    • KTQ
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14251 on: May 14, 2009, 03:15:05 PM »
The Garden (Scott Hamilton Kennedy, 2008)
Loved this also. This was Oscar-nominated so should be easy to find. Begins with footage of LA riots in '92, and tells how as a result the largest community garden in the US was founded in the heart of its most concrete city, mainly to appease the community. 14 years later, gardens and community are both flourishing, so of course the property developer who actually owns the land comes in and decides he's going to flatten it to build warehouses. 247 Campesino families will be evicted unless they can raise $60M in 60 days. Throw in some decidedly dodgy political shenanigans, and you have the makings of one of the great David v Goliath docs. And it really is beautifully constructed so that you're cheering on the immigrant farmers, jeering at The Man and the politicos, and outraged and the greed, corruption and ultimately sheer spite that blight them at every turn. The Garden stands as a great piece of investigative journalism when it starts digging (geddit?) further into the backroom deals, and allows the key players to condemn themselves with their own words. But more than that, it's a rousing, inspiring document of a community banding together (despite, most tragically, at one point being forced to fight within themselves in order not to be punished by the system) in the face of incredible pressures and injustice.

Co-starring Zack de la Rocha, Daryl Hannah, and most hilariously, Dennis Kucinich.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2009, 04:29:21 PM by Thor »
Wanting for Thor what Thor wants for Thor.

Kevin Shields

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 5047
  • CINECAST! You FLY, Clovis, & FroHam
    • thevoid99's Epinions Profile
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14252 on: May 14, 2009, 03:25:10 PM »
The Purple Rose of Cairo by Woody Allen.  My write-up for the Filmspotter's Dictator's Club (Cannes Edition).

I enjoyed it!
"I want to be bored"-Maggie Gyllenhaal

worm@work

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 7445
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14253 on: May 14, 2009, 04:45:15 PM »

A Letter to Three Wives (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

This might just be one of the most well-written films I've ever watched! It's brilliantly structured and has some of the wittiest dialogue ever. I was so tempted to just quote the entire movie in the Random Movie Quotes thread. I love the structure with the three interlocking flashbacks where something we heard about in one flashback gets illuminated in another flashback.

In a film with at least seven key characters (one of whom is marvelously fleshed out without ever having to even appear on screen), every character feels rich and whole. They all have their endearing qualities but are also flawed. It's also this awesome portrayal of friendship and marriage. By the end of the film, I felt like I really knew these people and ended up liking them so much that I didn't want the film to end. I also really love the way the film seems to be perched at this critical point tonally where it's dramatic and suspenseful without ever going overboard and seeming ridiculous or too movie-like. 

It's full of quotable lines and feels way ahead of its time not just in the way women and marriages are portrayed but also the lines themselves. And all that stuff about radio just applies to the television a few years later and then to the internet and video games now, I guess. It's amazing the way it doesn't feel the least bit dated even so many years later.

I think this movie is kind of perfect :-*.

p.s. I want to marry George Phibbs.


duder

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4404
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14254 on: May 14, 2009, 05:48:04 PM »
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (Manoel de Oliveira, 2009)

http://www.vimeo.com/4284386

Portugal FTW!
...

roujin

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 15508
  • it's all research
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14255 on: May 14, 2009, 05:53:52 PM »
[Cristiano Ronaldo pic goes here]

duder

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4404
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14256 on: May 14, 2009, 05:56:20 PM »
boo!
...

Kevin Shields

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 5047
  • CINECAST! You FLY, Clovis, & FroHam
    • thevoid99's Epinions Profile
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14257 on: May 14, 2009, 06:47:03 PM »
4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile by Cristian Mungiu-*****/*****

What a f*cking film.  Definitely one of the best films of the decade.  Mungiu's direction is mesmerizing and very direct towards the conversations between Otilia and Gabita.  The Mr. Bebe character is scary yet cautious about what is happening.  Anamaria Marinca as Otilia, definitely deserved our Best Actress prize from us Filmspotters.  This is truly an amazing film though there was that one shot involving something that I couldn't watch.  Oh man!  Definitely questions some of my own beliefs. 
"I want to be bored"-Maggie Gyllenhaal

smirnoff

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26251
    • smirnoff's Top 100
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14258 on: May 14, 2009, 09:15:48 PM »
Air Force One

So blah. I fell asleep for most of it. It was a lot better when it first came out. 1/4

Defiance

Despite a slow start and some oddities in the storytelling, this was still a worthwhile film. Nothing about it is great, but the uniqueness of the story kept me interested. 2.5/4

Corndog

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 17025
  • Oo-da-lolly, Oo-da-lolly, golly what a day!
    • Corndog Chats
Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #14259 on: May 14, 2009, 11:09:36 PM »
Air Force One

So blah. I fell asleep for most of it. It was a lot better when it first came out. 1/4


I still take pride in my Harrison Ford President kicking some terrorist butt
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."