Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5997327 times)

skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22560 on: November 15, 2009, 06:01:13 PM »


The Betrayal 2008, Ellen Kuras

pretty fantastic doc that was something like 15 years in the making.  opens with background of US use, lies, and abuse of Laos tracks one family's (mis)fortunes as they move to the States.  the two scopes of story-telling echo one another wonderfully.  check it out!
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

CSSCHNEIDER

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22561 on: November 15, 2009, 08:36:58 PM »
Dear Zachary

While I have some major issues with the editing techniques and sound design.  Thankfully the film is so interesting and devastating that it holds your attention.  Also, Andrew's parents are a massive screen presence and their emotion and convictions are well articulated and formed for the audience.  Again, some of the filmmaking I think hurts the effectiveness of certain scenes.  Still, I recommend it to all.

Grade B+
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Melvil

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22562 on: November 15, 2009, 08:37:24 PM »
I see your point but why do they have to shoe horn a good plot why not just start with one? You all seem to be assuming that an FX movie cant have a good story for some reason but we know it can (LoTR, TDK etc). But people seem perfectly happy with all the ones that dont. That is why I get confused. It's the only free ride filmakers get from us as lobg as they spent alot on FX.

We're not fully on the same page here. To me, 2012 is like Snakes on a Plane. If Snakes on a Plane tried to be a good, serious movie it wouldn't be Snakes on a Plane. You're asking for it to be something that it's not, and confusing my defense of what it actually is with a defense of things I would never defend. (I'm 80% that sentence is comprehensible)

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22563 on: November 15, 2009, 08:45:51 PM »
I see your point but why do they have to shoe horn a good plot why not just start with one? You all seem to be assuming that an FX movie cant have a good story for some reason but we know it can (LoTR, TDK etc). But people seem perfectly happy with all the ones that dont. That is why I get confused. It's the only free ride filmakers get from us as lobg as they spent alot on FX.

We're not fully on the same page here. To me, 2012 is like Snakes on a Plane. If Snakes on a Plane tried to be a good, serious movie it wouldn't be Snakes on a Plane. You're asking for it to be something that it's not, and confusing my defense of what it actually is with a defense of things I would never defend. (I'm 80% that sentence is comprehensible)

This isn't the vibe I have been getting from reviews. It's suppose to be bad? If so, OK.

Melvil

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22564 on: November 15, 2009, 08:48:24 PM »
This isn't the vibe I have been getting from reviews. It's suppose to be bad? If so, OK.

Grrrrooooaaan, Clovis! :D You just go on with the hating then. I'll watch it and make up my own mind, hopefully having a fun time in the process.

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22565 on: November 15, 2009, 09:11:16 PM »
This isn't the vibe I have been getting from reviews. It's suppose to be bad? If so, OK.

Grrrrooooaaan, Clovis! :D You just go on with the hating then. I'll watch it and make up my own mind, hopefully having a fun time in the process.

I was being serious when I said Ok if it's suppose to be bad then fine. I laughed at SoaP because it knew it was garbage and played with it. If 2012 is actually like that then it might be fun. I was just saying you are the first person to make that comparisons. The reviews I have read make it sound earnest.

tjwells

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22566 on: November 15, 2009, 09:16:57 PM »

Before I start on the massive undertaking of what I'm calling "The Criterion Project," I'm having a silent film marathon. First up:

Körkarlen aka The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöströmm, 1921)



plot synopsis: It’s New Year’s Eve. Three drunkards evoke a legend. The legend tells that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive during the whole year the Phantom Chariot, the one that picks up the souls of the dead… David Holm, one of the three drunkards, dies at the last stroke of midnight…

i almost feel like i should do two different reviews for this film because, in a way, it is two different films; the action on the screen being one of them, and the bone-chilling, endlessly bleak, pulsing score (composed for the 1998 restoration of the film by matti bye). i actually had to watch this in about six different 15-20 minute installments; the score is so relentlessly brutal on your mind that i think watching in one sitting could drive someone crazy. that being said, it’s a brilliant score; right from the opening credits sequence, which consists of nothing more than a constant hammering sound (incredibly creepy in context),  it reminds the viewer that, even when the action onscreen isn’t always bleak, the message of the film is.

which brings me to the film itself, which i actually didn’t find to be anything particularly special. it’s basically just a variation on “a christmas carol,” with a sinful man being shown the error of his ways. at times the way the story is told (flashbacks, story-within-a-story, etc.) can get a bit confusing. i occasionally found myself wondering whether what i was watching was a flashback, or a story being told, or actually happening at that moment.

still, that score more than makes up for any weaknesses in the story. again, don’t watch this in one sitting; if you do, i can’t be responsible for the week of depression that follows.

pixote

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22567 on: November 15, 2009, 09:39:33 PM »
The reviews I have read make it sound earnest.

You're reading the wrong reviewers.

pixote
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Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22568 on: November 15, 2009, 09:43:09 PM »
The reviews I have read make it sound earnest.

You're reading the wrong reviewers.

pixote

apparently.

skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22569 on: November 15, 2009, 10:11:03 PM »
Dear Zachary

While I have some major issues with the editing techniques and sound design.  Thankfully the film is so interesting and devastating that it holds your attention.  Also, Andrew's parents are a massive screen presence and their emotion and convictions are well articulated and formed for the audience.  Again, some of the filmmaking I think hurts the effectiveness of certain scenes.  Still, I recommend it to all.

Grade B+

i especially liked the father's convictions concerning "the bitch", which he spat out multiple times with such venom that i was just as repulsed with him as with the murderess.  his aggressive law and order vibe didn't help his case, either.
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

 

love