Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5997859 times)

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25390 on: January 10, 2010, 01:04:33 PM »
Huh. That's too bad. I could see her being a good actress down the line.

Also, I really really really hated what Zombie did with the mom and the ending. Not that they're related, but I thought I should bring them up.
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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25391 on: January 10, 2010, 01:36:29 PM »
Jennifer's Body

Some interesting visual ideas, but Karyn Kusama is proving to be a really poor director.  Diablo's script in her hands reminds me of when Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature was directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui.  She doesn't understand how to bring out the best of the ingredients given to her and keeps trying to oversimplify the tone. 

Megan Fox looks like a real person in this with many shots of her skin not looking like it was digitally airbrushed.  So that's a plus.  And her acting is no better or worse than the rest of the cast, so she is capable after all.

I think I'm seeing why this film failed to connect.  It doesn't present itself as a 'girl power' movie, but as something that will excite teen boys.  Yet it's a flesh & blood movie made by people who respect the women too much to show any flesh and don't know how to be creative with the blood.  (They don't use it to paint an image, just dump out the can.)

It's also full of crappy pseudo indie-rock.  It's like "we know you'd like a cool soundtrack, but this is all we could afford."

The end product is so forgettable, it could be ready for a remake by the end of this year.  I suggest getting Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In).

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25392 on: January 10, 2010, 01:36:46 PM »
The Best Of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)

One of the best films I've ever seen. Never mind the length, see it.

Non-fiction.  The ending doesn't work for me though.  Still...
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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25393 on: January 10, 2010, 01:58:31 PM »

Yeah, I felt very similar, but Halloween 2 is remarkably bad.  I didn't mind Laurie in the first, but I don't think I'll ever be able to watch her in anything after 2, she was so obnoxiously awful.  My pick for the acting Razzie.  The second is completely off putting.

Halloween II is one of the better films of last year - in my second tier.  there is a claustrophobic visual and sound design that gets to the theme of family history as baggage that cannot be escaped.  i also love Zombie's sticking with "white trash" to amplify anxieties about downward mobility.  the social violence that is accepted as normal - and often not acknowledged - that maintains privilege manifests here as physical violence - hyper-visible and unacceptable - an effective tool for the otherwise disempowered.
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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25394 on: January 10, 2010, 02:28:17 PM »
The Best Of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)

One of the best films I've ever seen. Never mind the length, see it.

Non-fiction.  The ending doesn't work for me though.  Still...

Oh, the ending is what confirmed it for me.
"Political questions, if you go back thousands of years, are ephemeral, not important. History is the same thing over and over again."-Woody Allen.

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25395 on: January 10, 2010, 02:29:44 PM »
Huh. That's too bad. I could see her being a good actress down the line.

Also, I really really really hated what Zombie did with the mom and the ending. Not that they're related, but I thought I should bring them up.

If this is how you feel about the mom stuff skip the sequel all together.  Its amped up.
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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25396 on: January 10, 2010, 02:32:16 PM »
Jennifer's Body

Some interesting visual ideas, but Karyn Kusama is proving to be a really poor director.  Diablo's script in her hands reminds me of when Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature was directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui.  She doesn't understand how to bring out the best of the ingredients given to her and keeps trying to oversimplify the tone. 

Megan Fox looks like a real person in this with many shots of her skin not looking like it was digitally airbrushed.  So that's a plus.  And her acting is no better or worse than the rest of the cast, so she is capable after all.

I think I'm seeing why this film failed to connect.  It doesn't present itself as a 'girl power' movie, but as something that will excite teen boys.  Yet it's a flesh & blood movie made by people who respect the women too much to show any flesh and don't know how to be creative with the blood.  (They don't use it to paint an image, just dump out the can.)

It's also full of crappy pseudo indie-rock.  It's like "we know you'd like a cool soundtrack, but this is all we could afford."

The end product is so forgettable, it could be ready for a remake by the end of this year.  I suggest getting Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In).

Every single thing you wrote is spot on.  I enjoyed the film to a certain extent, but it does miss the mark in every way your review points out.  I could see this being remade and being far better.
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Verite

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25397 on: January 10, 2010, 03:44:17 PM »
The Best Of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)

One of the best films I've ever seen. Never mind the length, see it.

Non-fiction.  The ending doesn't work for me though.  Still...

Oh, the ending is what confirmed it for me.

Maybe it won't bother me as much next time.  It went from an all time top 100 film to a top 20-30 of the 2000s.
"When in doubt, seduce."
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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25398 on: January 10, 2010, 03:52:14 PM »
The Best Of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)

One of the best films I've ever seen. Never mind the length, see it.

Non-fiction.  The ending doesn't work for me though.  Still...

Oh, the ending is what confirmed it for me.

Maybe it won't bother me as much next time.  It went from an all time top 100 film to a top 20-30 of the 2000s.

What bothered you about it?

I thought it was where the film came full circle. The title and it's meaning finally became clear. History and the lives we lead are to build the foundations and the path of the future. Even the mystical shot, the long take of the walking up the road, which shouldn't work, completely moved me.
"Political questions, if you go back thousands of years, are ephemeral, not important. History is the same thing over and over again."-Woody Allen.

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25399 on: January 10, 2010, 03:53:56 PM »
Adam  2009

So this is a cute little movie about a romance between a guy with Asberger's Syndrome and a woman who lives in his apartment building.  From when they meet she can tell there's something a little off about him, but he doesn't explain it for quite a while (the scene where he realizes he needs to explain it was pretty funny, too).  Once she understands his strangeness she becomes more open to a relationship with him.  There are also subplots involving Adam holding his carefully arranged life together after his father's death, there's a new job hunt and potential dislocation, and Beth is dealing with the stress of her father being charged and tried for some white collar crime (Peter Gallagher and Amy Irving play her parents in small but well drawn parts).  

I can't comment on how accurately it portrays Asberger's.  To the extent that I know about it, it seemed realistic.  It showed Adam's struggles to understand socially acceptable behavior and his deep stress when his routines are too disrupted, and how difficult (but possible) it is for an "Aspie" to have a romantic relationship.  Beth sees in him a sweetness and directness that she hasn't experienced in previous relationships or even with her family and is attracted to him.

It's enough to carry 90 minutes, which was about the perfect length.  Other than the high quality of acting brought by leads Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne and the aforementioned supporting cast, this could easily have been a network made-for-tv movie.

B