Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5996599 times)

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25890 on: January 18, 2010, 11:47:17 PM »
Whip It

Thoroughly meh. Not worth grabbing a screenshot. What is Ellen Page doing in this?

There is actually a food fight AND an underwater kissing scene. No really both are in this!

Grade: D

Colleen

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25891 on: January 19, 2010, 12:00:35 AM »
GIRLS underwater kissing?

oldkid

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25892 on: January 19, 2010, 12:04:58 AM »
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This film is this generation's Star Wars.  Okay, okay, now just hear me out.  

First of all, the story is simple.  It is not filled with stereotypes, but arch-types.  You have the neophyte who is a master and mediator between two worlds.  You have an evil empire filled with greed.  You have a poor, spiritual community, based on mystic ideals and powers.  And you have a battle of good v. evil.  It works.  It's a fairy tale, but on the popular level it simply works.

Secondly, it truly is a visual breakthrough.  I saw it in 3D, and while the 3D did distract me, taking me out of the movie somewhat, I was still stunned by a lot of the scenes and images.  The use of light was masterful, as well as all the biology-- from the humans to the natives to the "horses", etc-- was pitch-perfect.  Every movement and look was believable and eye-popping.

Thirdly, it will certainly make the most money of any movie ever made.  And it will be seen by almost everyone who watches movies.  

Some of you were taken out of it, and had a less than stellar experience with it.  That's my experience as well.  I couldn't stop thinking about how they made it and what the story was doing and how poor the acting was, etc.  But I could also see how great the film was.  Yes, great.  Not great on the level of Miyazaki or the Godfather films or In The Mood For Love.  Rather, great on the level of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ET, or even Die Hard.  It is a spectacle that touches an emotional chord across cultures.  Cameron is a master-- not so much of creating a new vision, but of telling a simple story that touches the hearts of hundreds of millions.  That is a talent very, very few have.  And to use this talent in more than one story?  In this area, he truly is the king of the world.

My personal experience-- 3.5/5, mostly because I was distracted by hearing too much about it ahead of time, as well as the 3D.  I enjoyed it, but mostly because of all the writing fodder the movie was going to grant me.

As a film-- 4.5/5  Cameron did exactly what he wanted to do-- touch hearts with technology and a simple story.  
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25893 on: January 19, 2010, 12:11:30 AM »
GIRLS underwater kissing?

nope not that good. Boy/girl action of the kind only ever seen in bad movies.

Colleen

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25894 on: January 19, 2010, 12:48:42 AM »
Based on my knowledge of roller derby players and fans in Atlanta, it's stupid to make a roller derby movie without any girls kissing.

CSSCHNEIDER

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25895 on: January 19, 2010, 12:56:29 AM »
I had a big day of movie watching!  Since it was a Holiday a bunch of friends were off from work, so we made use of our time.

50 Dead Men Walking

It was more interesting than good.  I'm fascinated that there was a "War" raging in an English speaking,  Westernized country during my lifetime.  One that many of us still know little about.  This film, along with The Wind that Shakes the Barley help to shed some light on it.  I would love to see a Doc about the IRA, can anyone recommend a good one?  The film itself isn't great, has some interesting photography and some brutal torture material,  but is a fairly impotent rendering of a really neat story.  Also Ben Kingsly looks like a cartoon in this, his head looks GIANT.

Grade C+

It Might Get Loud

This was huge for me.  I am not a musician.  The only thing I can play is my Ipod, and that's touch and go at times.  But, what I can relate to is the desire to meet and learn from your idols and peers and the love of your gear.  Taking the old and making it new.  I really loved this Doc a whole bunch and wanted to watch it a second time today, and nearly did.

Grade A-

The Killing
Dir Stanley Kubrick

This was an all-timer. I expect this to jump right into my Top 100 films of all time.  This is a great little noir story about a heist gone wrong, but all the elements are brilliantly assembled.  Made in 1956, this film feels at least 10 to 15 years ahead of its time.  One of my friends remarked that it was like watching a Coen Brothers' film, in that  Kubrick was already hyper aware of the genre conventions, and was simultaneously poking fun at them while using them to tell a perfect Noir film.  Some of the nuance in the direction as well was the stuff of legend.  And the photography!  Oh boy, what a treat!  They should be teaching this one in film schools the world over.  Can you tell that I loved it?

Grade A

Trick R Treat

My second viewing of this, and this time not hampered by my expectations.  Better than I initially gave it credit for, but still not something I'm gushing over.  Its solid and a whole lot of fun.

Grade B+

City of the Living Dead

Fulcci, but not at his best.  Has one or two really solid gore moments, and the buried alive sequence is terrific.  Other than that, this is minor Italian Horror, and I'd fully recommend seeing The Beyond and House by the Cemetery before tackling this.

Grade C
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ferris

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25896 on: January 19, 2010, 01:13:03 AM »

It Might Get Loud

This was huge for me.  I am not a musician.  The only thing I can play is my Ipod, and that's touch and go at times.  But, what I can relate to is the desire to meet and learn from your idols and peers and the love of your gear.  Taking the old and making it new.  I really loved this Doc a whole bunch and wanted to watch it a second time today, and nearly did.

Grade A-


Did you come out of this like I did?  Thinking Jimmy Page is just the coolest dude on the planet?
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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CSSCHNEIDER

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25897 on: January 19, 2010, 01:16:01 AM »
Yes, but he was one of my music idols in High School.  I used to watch The Song Remains the Same and kinda drool.  I wanted his talent.

I also gained a new found respect for The Edge.  I knew the guy was talent, but I never realized just what that meant.
Taste is discerning, not all encompassing.

It's Not What You're Like, It's What You Like

Know the Difference Between Arts and Crafts

"Pain is Temporary, Film is Forever..." --John Milius

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roujin

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25898 on: January 19, 2010, 01:30:43 AM »

What Have I Done to Deserve This? Pedro Almodovar, 1984

Carmen Maura is a put-upon housewife who does nothing but clean and clean all day, and basically slave away at a household that's falling apart. To get her through the day, she constantly pops some kind of pill called no-doze. Her husband is a cabbie who's obsessed with some German singer he used to know, her oldest son has begun to sell heroin, her youngest son enjoys the company of pederasts (a plot point that's somehow hilarious, that visit to the dentist! lol!) and her mother-in-law picks up sticks in the park and adopts a lizard. And then things get weirder. Somehow this all stays under control, I don't even know how. A lot of this film is really funny, sure (seriously, that dentist!), but it all gets balanced by how suffocated Maura's life is. Everything is shot in a dreary manner, and I don't think it's just cuz what Almodovar is shooting is really plain and stuff. I'm guessing it's to counteract the melodrama and the weirdness, and I'm guessing he's criticizing how women kind of get stuck into these slave positions and how they have no other options (Maura's character is illiterate). By the end of the film, I was actually pretty moved (psychic powers and all) by this portrait of a crazy family. People move apart, sure, but everyone's still family. I don't know you at all, roujin. I don't know you at all.

flieger

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #25899 on: January 19, 2010, 01:35:40 AM »
Crazy film, eh? I love Maura.