Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5995888 times)

'Noke

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27630 on: February 18, 2010, 11:52:32 PM »
How great is Farrell in Crazy Heart Clovis? Big surprise for me.
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27631 on: February 19, 2010, 12:00:57 AM »
How great is Farrell in Crazy Heart Clovis? Big surprise for me.

I actually think he is the best thing in it to be honest. Better than Bridges even. I was amazed by his singing.

'Noke

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27632 on: February 19, 2010, 12:03:53 AM »
How great is Farrell in Crazy Heart Clovis? Big surprise for me.

I actually think he is the best thing in it to be honest. Better than Bridges even. I was amazed by his singing.

I don't know about better then Bridges but they are very much on par with each other. And they are both miles ahead of the next best thing in the movie.

I agree with you on the music. I'm not a country guy but I was surprised how much I really liked these songs, especially the Weary kind.
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

Holly Harry

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27633 on: February 19, 2010, 12:09:56 AM »
Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl



Have you see "A Talking Picture"? It's good.
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Beavermoose

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27634 on: February 19, 2010, 12:13:59 AM »
Just watched An Education. T'was pretty freaking great. I think I've got a crush on Carey Mulligan.
The ending could have been a bit darker and the story wrapped up a bit too quickly. But other than that it was very compelling.

roujin

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27635 on: February 19, 2010, 12:21:19 AM »

To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks, 1944

I can see what my evil twin is talking about vis a vis this and Casablanca, but he's wrong. I mean, I knew this was really great early on and pretty much nothing changed my mind, but it doesn't reach the iconic heights of Casablanca for me. I think it has to do with the character of Eddie. He's just kind of annoying and is only there to make trouble for Bogart's character. Anyway, Bogart and Bacall are seriously amazing. So many damn cigarettes being lit all over the place. HOT! Also, it's hard to deny how cool Bogart looks in that outfit. Damn lean and handsome. And those were the things I noticed about the film. I don't know what they add up to, but I loved it nonetheless. It's just a feeling you get, and when you get it, you know it in your gut, "this one's a keeper." I like this Hawks fella. He sure knew how to make them.

worm@work

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27636 on: February 19, 2010, 12:33:26 AM »
Have you see "A Talking Picture"? It's good.

Nope, but now I want to :).


Paris Nous Appartient (Jacques Rivette, 1960)
This one was pretty difficult for me to get into. It's dense and verbose and has none of the breeziness that I've come to expect from the New Wave films. That's not meant to be a criticism. It's just that unlike the Godard films, which are also complex and difficult to make sense of at times, this one doesn't offer the usual comfortable pop culture references nor do these characters exude the sense of coolness that Godard's characters wear so easily. I only got halfway through the first time and maybe because I knew what to expect the second time around, I was able to appreciate it a lot more. It's thematically pretty dense and comments on poliics, art, life as an artist, disconnection between individuals and just so many things. The film is also very allegorical with the play within the film mirroring certain aspects of the film itself. A recurring concern in the film is how individuals are simply unable to communicate with one another. And I think that is part of what makes the film difficult to watch. The characters seem so disconnected from one another and the film itself maintains a distance from the characters, observing them from afar, making it hard to really get emotionally invested. Intellectually as well, the film while engaging, doesn't lend itself to a single interpretation according to me. One of the most interesting things about the film for me was the way Rivette seems to view Paris so differently from the way Paris is portrayed in most films. While the city still looks gorgeous especially in the scenes in front of the Notre Dame and the scene in which the director walks on the roof of the theatre. But somehow the characters seem to be boxed in by the city. Their lives seem claustrophobic and suffocating rather than free and liberating.
So yeah, interesting but I have to admit that this has me a little worried about my plans of watching all those super-long films he's made.

Grade: B-

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27637 on: February 19, 2010, 12:34:23 AM »
To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks, 1944

I can see what my evil twin is talking about vis a vis this and Casablanca, but he's wrong. I mean, I knew this was really great early on and pretty much nothing changed my mind, but it doesn't reach the iconic heights of Casablanca for me. I think it has to do with the character of Eddie. He's just kind of annoying and is only there to make trouble for Bogart's character. Anyway, Bogart and Bacall are seriously amazing. So many damn cigarettes being lit all over the place. HOT! Also, it's hard to deny how cool Bogart looks in that outfit. Damn lean and handsome. And those were the things I noticed about the film. I don't know what they add up to, but I loved it nonetheless. It's just a feeling you get, and when you get it, you know it in your gut, "this one's a keeper." I like this Hawks fella. He sure knew how to make them.

I love the cigarette lighting in most of his movies. Also seen in His Girl Friday!
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oldkid

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27638 on: February 19, 2010, 12:37:06 AM »
Another sick day, so that means another movie day!  Kind of a love-hate thing going with that.

The Girlfriend Experience
I liked the performances, and the cinematography, and especially the almost-documentary feel of it.  I think the hopping about in time was pointless and confusing, and I usually like that.  I guess I only like it when it's well done.  Not a waste of my time, but not a great movie.  Still, okay for one of Soderburgh's experimental flicks. At least this one had a story to follow.  When you could.  3.5/5

24 City
Certainly a winner for cinematography.  And the editing was fantastic.  It is a film make by a top-notch filmmaker on a subject that I couldn't really get interested in.  I loved the story of "Little Flower" and wished there was more about her, and there were a couple other interesting sequences, but the plight of 420 just didn't interest me.  Also, one of my favorite shots of last year is here-- where you see flowering trees, and the camera is lifted above them, where you find it was only a sign and behind the sign are bulldozers leveling a basketball court.  Just fantastic.  Visually-- 5/5  Overall-- 3.5/5

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
I was deeply moved by this movie on an intellectual level. It really makes me want to read the book. The discussion about the current state of feminism, and how it seems to have not effected men is great, but so is the points about humiliation and pain and how it makes one a stronger person.  The ideas of this film are woven together brilliantly, and I was captivated from the very first.  However, the performances were for the most part lackluster and just uninteresting, except for Dominic Cooper, Frankie Faison, and one scene by John Kraninski.  But still fascinating.  Much more interesting than Roger Dodger, a film that covers some of the same territory.    4/5

The Decalogue 1-3
I believe that  Krzysztof Kieślowski is truly one of the greatest writer/directors of all time.  I still have to put Miyazaki first, but I am truly stunned by everything I see Kieslowski do.  It is all so perfect-- the symbolism, the morality, the story, the cinematography-- it is as if he takes everything that I find amazing in film and puts it all together.  And even though he begins his series of films with a concept, he doesn't allow the concept to drag his story or characters down-- they feel completely free to act as who they really are.  They aren't just slaves to a moral storyline, they are real people, fully realized.  And yet, somehow, when you reach the end of the short story, you are left with not only new people you have met, but a sense of meaning in their tragedy.

Ebert says in his intro that to try to pin a single commandment on each movie is a distraction from the films.  I can see why that would be, but I found it helpful.  If we take the Catholic numeration of the commands, I think I can see the first three, in order, in these first short films:

1-- The command is "You will worship the Lord your God and serve him only".  But our main character, according to his sister, only serves measurement, or so it seems.  Yet when his measurement finally fails, it is God he blames.  4.5/5

2-- The second command in the Catholic numeration is "You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."  Most people think of that as meaning cursing using God's name, but the better understanding of it is to use God's name in stating your own opinions-- to be a "false prophet".  And the focus of this movie is "playing God".  Yet the question this film leaves one is: Is it always wrong to play God?  5/5

3-- The third command is "Keep the Sabbath day holy" with a focus on the idea of "rest".  The film takes place on a holy day-- Christmas-- and it is all about finding rest and the lengths one must go to to find rest.  The key idea is home as one's place of rest, and all throughout the film is a drunk, pulling a Christmas tree, asking, "Where is my home?"  4.5/5

I can't wait to watch more.  Truly a set of moving experiences.
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Tim

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #27639 on: February 19, 2010, 01:05:22 AM »

The Decalogue 1-3
I believe that  Krzysztof Kieślowski is truly one of the greatest writer/directors of all time.  

The Decalogue is fantastic - it has been about 10 years since I last saw it, but it is still a favourite of mine!

A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love both expand on this series perfectly - adding a lot of detail to part 5 & 6.
"Only cinema narrows its concern down to its content, that is to its story. It should, instead, concern itself with its form, its structure." Peter Greenaway

 

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