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Author Topic: Ferris' GooseEgg Marathon: 40 great films from this decade  (Read 101339 times)

ferris

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #110 on: November 25, 2009, 02:03:13 AM »

Goose Egg Marathon Film #4


Children of Men
(2006, Alfonso Cuarón)

I had a feeling I was going to start running out of superlatives about halfway through this marathon.

This is a fabulous film.  No doubt the bleakest film I think I've ever seen - probably #1 now on my list of one-timers....Of course, that being said I watched it twice  :o.  I'm going to try not to pick spoilerific screenshots, but it's going to be pretty hard!



It's hard to talk about this film without comparing it to two others: Minority Report and District 9 - both taking place in not so distant future, each using a stunningly gritty style and (well I guess just two to be exact) taking a pretty frightening dystopic view...I'll save the debate for a future discussion, but suffice to say it was hard to ignore making these comparisons while watching the film.



Right off the top, the most impressive thing is the staggeringly long and ambitious one-take scenes.  At around the 1/3 mark there is an incredibly long take in which a car is being ambushed.  The 2nd time I watched this I was stunned by the amount of choreography.  I usually don't like to watch extra features on films until I've had years to absorb them - but I do cheat from time to time.  This time my curiousity got the best of me.  The rig they put together to film that scene was pretty impressive.



Also impressive - and a huge surprise was Clive Owen who, to this point, I'd only scene in bad romcoms.  He carries this film in a way that I'm struggling to think of someone more perfect.  He had to pull off disinterested slacker, unintentional hero and deeply emotionally scared.  I think he pulled this all off beautifully.



The set design was incredible.  And because the subject of the lens is not the beauty we see on display in other futuristic films I have to give tons of credit to the cinematography, because this film made bad look really great.






Man I'm pretty impressed with this film.  I admit I had to leave the house and take a walk through the neighborhood after this.  It was a bit much to absorb.  Starting on my walk I got reacquainted with a world not yet collapsed.  I took a few deep breaths!



The soundtrack was pretty cool.  I was especially shocked hearing Court of the Crimson King!  Awesome.  


You have GOT to love this Pink Floyd homage:



Lastly - the style of this, were so little was explained of the extraneous world.  It never broke character off the perspective of Theo.  I really appreciated the craftsmanship and adherence to self imposed rules.  The director obviously respects his craft quite a bit - and for his showing off I am nonetheless really impressed.

Another great film.  Another great Filmspotter recommendation!!
« Last Edit: November 25, 2009, 11:36:55 PM by ferris »
"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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oldkid

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #111 on: November 25, 2009, 02:52:35 AM »
And another great review!

I don't know how you are going to make it through this whole marathon without sounding like someone who just likes every movie out there-- there isn't a bad one in the bunch. 

Oh, wait, you've already done abuse to Pan's Labyrinth, so you won't sound naive.  Just wrong, sometimes.  But that's what makes you human!

Children of Men is pretty close to my favorite dystopia, and I love that sub-genre.  The acting is perfect, the look both realistic and dark, and the plot intense. 
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Gobman

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #112 on: November 25, 2009, 02:52:56 AM »
I'm really pleased you saw this ferris and even more pleased you enjoyed it so much, personally I preferred the long tracking shot through the warzone/camp to the one in the car, regardless this was definitely the best film released in whatever year it was released in and in my top ten of the decade.

'Noke

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #113 on: November 25, 2009, 03:22:58 AM »
Ferris, I hear what you are saying, and you're compltely right. It's a great review and it is a great great movie.
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

chardy999

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #114 on: November 25, 2009, 06:47:03 AM »
I'm really pleased you saw this ferris and even more pleased you enjoyed it so much, personally I preferred the long tracking shot through the warzone/camp to the one in the car, regardless this was definitely the best film released in whatever year it was released in and in my top ten of the decade.

I also loved that tracking shot. There's a point where it goes through a vehicle with the same speed as a rushing Clive Owen in a very little space. I do wonder how it (and everything else) was possible. I have a feeling this will rise drastically in my Top 100 upon a rewatch. I loved it so much the first time and I'm almost giddy hearing all this affirmation.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #116 on: November 25, 2009, 09:05:33 AM »
I need to watch that film again. I liked it a good deal when I saw it in theaters, but did not think it was anything special.

oldkid

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ferris

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #118 on: November 26, 2009, 12:57:34 AM »
I'm really pleased you saw this ferris and even more pleased you enjoyed it so much, personally I preferred the long tracking shot through the warzone/camp to the one in the car, regardless this was definitely the best film released in whatever year it was released in and in my top ten of the decade.

I also loved that tracking shot. There's a point where it goes through a vehicle with the same speed as a rushing Clive Owen in a very little space. I do wonder how it (and everything else) was possible. I have a feeling this will rise drastically in my Top 100 upon a rewatch. I loved it so much the first time and I'm almost giddy hearing all this affirmation.

Cool.  I'm very impressed with the attention to craftmanship in this film.  Some may call it the director showing off - but I'm totally cool with it 100%.   The heavy material make keep this from ultimately being rewatchable, but I can see this creeping into my top 100 and spending some signficant time there.
"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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ferris

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: Ten Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #119 on: November 26, 2009, 01:29:14 AM »

Goose Egg Marathon Film #5


Mulholland Drive
(2001, David Lynch)


I'll start with this line from a memorable scene in the movie:

"Just forget you ever saw it.  It's better that way."

Maybe for my aching cerebrum - perhaps that character is right! :)

Well for the first one hour and 53 minutes of this film I was having fun with this, enjoying the wierdness and stylized staginess of a Lynch film and Niaomi Watt's campy performance.  Then of course my mind blew up.   I have my theories that do a decent attempt to tie all this together, but I must admit I'm logged more celebral hours to Schrödinger's Cat over the last 48 hours.  Just bad timing there I suppose.  

This was a lot of fun.  It is no doubt a unique experience - as you come to expect from Lynch.  I have a term I call "DFU" - it the Director's F-You .  We've seen them throughout cinema - like the Burning house in Synecdoche NY, the lunch with the Asian guy in Fargo,  or the pick really any scene in 8 1/2 where the director basically just has fun screwing with your head.  Sometimes this can be the most rewarding stuff in the film and sometimes it can turn you off and make you hate the whole experience.  Going into this film I expected a ton more of the latter - which was the main reason I never bother to see this up til now.  I was pleasantly surprised that most of the out-there stuff was way cool.  And when we get to that pivotal point I was invested enough to say ok- now what the hell just happened.  But there was also stuff like the Silencio sequence.  Meh.  Yawn.  


"It's weird to be calling myself"

What was really cool about the experience of watching this was the fact that there were so many "no way - that's so stupid" moments that you have to apologize for later in the film.  I think of the scene where Betty breaks into the apartment through the window.  I'm like no way - that character would never do that.  Or the first love scene, I'm like - ok there's been some implied flirtations but this is right out of penthouse letters.  But by the end (and in particular on a rewatch) those scenes are hillarious - just great!





Upon second viewings of films I keep my ear out for sections that could be used for Masacre Theater.  Scenes like these have to be just right: dialog between two people, nothing that gives it away, and kinda punch line at the end.  I found like 5 scenes in this.  Not sure if they done scenes from this (they haven't out of the 190 of the episodes I've heard so far)

Speaking of which, a delight finally finding out where "let's play this nice and close" comes from.  Very cool

Which reminds me - there were some very cool scenes in this, the first being that audition scene.  The whole sequence with the black book and the vacuum cleaner reminded me of something out of a Tarantino film!





Speaking of QT, cool homages in this!  I'm not sure I spotted all of them, but I caught a few...





Um so - Naomi Watts, huh?  Pretty friggin good performance.  I can't see how any red blooded American male would not be totally in love with Betty after watching this!  Then she gets a 1/2 hour at the end to show she's not just a pretty face.   I was pretty impressed to say the least.




So as I'm typing all this I'm talking myself into liking it quite a bit!  

But I must mitigate this praise a bit.  Lynch's general "style" works for some people and not for others.  For me it was just ok.  I realize this was supposed to be a TV pilot at one point - and it kinda fealt that way.  In the end, after a 2nd viewing, I found myself a little less willing to put the energy into tying all the loose ends together.  Who's the old guy behind the dumpster?  What's the significance of teh pearl earring.  At some point you gotta figure half of the things I'm trying to find out are just DMFs and I just stop caring.  

The score was a bit odd?  It was like from an 80's TV drama (yeah, I realize, but STILL).    I know Lynch loves to play anachronistically, but still...

Verdict:
Very cool.  Still trying to figure it out.  Naomi Watts is fabulous

Grade: B+ 
« Last Edit: January 29, 2010, 04:41:58 PM by ferris »
"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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