Author Topic: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009  (Read 33046 times)

zarodinu

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #110 on: January 19, 2010, 02:21:13 PM »
I have been very delinquent in my dictations, I don't want to drench up an ancient thread (heck maybe it was December last year).

Wings of Desire



We follow angels as they float around late 1980's Berlin listening in on peoples thoughts.  One falls in love with an acrobat and decides give up his immortality and become human.

Very artsy-fartsy.  You basically hover around with the angels, listening to random peoples thoughts.  Everyone's thoughts are very deep and poetic, and we just passively listen to them ruminate on this or that.  The dialogue (monologues really) annoyed me, I wish the movie had atleast one normal conversation between two characters.  Even when two characters meet up in the real world, they continue to read poetry past each other.

The movie is glacially paced and for the first forty five minutes pretty much nothing happens.  However, if you stick around that long, it gets much better once the story kicks in.

 

What saved the movie for me, was the visuals.  Its one of the best looking films I ever saw.  There are so many shots that are incredible to look at, my favorite being the takes of the acrobat twirling in the air.  The movie is also a great time capsule of divided Berlin.  You see the large open spaces that were bombed out in the war and never rebuilt, and the Berlin Wall is a great landmark with its brightly colored Western side and plain, white, heavily guarded Eastern portion (loved the bunnies living between the wall and the barbed wire).  Overall, a difficult but rewarding movie, and one of the most beautiful ones ever made.

8/10

Night of the Hunter



I thought I watched this before but must have been thinking of something else.  A great story about a murderous preacher who marries a woman in order to force her children to reveal a secret.  The movie benefits from a good supporting cast and surprisingly good child leads, but the true star is the villain.  He is smarmy, charming, conniving, and absolutely ruthless.  The way he mocks the role of the children's father is incredibly creepy, he takes the tropes of typical fatherhood and makes them sinister and malevolent.  

One other very interesting aspect of the villain is his interaction with women.  He loathes them on a sexual level, exhibiting violent revulsion at any show of female sexuality.  Yet women seem completely bewitched by him.  His faux pious persona disarms them, and they mistake his psychotic misogyny for religious puritanism.  He makes them repent of their sinful ways (dating boys, wanting to share a bed with your husband on the wedding night), and makes them go into a religious zeal, wishing to make themselves worthy of his attention.  The message seems to be that religious suppression of female sexuality does damage to women, and that it is used to mask male insecurity and misogyny.  A pretty progressive message for a film from the 1950's.  Wonder how it got past the censors.

10/10
« Last Edit: January 19, 2010, 02:24:03 PM by zarodinu »
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oldkid

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #111 on: January 19, 2010, 02:47:16 PM »
Two really fantastic movies.  I would come close to flipping those ratings, but it's all good. 

I hadn't thought about the progressive message in Night.  Although I think that the censors would have a problem with it.  Certainly wasn't an issue with the Hays code.
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Emiliana

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #112 on: January 20, 2010, 07:08:34 AM »
I have been very delinquent in my dictations, I don't want to drench up an ancient thread (heck maybe it was December last year).

Wings of Desire
8/10


Night of the Hunter
10/10

Wow, zarodinu, how awesome that you watched these films! And it was only June, so maybe you should have drenched up that ancient thread... But no matter where these reviews are, it's just so good to get your reaction!

You had me cringing with your first paragraph or two of that Wings of Desire bit - that sounded like you absolutely hated it! It's wonderful that the film's hypnotic, poetic and beautiful aspect managed to turn the experience around for you enough to give it an 8/10.

And what can I say about Night of the Hunter - it's been a while since I've seen it, but your write-up has me longing to revisit it soon, just to pay attention the villain's psyche even more closely. I always used to see it more from the kids' perspective, as their nightmare...

Again, I'm so happy that you liked both of these films!

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #113 on: January 20, 2010, 04:43:22 PM »
I feel similar about Wings of Desire but I bought it anyway. Such a beautiful and fascinating film that I know I will return to. And who knows, maybe one day I'll find the whole film completely engrossing.

mañana

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #114 on: January 20, 2010, 05:19:32 PM »
Thirst (Park Chan-wook, 2009)
Hey, Melvil, sorry for the late post. I beg for your mercy and hope you take pity on my sorry existence. Anyway, horror is not really my thing but I really enjoyed this one. It was totally gross in the best possible way, surprisingly funny at time, and thanks to some great performances really effective in the emotional scenes. I love Kim Ok-bin as she gleefully takes on her vampire killings and how well the film contrasts her enthusiasm with Song Kang-ho's guilt. I'm not sure what the film has to say about religion, and I'm really too busy to give it much thought, but as far as entertainment value the film totally works. There are a few other things I'm not sure about either, but it doesn't really matter 'cause overall I liked it. There are numerous good scenes, but I particularly liked the final scene, which was simultaneously funny and sad. If I had one grievance, I'd say that it's a little on the long side and it lags at times, but that's such an overused criticism so whatever. Since the MDC theme was Filmspots, you'll be happy to know that Thirst will likely make my nomination ballot for foreign language and actress. Nice pick.
Grade: B+
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Melvil

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #115 on: January 20, 2010, 07:12:10 PM »
Woohoo! So glad you liked it, Matt. It's a pretty polarizing film so I was a little nervous dictating it. It's far from perfect, but I think there's a lot to love in it, so your reaction sounds pretty similar to my own. I am indeed happy to hear it will likely be getting some Filmspot support from you.

mañana

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #116 on: January 23, 2010, 05:59:19 PM »
Yeah, I think we had a similar experience. Thanks again for the pick.
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Junior

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #117 on: January 24, 2010, 11:53:04 PM »
World's Greatest Dad.

This was my first Bobcat film and it was, let us say, interesting. It is, basically, a story about a high school teacher/writer that desperately wants to be recognized for his work and gets his dream. Like I said, basically. Specifically, it's about what lengths you would go to in order to achieve your goals and what happens when you do so under less-than-noble pretenses.

Let's start at the beginning. I really found a lot to like in Robin Williams' character. His career path is one I could possibly see myself traveling and as such it was interesting to see how he dealt with his expectations and reality. This is what carried me through the first third or so of the film. Well, this and the son, who was annoying as all get out. But that was on purpose and therefore acceptable (or even good, though perhaps so good that he dug himself into a hole). There were a couple of jokes that made me lol, but I don't think that's really the level the movie is playing on.

Then there's a twist. I won't go into detail, but it changes everything. Here the movie gets really cynical and I'm not a huge fan of that. It's so obviously and overtly cynical that I think it might be a joke. The things that happened to Williams here were all pretty predictable, but executed well enough to keep my going. There were a couple of technical director-y things that I liked a lot, using a camera move to indicate the distance between Williams and another teacher, for example. And some of the jokes worked quite well here, too (Father/Hero was my favorite).

But then the ending, which was also kind of predictable, redeemed it for me. It was uncynical and they kind of reveled in the implications. The music montages (which were overused in the rest of the film, though I don't know if I would have noticed them without some of the talk around here) worked in varying fashions throughout, but that last one was freaking awesome. Robin Williams is old and naked and I liked it.

I think it was good. There were some things that I'll likely nominate, Williams and that naked scene in particular. Thanks, THATguy. Good stuff.

B+.
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Melvil

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #118 on: January 25, 2010, 12:17:59 AM »
Cool, Junior! I started a spoiley thread to talk a bit more about it, if you care to take a gander.

Junior

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Re: December MDC Write-ups: Filmspots 2009
« Reply #119 on: January 25, 2010, 12:21:06 AM »
Consider yourself gandered. Gandalfed?
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