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Author Topic: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon  (Read 155824 times)

1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #310 on: March 16, 2010, 03:34:11 PM »
The Squid and the Whale is great. I have heard that "Behind Blue Eyes" was originally intended for the film. No one knows what it's like, to be the Batman...behind blue eyes.
So glad they didn't use it.  Anthony Stewart Head has owned that song since he performed it on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Five words: "Age appropriate character delivery device."
One of my favorite filmspotting jokes, but it doesn't not apply here.  This is her very best performance.

1SO

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Best of the 00s: The Descent/Pulse
« Reply #311 on: March 17, 2010, 02:20:31 AM »
Best of the Decade Marathon Update

The Descent

Many, Many Viewings
I said it before and I’ll say it again…The Descent will scare you. It’s the one great horror film fans wait every 5-10 years for. The balls-to-the-wall fury of the final half-hour is a roller coaster of a rush on the heels of a first hour filled with plenty of shocks and tension. The film’s biggest scare is a classic bit of misdirection, and the most effectively terrifying moment since Scream.

However, this isn’t merely a catalogue of scares. There’s tension within the group, a dynamic that grows, much like the marines in Aliens. A moment of human error crumbles the group’s friendship and sets the final stages of redemption into motion. This could have just been a superior claustrophobic cave picture or an exciting “us vs. them” creature feature. The Descent works as both.

In horror, as with comedy, timing is everything. Director Neil Marshall knows exactly how to play an audience like a piano, and we never see the crescendos coming. He shows such confidence in his direction that the bulk of the movie is a highly tense cave exploring film. With each obstacle, he brings on the claustrophobia, escalates the tension, and throws personal conflicts at our characters. By the time a creature element is introduced, the film is already working just fine. The final third is a trip into full gore horror, and it may lose some people like with From Dusk Till Dawn, but the transition here is much smoother.

Natalie Mendoza’s Juno is the group leader, but there’s much more going on underneath. Juno always has something to prove (notice her leg stretch in front of the other women after her morning jog.) She feels her leadership threatened at every turn, whether by youth or calmer heads. (Interesting how our first moment with her is a vulnerable one, when the group dunks her in the river.)

Mendoza plays Juno as almost separate from the group because Juno sees herself as the most capable member, and holds some deep secrets. On top of all this, Mendoza is perhaps the decade’s biggest bad-ass. When danger strikes, she’s like Ripley, tearing through trouble with athleticism and gusto.  I don’t understand why this didn’t make her a big star.

Nora-Jane Noone stands apart from the other “chicks with picks” immediately. With her short, spiky hair and youthful aggression, she represents a more reckless version of Juno. Many actors who portray athletic enthusiasm shoot past realism and come off like adrenaline junkies selling Mountain Dew. Noone keeps the character grounded.

Marshall goes too far with his use of blood, sometimes straining the realism of the situation. It often feels like it’s just there to please the horror fans who come strictly for the gore. There’s a scene early on where a character suffers from rope burn. Cut gloves and red hands I get, but her hands are sliced open and blood pours out of the wounds.  Then there’s the occasional minor misstep like when someone ignites a torch by clanging two metal hooks together until they spark (and in only two tries.)

So, The Descent is not a perfect film. I really don’t care. If you’re looking for thrills and scares, this gives you more than your money’s worth. The best horror film of the decade.


Pulse (Kairo)

2nd Viewing
I’ve seen three films from critic’s darling Kiyoshi Kurosawa, including his most acclaimed Cure (where a serial killer works through hypnosis) and Charisma (about a strange tree that infests a village with evil.) Kurosawa’s movies are not “horror” the way us Americans know it. They’re artful meditations…morality tales. I HATE them. Kurosawa can create atmosphere, but the films are painfully slow and numerous scenes exist for reasons I cannot fathom.

Kairo (Pulse) is the first Kurosawa film that equals the hype, delivering everything I’ve been told he was great at. Once again, this is not horror with big scares that made me jump, but it’s profoundly disturbing and more than a little creepy, with numerous scenes that made me nervous.

The plot of Pulse revolves around the internet, asking are we really still “connected” to fellow human beings anymore? The film’s answer… with technology we’re actually more isolated. Each person is an individual, and within each individual is a bottomless pit of loneliness that never ends.  We live alone, and remain alone after death.  The ghost world is very similar and that shared loneliness creates a bridge between the two worlds. The ghosts don’t have an evil plan. They just want to make a connection.

There is a hopeless look and feel to the film from the very beginning. The universe seems forever cast in shadows, regardless if it’s night or day. The ghosts are never shown in stark light, and they quiver and slink about in a disjointed way. They appear gradually within a static frame.

With many horror movies you sit through 90 minutes of our heroes trying to convince the world that “something evil” is out there. Here, our world is presently being invaded by beings from another dimension, and there is a ripple affect as everyone begins to experience similar events. Slowly but surely, the world starts to thin out, but not in the loud and splashy way you expect.

With previous Kurosawa films (and some other Asian horror) I‘d pull my hair out at the slow pace as characters ponder the happenings -- and ponder, and ponder, and ponder some more. This is his fastest movie, but it’s still pretty slow going. The film also makes good use of music, and the soundtrack, utilizing computer beeps and hiss, proves to be an asset.

There was an American remake with Kristen Bell that sucked.  The Japanese version is fantastic horror for the brain and recommended to anyone who prefers to get their mind stimulated over their adrenaline.



My Current List...
37. The Descent
38. Waltz With Bashir
39. Wall-E
40. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
41. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
42. Snatch
43. The Squid and The Whale
44. Inland Empire
45. A Bittersweet Life
46. Amélie
47. The Bourne Ultimatum
48. Oldboy
49. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
50. The Brothers Bloom
51. 2046
52. The Lives of Others
53. Gangs of New York
54. Mission: Impossible III
55. Love Actually
56. [REC]
57. Sin City
58. Monsters Inc.
59. The Royal Tenenbaums
60. Serenity
61. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
62. Pulse (Kairo)
63. Borat
64. No Country For Old Men
65. District 9
66. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
67. Shaun of the Dead
68. Fantastic Mr. Fox
69. Almost Famous
70. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
71. Grindhouse
72. Into The Wild
73. The Magdalene Sisters
74. In Bruges
75. Million Dollar Baby
76. Grizzly Man
77. Inglorious Basterds
78. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
79. The Dark Knight
80. Brotherhood of the Wolf
81. North Country
82. The Last Kiss
83. Bloody Sunday
84. Moon
85. Sexy Beast
86. Cold Mountain
87. X-Men
88. Whale Rider
89. Super Size Me
90. Akeelah and the Bee
91. Interstella 5555
92. The Departed
93. The Mothman Prophecies
94. Dirty Pretty Things 
95. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
96. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
97. Better Luck Tomorrow
98. Hustle & Flow
99. 28 Days Later
100. Road to Perdition

Highly Recommended, but dropped from the list...
Blade II, Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Drumline, Infernal Affairs, Joint Security Area, Lost in Translation, The Pianist, School of Rock, Spider-Man 2, Touching the Void, Versus, The Visitor, X2: X-Men United, Zoolander

Coming Up...
Crash
House of Flying Daggers
Ocean's 11
« Last Edit: March 24, 2020, 08:32:29 PM by 1SO »

Clovis8

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #312 on: March 17, 2010, 02:25:48 AM »
I'll go you one further. The Descent is the best horror film ever imo or at least the only one that ever scared me.

Bill Thompson

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #313 on: March 17, 2010, 08:31:37 AM »
1) The Descent didn't scare me at all, that's not a knock on the film or your review, but just because it's a great horror film doesn't mean it's going to scare everyone.

2) Have you ever seen a serious case of rope burn? I have, and blood was everywhere.

3) Pulse is so, so, so boring, god I couldn't stand that movie. Good idea, but he never goes anywhere with it and he takes forever to get nowhere and the film is about 30 minutes too long.

smirnoff

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #314 on: March 17, 2010, 08:36:06 AM »
Descent had some great creepy moments and some good jump scares, but it never horrified me, unlike say Exorcist or The Ring.

It's certainly thrilling though, and I love it.

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #315 on: March 17, 2010, 09:24:50 AM »
I'm with you 1SO, The Descent is excellent. 

I've been wanting to see Pulse, one of my horror junkie friends is all about it.  I saw the remake, you're right, it was awful.
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1SO

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Best of the 00s: Ocean's 11
« Reply #316 on: March 17, 2010, 10:38:37 AM »
Best of the Decade Marathon Update

Ocean's 11

Many, Many Viewings
When Steven Soderbergh was doing publicity for Ocean’s 12, he remarked that audiences didn’t care about the logistics of the heist.  We just wanted to see the cast interacting.  It was a sign of the bad film to follow.  While not entirely logical, the heist in Ocean’s 11 is more than plausible enough, and the target is a dreamy one.  Danny Ocean and his gang conspire to take down Las Vegas.

Ocean’s 11 is the decade’s most fun piece of pure Hollywood entertainment, the kind you don’t feel guilty for watching.  Sure, it starts with the All-Star cast, who bring a lot of charisma to the film, but this is a really good script in the hands of a great director.  Everybody gets their moments to shine, from Eddie Jemison’s sweaty trip to the security camera room to the bickering of Scott Caan and Casey Affleck to the great romantic-comedy exchange between Julia Roberts and George Clooney.

Danny: Now, they tell me I paid my debt to society.
Tess: Funny, I never got a check.

Andy Garcia even turns in an uncharacteristically exciting turn as casino owner Terry Benedict.  And what about this moment when Clooney talks Brad Pitt into doing the job.

Rusty: Why do this?
Danny: Why not do it? Cause yesterday I walked out of the joint after losing four years of my life and you're cold-decking "Teen Beat" cover boys. Cause the house always wins. Play long enough, you never change the stakes. The house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet and you bet big, then you take the house.
Rusty: Been practicing this speech, haven't you?
Danny: Little bit. Did I rush it? Felt I rushed it.

That little deadpan exchange at the end is priceless.  Other favorite moments include…

Bernie Mac pretending to be easily insulted by percieved racism from Damon’s Nevada Gaming Commission officer.  (“You might as well call it whitejack.”)

Don Cheadle rocking an English accent to his own amusement.  And when he's watching the casino implosion on his television, while it's happening right outside the giant window behind him.

Elliot Gould’s story of the 3 people who came closest to robbing a Las Vegas casino.


The moment where the entire heist almost fails because of some dead batteries.

The shot high up in the air where we see all of Vegas go dark, and the ensuing chaos of customers taking advantage of the blackout.  (A cocktail hostess just gets taken Out!)

The lyrical sequence towards the end where Ocean’s 11 watch the Bellagio fountains together.


Ocean’s 11 easily is one of the Top 5 Best Remakes.  The 1960 Rat Pack original is a flawed product of its era, exactly the type of film Hollywood should be looking to remake.  And it all comes back to the heist, which is perfectly set up as an impossible mission by Clooney at the start.  The actual job is fun and exciting and I like how it goes off almost completely without a hitch.  These are professionals doing a professional job.  Howard Hawks would’ve been proud.


My Current List...
36. Ocean's 11
37. The Descent
38. Waltz With Bashir
39. Wall-E
40. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
41. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
42. Snatch
43. The Squid and The Whale
44. Inland Empire
45. A Bittersweet Life
46. Amélie
47. The Bourne Ultimatum
48. Oldboy
49. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
50. The Brothers Bloom
51. 2046
52. The Lives of Others
53. Gangs of New York
54. Mission: Impossible III
55. Love Actually
56. [REC]
57. Sin City
58. Monsters Inc.
59. The Royal Tenenbaums
60. Serenity
61. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
62. Pulse (Kairo)
63. Borat
64. No Country For Old Men
65. District 9
66. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
67. Shaun of the Dead
68. Fantastic Mr. Fox
69. Almost Famous
70. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
71. Grindhouse
72. Into The Wild
73. The Magdalene Sisters
74. In Bruges
75. Million Dollar Baby
76. Grizzly Man
77. Inglorious Basterds
78. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
79. The Dark Knight
80. Brotherhood of the Wolf
81. North Country
82. The Last Kiss
83. Bloody Sunday
84. Moon
85. Sexy Beast
86. Cold Mountain
87. X-Men
88. Whale Rider
89. Super Size Me
90. Akeelah and the Bee
91. Interstella 5555
92. The Departed
93. The Mothman Prophecies
94. Dirty Pretty Things 
95. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
96. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
97. Better Luck Tomorrow
98. Hustle & Flow
99. 28 Days Later
100. Road to Perdition

Coming Up...
House of Flying Daggers

I'm about to watch Crash, which is possibly the most controversial film in my Top 100.  I haven't seen it in a couple of years, but I've seen it 4 times before, and it's an excellent film.  I think anger over this movie really escalated when it beat Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture. Well, I believe it deserved to and I hope to address that in my write-up.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2020, 08:32:47 PM by 1SO »

ferris

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #317 on: March 17, 2010, 10:49:47 AM »
You are absolutely right about Oceans 11. 
"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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smirnoff

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #318 on: March 17, 2010, 11:03:21 AM »
You are absolutely right about Oceans 11. 

Agreed. But I disagree about the sequels. I found them just as enjoyable as the first one and thought the heists were equally crafty.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1SO vs. the 00s: Best of the Decade Marathon
« Reply #319 on: March 17, 2010, 11:15:54 AM »
My 14 year old self found Oceans 11 a bore. Maybe I should revisit, but my 14 year old self has usually been right.

just because it's a great horror film doesn't mean it's going to scare everyone.
This. Sometimes a great horror films just has to be consistently creepy and unsettling. I don't have to wet my pants to consider a horror film great.