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Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched (Jan 2011 - Nov 2013)  (Read 2532548 times)

Antares

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14050 on: July 08, 2012, 09:20:43 PM »
Blast of Silence (rewatch)

I tried watching this a few months ago, but couldn't get into it. I'll have to give it another try.
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mousterpiece

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14051 on: July 08, 2012, 09:52:07 PM »
To Rome With Love

For a movie that is pretty slight, I was so frustrated with what was on screen. The idea of having four different vignettes make up a nearly two-hour running time isn't a problem. What is a problem is Woody Allen splitting up the vignettes so we keep cutting back and forth from one to another. Maybe if each vignette ran in full, without cutting to another story, I wouldn't have felt like it was so disjointed. Also, it's a massively miscast film. Though I know many 50-year old men (well, maybe not many, but some) have children at their age, Allen as the father of Alison Pill (26 in real life, and looking maybe a bit younger) is very distracting. And while I like Ellen Page--I'm sure this will sound horrendously shallow on my part--I do not buy her for one second as this incredibly sexy, vivacious woman who makes every man in her path fall for her. Frankly, I'm not sure I buy that Jesse Eisenberg and Alec Baldwin would be...connected in the way that they are.

Each story had so many issues, but in general, while I liked some aspects and laughed a bit here and there, this was a pretty low-key affair. If possible, it frustrated me more than Midnight in Paris.

2/4
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StudentOFilm

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14052 on: July 08, 2012, 10:01:57 PM »
The Adventures of Tintin



When I think of the action sequences in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark or Minority Report, I'm reminded of how well thought out, clever, and ultimately artful they are. The truck chase in Raiders is a perfect example. It's thrilling, suspenseful, and keeps you guessing as to what will happen next. That is something that I love about Spielberg though, how you can just group the genres of his movies and still recognize his influence throughout. Whether it be his sci-fi films like Close Encounters or E.T. or historical dramas like Schindler's List or Munich, you know you are watching Spielberg, but you are almost within a sub-set of the man's many different talented approaches to tackling a variety of material. His first animated film, The Adventures of Tintin, falls right in and fits nicely next to Raiders, and I'm the umpteenth person to connect Indiana Jones and Tintin the reporter since 1981.

I'm a comic book nut so I've read Tintin by Herge, but in a much different manner than most. I read it like I read most older comics. I was looking to see how they influenced the Marvel/DC/indy writers and artists of recent years. I still greatly appreciated it as a work of comicbookdom that sort of made a connection between what has been the strips of the funny pages to the type of stories Stan Lee would tell. So with Spielberg's adaptation being animated, the first thing I was most inclined to take note of was the look. I found the animation to be beautiful especially in how the locales popped with their various color schemes. Perhaps purists might be a little put off, but I felt like Spielberg and co. captured what was more important to me- the "feel" as opposed to the "look" and it just happened that they chose to use motion capture to do so. I found myself comparing it to how even if Raimi's Spider-Man is for all intents and purposes his interpretation of Spider-Man, he at least captured the feeling that the drawings of Steve Ditko, Todd MacFarlane, John Romita Jr., Mark Bagley, and others had hoped to invoke. An obvious example would be Robert Rodriguez literally lifting the image off the page for his version of Frank Miller's Sin City.

Enough of my nerd-enhanced rantings. I enjoyed the affect the mo-cap had. All of this "uncanny valley" talk doesn't bother me in the same way that I don't stand up and question why a character in a Pixar movie is not anatomically correct. Similar films from Zemeckis like The Polar Express or A Christmas Carol have a certain disquieting (for lack of a better word) characteristic to them because of the animation style and Tintin does as well (and of course there is debate over whether motion capture is in fact worthy of being mentioned in an Oscar for animated films category, but I'll just use the word "animation" until the endless debates come up with a verdict).

All-in-all, Tintin was a lot of fun, a pleasant surprise, and full of all the great things I love about these types of movies whether they feature actors in a green bodysuit or not- a noble hero, exotic lands, crazy villains, and non-stop action scenes with guns, knives, and fists all taking place on, in, or around different forms of transportation vehicles. The dogs from Beginners and The Artist also now have some competition for 2011's most charming portrayal of a canine.
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oldkid

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14053 on: July 08, 2012, 11:03:24 PM »
As yet another reason why Spielberg deserves to (still) be called on of the Greatest Living Directors.
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michael x

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14054 on: July 08, 2012, 11:07:27 PM »
Moonrise Kingdom

Wonderful!

Anderson grabs a moment in time, a few momentous summer days in the life of two 12-year-olds, and freezes it in place. As the song Le temps de l'amour from Suzy's record goes, "Because the time for love // It's long and it's short // It lasts forever // We remember it". Not the deepest lyrics, but there is something magical in the song. As Suzy and Sam dance on the beach, the melody and lyrics remind us that this happy moment can't possibly last. After all, the entire island is looking for them. How fitting that, in the finale, we find that their secret cove has been removed by the storm. The moment can't be recreated, so it must live forever in their memories.

I see Wes Anderson playing with permanence and transience also in the ultimate line of the film: "See you tomorrow!" We're made aware of the fact that the characters in the film have futures ahead, futures that bring change we can't witness. All very Eastern, I suppose. The strangely melancholic magic of storytelling is captured in that simple line.

I didn't know Bruce Willis had a performance like this in him. He plays the lonely, hang-dog Captain Sharp and throws himself into the character, playing it without a trace of the knowing "wink-wink" stuff he'd do in the past. In fact, all the actors give good performances, but I expected nothing less from the other adult actors.

This is probably my favorite Wes Anderson film. There's an admission of optimistic possibilities amidst the melancholy absent from the subtle nihilism of Royal Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic.

It's the time for love // the time for friends // and for adventure

MartinTeller

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14055 on: July 08, 2012, 11:20:24 PM »

The Interrupters - Steve James – director of Hoop Dreams, one of the finest documentaries ever made — returns to the streets of Chicago to spend a year in the company of the CeaseFire organization.  These heroic men and women are dedicated to “interrupting” violence on the streets before it begins, mediating conflict and calming tempers without judgment or police involvement.  They’re not interested in right or wrong, or gang disputes (indeed, they claim most of the violence stems from interpersonal conflicts entirely independent of gangs) or sending people to jail.  Their sole mission is to stop being hurt and killed.  And from what James shows us, they seem to be quite effective, although in an inevitably limited fashion.

James focuses primarily on the activity of three interrupters, each with a violent and/or criminal past of their own: Cobe Williams, a fatherly cool-headed role model; Eddie Bocanegra, a sensitive and compassionate man who gets kids to express their feelings about violence through art; and Ameena Matthews, daughter of a legendary gang leader.  All three are exceptionally admirable people, but it was Matthews who I found most endearing.  She came through an extremely tough childhood and adolescence and emerged as a strong woman, persuasive speaker and deeply passionate and devoted to the cause.

Much of the running time is spent exploring the relationships with a few select individuals (Caprysha, Flamo, Mikey) these people are trying to reach out and help.  While this helps build strong attachments for the viewer (as in Hoop Dreams, the film is loaded with genuinely moving moments) it also contributes to the film’s main failing, a feeling of repetition.  Of course, that’s often the nature of the problem… the rage doesn’t simply go away after a couple of brief chats.  But I would have preferred to see a greater breadth of what CeaseFire actually does in practice.  A little more balance between the individual stories and the larger picture could have felt more informative without necessarily compromising the emotional heart of the movie.  Nonetheless, it’s a very compelling and often powerfully moving film about some brave and generous souls doing what they can to mitigate one of our society’s most troubling issues.  Rating: Very Good (82)

« Last Edit: July 09, 2012, 12:38:01 AM by MartinTeller »

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14056 on: July 08, 2012, 11:20:54 PM »
Blast of Silence (rewatch)

I tried watching this a few months ago, but couldn't get into it. I'll have to give it another try.

Same problem when I watched it in December. Recently I saw Murder by Contract which was this film done very right. Better acting, less cliche and as for the Taxi Driver influence, Murder by Contract was a better source for ripping off.

MartinTeller

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14057 on: July 08, 2012, 11:25:05 PM »
*shrug* I love them both.

I have no problems at all with the performances in Blast of Silence.  I also don't think existentialist second-person narrative is much of a cliché.

jbissell

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14058 on: July 09, 2012, 12:32:17 AM »
Glad that you liked The Interrupters, MT.

jbissell

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #14059 on: July 09, 2012, 01:29:16 AM »

Possession 7.5/10

I was expecting crazy going in and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Everything in this film is ratcheted up to 11. It really could just be renamed “Sam Neill & Isabele Adjani make crazy faces and yell a lot”. It took a while but eventually I got accustomed to the manic performances and went along for the ride. Overall, while the performances are certainly over-the-top, they’re pitch perfect for the tone of the film. The plot centers around the crumbling marriage of Mark (Neill) and Anna (Adjani). Mark descends into depression trying to win her and their son back. He meets Anna’s other man and the two soon realize that Anna has another…man. Oh and Anna has a doppelganger. And a bunch of other stuff happens that I don’t even want to attempt to explain. There’s also an extended scene of Anna have a miscarriage in a subway tunnel that alternated between frightening and laughable. The camera is in constant motion, the numerous close-ups very effective in making everything feel claustrophobic, even though the action is not confined to one location. It’s certainly…something?



 

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