The cinema thread

[philip nod]

(loser)

[Real Real]

Just saw Synecdoche, New York - really good.

[Jorge Hache]

Saw Werckmeister Harmonies, for a long time wanted to view a Bela Tarr movie, so this is my first.
I'm not disappointed at all, in fact i had high expectations about it, but the movie fulfill all, is so beautiful and perfect that left me wanting for more, i'm looking for Satantango now.

[sbw4224]

Barry Lyndon - thought it was beautiful and pretty funny, but it just took so long to develop it made two of my friends fall asleep.

[James Vincent]

Watched Dark City yesterday. Mind-bending. I wonder how much it influenced the Watchwosky brothers when they decided to do Matrix.

An amusing visual side by side: http://galeon.hispavista.com/cineram...ixdarkcity.htm

I don't think there was any grand larceny though. The movies shared some common production staff (inc. Dark City producer Andrew Mason), the same inner-streets of Sydney and even reused a sound stage set or two.

[destroyed]

Barry Lyndon - thought it was beautiful and pretty funny, but it just took so long to develop it made two of my friends fall asleep.

I like that movie, and I generally like long movies that hypnotize the viewer.

Speaking of Kubrick, Chiller (the horror channel) had a The Shining marathon this weekend. I hadn't seen it since I was 13 or so, and I don't remember it being that spooky. Given, it was dark, late at night, and the SO was asleep, but I was bugged the fuck out. Even when nothing is going on, the Bartok, or Ligeti, or whatever else (William/Wendy Carlos?) just really put me on edge----am usually not fond of non-diegetic music in a film, but Kubrick uses music so effectively in this one. And yeah, since it was a marathon, as soon as the film ended, it started up again. I watched the first twenty minutes again, surfed away to other shows, and then surfed back to it, and found myself just as tense and scared as I had been on the first viewing. That scene with Shelley Duvall flailing away at Nicholson with the bat is legendary, of course----it apparently holds the record for most takes, I think something like 120? She does look totally unravelled. I wonder which take Kubrick ended up using, if not the last; would be a riot if he used, say, the 30th take, but kept pushing Duvall for 90 more...

I expect we could have a The Shining thread, there is so much to this film.

[Huxley]

What I've watched recently...

Stellet Licht-beautiful, mesmerizing
Z- First Costas-Gavras film, and out of everything watched, blew me away the most, maybe because it's been sitting on my hard drive for a long ass time and I'd thought it was just going to be a slow, tedious, political drama, but it was the exact opposite.
Near Dark- Didn't like it at all, pretty meh and I wouldn't rank it anywhere near the likes of Videodrome ,They Live, or many of the other heralded 80s flicks.
We Own the Night- Much better than I expected, plot was a little clunky at times, but it was beautifully shot and the action and acting was solid.
eXistenZ-I <3 David Cronenberg. Totally shits all over The Matrix, in my opinion.

Oh, also Slumdog Millionaire. I liked it. The first 1/3 of the movie was superb, the child actors were great and the subtitles made the film much more immersive than normal, annoying ones which force you to keep switching focus to the bottom of the screen then missing other shit that's going on.

Also started watching Hoop Dreams, but had to stop midway, then I read online that neither of them reached their goals and just used their fame from the documentary to propel whatever else they were going to do for a living, which is all good and well, but isn't giving me much incentive to finish it. >_<

[mamaboy]

micky rourke in the wrestler is my new americana "the silent type" icon....love it...i wished script could be better...

[Huxley]

Strong, silent types don't have sappy weeping scenes on a beach, I haven't seen the movie yet, but yeah.

[Jorge Hache]

[QUOTE=Huxley;111396]What I've watched recently...

Stellet Licht-beautiful, mesmerizing

One of the best mexican movies i've ever seen, a really beautiful contemplative movie, love the use of the sounds, the camera movements and the almost documental style mixed with supernatural facts

I also recommend Japon (the debut film from Reygadas)

[kira]

Just saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I think overall it was actually quite delightful. The story was curious but nice. However, it was 3 hours long...ugh. Not quite a movie worth seeing in the theater, better for home when you can get up and stretch. There was one point in the movie, in the middle, when my beloved Mr. Pitt looks his best (and oh he does kira says drooling ), and they just plaster him all over the screen over and over and over again. Not that I have any problems looking at him over and over and over again, but I thought they drove the point home quite too much there.

Did also see some good previews for the spring. The Soloist looks like it will be a pretty wonderful uplifting film.

[Faust]

I watched the Road Warrior. Nothing like good old 80s cheese.

[mamaboy]

..u should see how he fucks up everything.....

[philip nod]

I watched the Road Warrior. Nothing like good old 80s cheese.

my favorite movie as a kid. it was always on sunday nights for some reason, before vhs.

[Casius]

Kira- I saw Benjamin Button as well and liked it quite a bit. There were some very good messages in the film as well. The one thing I liked, is that all of the actors in the film never took anything away from one another, every character was done to a T.