The cinema thread

[maldoror]

clint eastwood (as a director) is to film what bono is to music

gold.

[laika]

just saw watchmen...The comic book is a pyramid, untouchable, but the film is much better than expected.

this is really great to hear from you! i have been amazed at how aesthetically close the film appears to the comic...but i am very suspicious of this producer.

[laika]

if i had to make an analogy i would say clint eastwood (as a director) is to film what bono is to music (if i had a puke emoticon i'd insert it here) but to each his own

wow, that bad? i don't have an opinion, having seen exactly NONE of the films that he's directed, but i'm intrigued by such a strong statement from you, AKA.

[Servo2000]

this is really great to hear from you! i have been amazed at how aesthetically close the film appears to the comic...but i am very suspicious of this producer.

Suspicious would be a good word to describe how I felt going in and while many of my fears were justified it's definitely worth seeing. Alan Moore is a little too much for Snyder to handle it seems but by sticking as close to the material as he did he still managed to capture sort of "the surface" of what makes Watchmen so amazing.

If you haven't read the novel I certainly wouldn't suggest it - some of the characters become totally flat in the movie (Veidt, especially) where there just wasn't enough time to flesh them out while trying to get the whole plot structure in under 3 hours. I personally would have loved to have seen them simplify the structure of the plot to allow for more of the great interstitial moments and tangents that really establish the psychology of the watchmen world.

(another BIG SPOILER example would be the "The Comedian is my father" revelation - the movie really isn't able to convey that underlying hatred that's bubbling under the surface so it loses a lot of impact, especially in the moments between Silk Spectre and her mother about it)

[sam_tem]

i thought I Love Paris turned out good enough. you just have to go into it expecting some to be bad and others good and enjoy it for not being the clusterfuck it could have been.

my recent watches:
Pulse by kiyoshi kurosawa - not as mindbending as the cure, but certainly enjoyable in it's own right

To have and have not, in a lonely place - just rounding out my bogart kick that i've been on.

mccabe and mrs miller - didn't enjoy it as much as i was hoping, but it's definitely one of the better westerns and the leonard cohen soundtrack was a nice touch.

currently making my way through synecdoche but i'm only an hour in so things are still a bit odd. have a feeling i'm going to love it by the time it's done though.

[Casius]

i love unforgiven as much as the next man but have you seen gran torino? worst movie ever.

I can very much agree with this. My friends and I were laughing through the whole thing (when, yea, it was probably supposed to come off as serious). His portrayal of an old bigot was just way too over the top for me to think of it as believable. Also, the supporting cast was horrible.

[Fuuma]

Watching another Sorrentino film with Toni Servillo (Le conseguenze dell'amore) so far he's shown the same mastery of sound, great soundtrack choice and visual invention that made Il divo such a great film. Servillo is, once again, amazing. Is Italian cinema making a comeback?

[mass]

i finally saw guy maddin's brand upon the brain last night. think i've come around and i am now officially a fan. don't know if i'd put it above archangel or the heart of the world, but it culled the same sort of emotional reaction from me as those two.

the mythologizing of childhood is something i've always really been drawn to, and i was pleasantly surprised to see him mention bruno schulz in the extras, although it makes perfect sense after having seen the film.

a friend of mine recommended maddin to me ages ago but i always forget, and i've got cowards bend the knee and careful sitting around. thanks for the reminder.

[maldoror]

cowards bend the knee is great, but probably a poor choice for your first maddin. I'd highly recommend careful (my favorite maddin) instead.

[huskiesonice]

Saw Watchmen, I really wanted to like the film but didn't. I thought they had too much back history to convey, the film was consumed by exposition and endless back story, which is a shame. Too dense, too rich and too complex to really suit a movie format. Maybe they should have done a LoTR and done it in parts, it was too much for one film.

As for Gran Torino, I thought it was okay, nothing more. The Outlaw Josey Wales or Unforgiven or Pale Rider it was not. Whoever cast the kid should be summarily executed, I thought he was awful and played a large part in mediocre-ising the film.

[Faust]

Saw Let the Right One In finally. I liked it, but not as much as many others.

[swami]

Watching another Sorrentino film with Toni Servillo (Le conseguenze dell'amore) so far he's shown the same mastery of sound, great soundtrack choice and visual invention that made Il divo such a great film. Servillo is, once again, amazing. Is Italian cinema making a comeback?

Wow this sounds great, Do you keep a seperate Region free Dvd player? Even though the styles are probably entirely opposite I love Gabriele Muccino,s 3 films.

Watched BODY OF LIES and thought it was highly underrated. It probably also has to do with the touchy issues of terrorism and the middle east But a interesting look into the CIA,s covert operations in Iraq etc. While its no SYRIANA good movie nonetheless. And damn can LEO bring it !!!

[sam_tem]

currently making my way through Synecdoche but i'm only an hour in so things are still a bit odd. have a feeling i'm going to love it by the time it's done though.

so i finished this movie yesterday and loved it. i can't think of many movies in the past few years that could really rival this one but i certainly have to see it again to better my appreciation of it. certainly the best thing that charlie kaufman has had his hand in.

netflix has shipped out let the right one in to me and it seems like i'll enjoy it so i look forward to that.

[note]

Checked out Matteo Garrone's Gomorra the other night. Interesting look into Italy's criminal underworld through a few unrelated plots and characters. The film does drag on at points, but it's still worth a view.

[Fuuma]

Wow this sounds great, Do you keep a seperate Region free Dvd player? Even though the styles are probably entirely opposite I love Gabriele Muccino,s 3 films.

Watched BODY OF LIES and thought it was highly underrated. It probably also has to do with the touchy issues of terrorism and the middle east But a interesting look into the CIA,s covert operations in Iraq etc. While its no SYRIANA good movie nonetheless. And damn can LEO bring it !!!

I have two "international" dvd players. My DVDs are from diff regions and use both PAL and NTSC. A lot of cheap players now do that.

Muccino now directs Hollywood films though, wonder if he'll make something in Italian soon.