Last Movie you Watched?

All I'll say is that you can't beat George Kennedy. Ever.

Hostel 3.

Had a few worthy moments...but didn't have the wince and look-away factor that was evident in the first one.

All About Eve (1950)

Here's a film I thought I'd love, but it didn't really grab me. I admire it. It's got some standouts in the cast. Maybe it's too "talky" for me. I know that talk is by Joe Mankiewicz, but the movie didn't grab me.

Maybe another viewing someday will do it for me.

Best Picture count is now at 57/83.

KILL LIST. Outstanding British indie horror thriller that combines Mike Leigh-style kitchen sink drama (as with much of Leigh's work, a lot of the dialogue is ad-libbed) with THE WICKER MAN and Tarantino circa RESERVOIR DOGS, with nods to the likes of Kubrick (THE SHINING and EYES WIDE SHUT), Jonathan Glazer (SEXY BEAST), Polanski (THE TENANT) and Nicolas Roeg in general.

Which sounds like a very messy mixture indeed, but director and co-writer Ben Wheatley (who couldn't really have a more appropriate surname - dunno whether he's any relation, though) takes these (truth be told rather shopworn) influences and spins them into something highly fresh and original, not to mention exceptionally gripping and harrowing (oh, and stylish, too - given its subject matter, not to mention its reported budget of £500,000, KILL LIST looks suitably scuzzy, but scuzzy in a slick and sophisticated way that announces a new director who really knows what he's doing).

Running short of the funds required to support his wife and child in the lower-middle-class life to which they aspire, a traumatised and volatile ex-army thug adapting badly to civvy street (Neil Maskell in a superb performance - the actor, by the way, looks rather like the love child of Ricky Gervais and Ray Winstone, and indeed his character carries echoes of both Gervais in THE OFFICE [an episode involving a declined credit card at a hotel reception desk is pure David Brent] and Winstone in NIL BY MOUTH) teams up with his best mate from the forces to accept a contract from a shadowy client. The mission: to assassinate various people on a "kill list". Things get bloody - very bloody. And weird - very weird. Very weird indeed.

Now, KILL LIST is certainly not for all tastes. It's almost unwatchably intense and brutal in places, and its ultimate revelations make for an ending that's as divisive as they come (not sure what I think about it myself yet, to be honest, but I was definitely knocked out by it). And the film does ultimately fall short of true masterpiece status - it's a little too rough around the edges for that, with several key scenes drenched in too much cliché to be truly extraoardinary (these scenes still work, mind you, but they don't quite knock you on your ass the way similar scenes in genuinely great films do).

Still, this is well-written, well-acted, complex and absorbing stuff, compelling and chilling, and certainly a flick that does what it says on the tin. It showcases Wheatley and Maskell as names to watch in the same way that TRAINSPOTTING announced the arrival of Danny Boyle and Robert Carlyle.

ETA: With regard to What It All Means, the following article is as good and as clear an explanation of the plot as any I've encountered - I'll go with what this guy's saying (but, obviously, don't read it unless you've already seen the film): http://www.holymoly.com/film-dvd/blog/kill-list-what%E2%80%99s-it-all-about-then61097

Cavalcade (1933)



Maybe it worked in 1933. Evidently it did. Basically it's a bunch of English people thinking the 20th century is tough going. In 1933. Yeah.

Best Picture count: 58/83

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

100x better than Fincher's last flick. I enjoyed every bit of it, except for some of Craig's mumbling (which is really becoming a problem) in the beginning of the film. I don't know who Rooney Mara is, or what she's done other than that small role in FASEBUK: MOVIE, but she did an outstanding job in this film. I'm looking forward to seeing the character again in a sequel--and hope Fincher directs. The cinematography is fresh, and the story moves at a steady pace. I liked how the plot overlaps mystery, thriller, suspense, and drama, for the most part. That added variety to the film and its progression. I also realized that Fincher's great at creating apprehension and unease, and in a very simple manner (i.e. Blomkvist's exploration of Martin's house at the end). His stand-out piece of camerawork in this film was when the camera moved over Salander and then tilted down, revealing an upside down shot of her face (happened after the rape, IIRC).

I think this could have gone wrong in many areas, but Fincher and his team did all of the right things. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also provided a stylish, atmospheric score that didn't get in the way of the events on the screen and didn't imply or force feelings on the viewers, as so many amateur film scores do today.

This is what I want a Fincher film to be like. Not a cash-in, made-for-TV-esque piece of trash that features whiny, prepubescent actors. Save that shit for Brett Ratner and Judd Apatow.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also provided a stylish, atmospheric score that didn't get in the way of the events on the screen and didn't imply or force feelings on the viewers, as so many amateur film scores do today.

Then it must have got in the way. Not shoving emotions down one's throat is one thing, but by not even implying anything is where film music ceases to have any function, and it just becomes an obstruction, or plain white noise.

I didn't think it was an obstruction. It worked with the scenes, added to the film's atmosphere, but I wouldn't say it did any more than that.

I liked it.

Actually, Sharky, in terms of a film score, this completely fails because it is missing the emotional aspect. I see where you're coming from with your argument, as well.

In terms of being background noise in the film, it sounds good and works with the scenes it's placed with.

Watching a thing on Lee Marvin. In five parts here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/smilerbwfc/videos

Go-ji-jeon aka The Front Line (2011)

4.5/5

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2007387/

The best Korean War film out of South Korea since South Korea's 2004 Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

This movie is South Korea's submission to the 2012 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film

There hasn't been too many movies made about the Korean War and some of them are not very good; I highly recommend this one!!

Mr. Brown wrote:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

100x better than Fincher's last flick.

As far as I'm concerned, THE SOCIAL NETWORK is a more thought-provoking, more engaging bit of work. THE GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATTOO is a bunch of sterile unpleasantness in the service of nothing. I suppose it has a nice title sequence.

Tried to watch The Abyss last night. Bloody hell, but it was bad! Shut it off halfway through. Only other time I've done that with a flick was The Big Labowsky. Can't believe I actually liked The Abyss the other time I saw it, which would have been in '90.

Harmsway wrote:

Mr. Brown wrote:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

100x better than Fincher's last flick.

As far as I'm concerned, THE SOCIAL NETWORK is a more thought-provoking, more engaging bit of work. THE GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATTOO is a bunch of sterile unpleasantness in the service of nothing. I suppose it has a nice title sequence.

Eh, I disagree... but that's not uncommon.

Sorkin's screenplay was the only "thought-provoking" aspect of that film, in my opinion. But, visually, it's about as engaging as a CBS sitcom, and the performances were mainly unacceptable (especially Andrew Garfield's).

I thought DRAGON TATTOO, overall, had a lot more to offer, and worked well as a modern mystery/thriller.

Regarding the title sequence, here's an interesting article about where the concept came from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/10/idUS5033736220120110

This 2011 Ben Hur TV-Movie-Epic nonsense. Felt like 3hrs and 40 of relentless tedium. Just lacked substance. Acting sometimes laughable, that kind of Hayden Christiansen trying too hard-sneer of an expression most of the time from the lead two, awkward computer game CGI, jerky slow motion shots (chiefly during the chariot scene) and so on.

Honourable mention, Art Malik doing his Arab schtick. Half expected him to say his chariot racing was "a hangover from my Oxford days". Cor, if only.

Mr. Brown wrote:

But, visually, it's about as engaging as a CBS sitcom

Ah, quite a bit of hyperbole there, Brownster. It's not a visually-driven film (not to the same extent as Fincher's other work), but it's nevertheless pretty well shot in terms of lighting and composition. Much, much better shot than anything currently on television. If FIncher were an interesting director, formally speaking, I might be bothered that he gave us something more text-driven, but he's not, and so I'm fine with his own flourishes playing second fiddle to a pretty decent screenplay (though his music video-ish stylings do come out for the "Hall of the Mountain King" sequence).

Mr. Brown wrote:

and the performances were mainly unacceptable (especially Andrew Garfield's).

I found them all quite believable for young college-age folk, which is just late adolescence, when you get down to it. Eisenberg was certainly the standout, though.

Mr. Brown wrote:

I thought DRAGON TATTOO, overall, had a lot more to offer, and worked well as a modern mystery/thriller.

What ideas do you find running through DRAGON TATTOO?

Harmsway wrote:

THE GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATTOO is a bunch of sterile unpleasantness in the service of nothing.

I'll check it out, but only when it hits Blu-ray. To my mind, Fincher has yet to make a flat-out bad film (even ALIEN 3 kinda sorta has its moments, or at least the workprint version does).

Dragon Tattoo is on course to just squeak by 100m in the USA Box Office...

If it didn't do as well, the sequels might be in jeopardy.

Harmsway wrote:

Mr. Brown wrote:

I thought DRAGON TATTOO, overall, had a lot more to offer, and worked well as a modern mystery/thriller.

What ideas do you find running through DRAGON TATTOO?

Themes of betrayal run through out the entire film, which I enjoyed.

Salander and her life seemed to comment on corruption/failure within state-sponsored "protection"/welfare programs. Her retaliation against the social worker suggested treatment of rapists and sex offenders, too.

The investigation, itself, was engaging--I felt as if I was uncovering details as Blumkvist and Salander were. Eventually, that lead to quite a twist.

Blumkvist was interesting, as well, and his relationship with Salander seemed to be a comment on journalism and journalists. Once a "hot topic" or investigation is over, and when the problem's solved, the media/journalists simply move on to the next thing. We saw him developing a close relationship with Salander, and after Wennerstrom died, Blumkvist was back with Berger--almost completely ignoring the relationship he had developed with Salander. I think it parallels the media and journalists, suggesting they only have a shallow relationship with the subjects and topics that they cover. (Look at the Gulf oil spill, or the disaster in Haiti, for example. While these events had nothing to do with the film, I think they relate to this theme. The media's pawns were covering these events religiously for a few weeks, and when the next "big thing" came about in the news, these events were completely ignored and passed by.)

There might have been some subtle commentary on religion tied to Gottfried Vanger's serial killings, too. I'm not entirely sure, though, but it made me think about it, regardless.

I think there was plenty to think about, with themes and commentary, and technical aspects. Technically, I thought this was outstanding, as well. I loved it. It was an exciting and intense theater experience. We'll see how I think of it when it's on Blu-Ray.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Tried to watch The Abyss last night. Bloody hell, but it was bad! Shut it off halfway through. Only other time I've done that with a flick was The Big Labowsky.

You hated THE BIG LEBOWSKI? :silent:

I recommend another watch.

I could see how LEBOWSKI wouldn't be Dr. Khan's cup of tea.

"Fuck it, dude. Let's go bowling."

I dunno. Despite the swearing and all, it addresses many things that Khan agrees on. The liberal elite, American-ness, pretentious postmodernists, hip nihilists, and with two salt of the earth, everyman, middle aged baby boomers as the heroes of the piece.

It's still relevant as ever.

Johnson?

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

What started out as somewhat entertaining by virtue of William Powell's presense became absolute ****ing torture. THREE GOD DAMN HOURS!? It just wouldn't end. Even Myrna Loy couldn't get me excited when she entered the picture.

Needless to say it won Best Picture.

My count is 59/83.

Powell's MY MAN GODFREY from the same year wasn't even nominated. I wish we had a William Powell type now.

THE DRIVER. I missed out on last year's highly acclaimed DRIVE and while waiting for its Blu-ray release at the end of this month I thought I'd revisit what I presume was one of Nicolas Winding Refn's biggest influences, namely this lean, mean and decidedly minimalist 1978 cops and robbers thriller from Walter Hill.

Hill's flick is showing its age. Dreadful dialogue and a mercilessly wooden lead performance by Ryan O'Neal do it no favours, and the narrative is choppy, suggesting extensive and ill-judged pre-release re-editing. It isn't the consistently atmospheric and involving cult gem of a B-movie I'd hoped for - instead, it's an intermittently interesting potboiler that only really works in fits and starts. It has its share of problems, but its one big glaring fatal flaw is that it's utterly impossible to give two hoots about any of the characters. And I mean at all.

That said, a couple of well-staged, Frankenheimerish car chases (vastly more thrilling than anything in the FAST AND THE FURIOUS flicks) and a wonderfully Hitchcockian sequence involving a rendezvous at a station and a pursuit on a train make THE DRIVER just about worth a spin. I hope that DRIVE is rather more interesting, though.

It's not, at all. More slick perhaps.