"If you're so depressed, how come you're eating pizza?" - Movie Board Club #9

[P Y R O]

In the last two days, I've watched Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells, Ice Age, and A Life Less Ordinary.

Only LSaTSB was new to me, and I thought it was pretty cool.

 

[mukooh]

hi shrrshrr thanks for you imput on 'swimming pool' and 'jet lag'...
'swimming pool' has yet to open...and for some reason 'jet lag' was pulled and didn't open....i plan on seeing 'capturing the friedman's' today....and possibly tomorrow or the next day, the newest film with adrien brody...'love the hard way'...it's about a small time hustler and a school girl....it was made in 2001...and it's finally seeing the light of day....that could be a bad sign...maybe it's only because of adrien's oscar win it's being released now?

the name of the film your thinking about is 'american splendor'...i've seen the trailer a couple of times myself....from what i remember it's about an individual who was drawn by robert crumb and used in his underground comics......and this man's relationship with a girl....

wow...your seeing alot of films too......oh have you seen the trailer for 'northfork' by the polish brothers?....it looks interesting...did you ever see their other two film? 'twin falls idaho'...(which i really liked) or 'jackpot' which i didn't like as much....

 

[P Y R O]

Watched two action-comedies over the weekend: National Security and Kangaroo Jack. (Yes, I was in THAT mood over the weekend

)

National Security: It had its moments, for sure, but on the whole, it sucked. The premise, while predictably thin, was fine, and up to a point (before all the pintless comedy and explosions, which meant that the "plot" had to completely disappear) it was intriguing. This one's more "action" than "comedy," and the little comedy in it makes it better than, say, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (one of the movies I hate most, along with Here on Earth, but I digress). Anyway, it's a little weird to see Steve Zahn playing the straight man in a buddy cop comedy, and I really wanted Steve to cut lose and act all zany, but the little comedy that came out of him was much, much better than Martin Lawrence. Now, that guy tried to provide the comedy in the movie, but he was just, well, grating and annoying. I just wanted to slap him in every scene that he was in. Ugh.

Kangaroo Jack: This one, on the other hand, was more "comedy" than "action." And at least the plot was sustained until the end. Also, the locale made it more conducive to very picturesque cinematography. This one definitely didn't have any unnecessary fights or explosions, and for the most part sustained the comedy as much as possible. One of my problems with this, though, was that quite a few things happen for no apparent reason. They don't propel the movie forward; they just add more "comedy" to the film. Personally, that's a sign of lazy comedic writing; a good comedy has comedy scenes which actually add to the story. (Which is why I'll NEVER be a good comedy writer.) Anyway, the movie is fun and light, and the kangaroo does have some cute and funny moments (with top-notch effects), especially towards the end. Oh, and one thing I'm thankful about: They didn't exploit the fact that Jerry O'Connell's character owns a beauty parlor; this means no tasteless gay joke, hurrah! Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes of your time, especially if you wanna have a good time (with your brain turned off, of course).

Aside from these two movies, I also watched 12 Monekys on DVD. It's a really good movie, with a well-constructed story. Somehow, it deftly manages to combine stories of time travel, psychotics, conspiracy theories, and of course, the end of the world (as we know it, at least). Enjoyable movie, and good too. Brad Pitt (in an Oscar-nominated turn, natch) is perfect as a nutcase.

So there. I'm getting ready for a long Holy Weekend with a bunch of movies to watch (most of them having nothing to do with Holy Week, but anyway), so maybe I'll be ready with a deluge of movie reviews by then as well. (Mostly of older movies I missed, like Speed, When Harry Met Sally, Liberty Heights, and Witness.)

 

[shrrshrr]

Hey Kris and Emilie! Great to see you two.

Yeah, I saw the ads for Swimming Pool and Jet Lag last night, both of which looked okay, if a bit predictable (but I'm still planning on seeing them).

I also saw this trailer for a film who's title I can't remember now! *shakes head* I think it was a Sundance contender, and it's about this shmo who becomes a comic book character, and meets a girl. Looked like it would be really fun (something Splendour, I think...)

The movie I saw was Capturing the Friedmans, a first time documentary and Sundance winner. I absolutely recommend it - here's what I wrote on the "films you just saw" thread:

I just saw another brilliant film - a documentary called Capturing the Friedmans, which I highly recommend. It's a first time movie for the director, and it's deftly done (with little manipulation, although there is some). I found myself gruesomely fascinated and absolutely intrigued.

Please go see this film - I really want to discuss it (mukooh, I'm especially interested in what you think. I'd like Laura's input, too, but I don't think she'll get the film for a while...)

 

[P Y R O]

The last two movies I've seen were "Punch-Drunk Love" and "Down With Love," and I loved them both.

Cinemanila is coming (to me, hee) sometime in August. We'll be getting some really interesting movies, like "Swimming Pool," "City of God," and "Dogville."

 

[Laura23]

I am embarassed to admit I saw Crossroads with Britney Spears. I didn't like it - surprise, surprise. For one it just glossed over a thousand deep, dark issues they raised. For another it was just an ego showcase for Britney - her singing, her looks...

 

[TwylyteAngel]

Hi guys! I haven't posted here in a long long time. I have been reading the thread though. I just haven't had time to go to the theatre (the last movie I saw was Down with Love...it kind of disappointed me). I just wanted to say hi.

A couple of days ago I saw Yellowknife...a Canadian film about this guy who takes this girl out of a hospital and they travel towards Yellowknife. I didn't really get it. The girl was the guy's sister, but they seemed (and later I discovered were) more than siblings. She had some psychiatric illness (which I never figured out).

 

[shrrshrr]

Ooh, P Y R O and mukooh - both those films sound excellent! I'll definitely be checking them out (since I'm in the SF area).

Saw Lost in Translation and Swimming Pool yesterday and absolutely loved both films. Terribly thought provoking!

Lost in Translation - finally someone gets my Tokyo/Kyoto/Japan experience. That's almost exactly what it was like for me, and I spoke Japanese, which made it all the more worse (I understood what people were saying about me). Thing is, I'm passionate about Japanese culture, and made it part of my field of grad school studies, but when I was in Japan it was so rough that I left a week early and hid out in my apartment so no one would think I was a wimp (especially my mentor). Brilliant!

And the way it was filmed - sort of like guerilla film making where almost everything is left to chance. Very cool - made it seem all the more natural (and Bill Murray was spectacular!).

Swimming Pool - I was confused until the end, then I was absolutely befuddled (and I thought Mulholland Drive was really straight forward). After 24 hours of processing with a friend, however, it does make sense. Pretty cool that it caught me off guard. And the acting was superb.

Up next - American Splendor and Calendar Girls.

 

[shrrshrr]

Well, I'll definitely look into that because I'm quite a Christian Bale fan - and I completely agree with you that he's underrated. He was superb in American Psycho, really carrying the film.

I tried to watch the modern Ocean's Eleven, but couldn't get through it - not much better than the original, really. I'm just a bit tired of straight forward heists (Snatch being the exception, since I loved it's humor).

 

[*Shannon*]

I saw Equilibrium a few nights ago, and I

ed it! Christian Bale is one of the most (if not THE most) underrated, overlooked actor ever. He's so intelligent about his acting, his mastery of the craft. I'd highly recommend the movie. It's somewhat like Star Wars in that it's slightly amateurish to look at, but that doesn't take anything away from the film as a whole. The drama and action sequences are equally mystifying.

 

[P Y R O]

Yeah, mukooh, I enjoy reading your posts... esp. coz it gives me more insight into movies I'll probably never see here in the Philippines.

 

[P Y R O]

Hey there.

I haven't been watching movies lately (RL sucks!), so this may be brief.

The last movies I caught were Scary Movie 3 and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Scary Movie 3 was enjoyable, and quite funny. I was surprised it wasn't as gross (or as sexually explicit) as the first one. (I never caught the second one.) It was witty. I really enjoyed it. Master and Commander was a pretty good movie. It's definitely a manly flick. Paul Bettany was my favorite thing about it, as were those two young guys who were friends (I forgot their names). Russell Crowe was more understated here than in previous performances, which is good, but not really noteworthy; he didn't seem as "into" his character as in, say, Gladiator or A Beautiful Mind. But that's just me.

The next movie I'm scheduled to catch in theaters is Mystic River (out starting today!). I'm stoked about it, and I hope it's as good as the hype.

I've also been going through, uhh, bootlegs recently, to aid in the nomination process for the FFMAs (check out that thread, please?). I picked up Bend It Like Beckham, City of God, and Seabiscuit. All three look promising (based on the first 10 or so minutes) and I'm excited about watching the whole movie.

 

[P Y R O]

I'm willing to do that.

I'll be happy with a limited release (which they did with Under the Tuscan Sun, Seabiscuit (you'd think this would get a wider release), and Calendar Girls).

Lemme finish school first.

 

[mukooh]

hi........does anyone here see a film without knowing anything or hardly anything about that film? i do...it's like when i use to buy cd's...if i read a good review about a group or a particular type of music i'd buy that cd, sound unheard......surprisingly with good results most of the time......with movies i find myself doing the same thing now...with mixed results...anyway here's 3 films that i went to see without knowing anything or very little about.....

'mga munting tinig' (small voices) the phillipines entry for the 2003 academy awards for foreign film.....a young, recently graduated teacher goes into the country to educate the children at a primary school and runs into indifference and corruption among other things....my thoughts are it was just ok as a film....a better movie with similiar themes is 'yi ge dou bu neng shao' (not one less) by the great chinese director yimou zhang.....

'girls will be girls'....drag queens playing women.....a loose plot about girls trying to break into show business among other things..i've seen better shows at finocchio's in san francisco.....

'the returner'.....from japan....a young girl from the future goes back in time to 2002 to stop the world from being invaded by aliens....a mix mash of alot of different ideas with some matrix like effects....again not very good.....

oh well 3 out 3 weren't that good...but i'm still willing to take chances....so.......

here's 3 films that i saw where i did know something about them....

'wonderland'....it's based on true events that took place in los angeles in 1981.....the film is basically about drugs and revenge murders.....(wonderland is the name of the street that these murders took place on)...the movie is told in different versions from the people involved (ala 'rash

 

[mukooh]

i saw the trailer the other day....and it looks like it will be coming to the university "art house" theater within the next couple of weeks barring the unforseen......anyway i'll take your recommendation and see it....i'm afraid the last film that i saw from the philippines was 'mga munting tinig' (released here as 'small voices') which was just ok.....

i'll mention only one film that i've seen lately because i believe it's worthy of mention.....that film is 'the dreamers'.......the premise...a young american is in france to learn french....he meets a brother and sister, fraternal twins, who are involved in an incestuous relationship....they invite the young man to move into their apartment during the month their parents are away.....it's set in 1968 during the student riots in paris........60's music...hendrix and joplin...the movie is directed by bernardo bertolucci who 30 years ago directed 'ultimo tango a parigi' ('last tango in paris')....this movie is rated nc-17 for among things....full frontal nudity, male and female (these are some good looking people too

)....after watching this movie i wasn't quite sure if i liked it...but in retrospect the film seems to have grown on me and i've come to like it more and more........i've included a theatrical trailer to the film.....

trailer here

"if there's a way to saying "i love you" without saying it-that's film" - buster keaton

 

[shrrshrr]

PVCscully - I would brave the NYC summer heat/humidity/storms to sit outside the stage doors if I thought I could have a conversation with him, however brief. Go for it!

Petaluma Jewish chicken farms? Interesting... We used to have a beach property right outside of Petaluma, and I remember the chicken farms, but I don't think I knew they were Jewish. Brings to mind all these questions about Kosher practices, and the like.

I made myself watch No Man's Land, and while it was predictable, and rather melancholy, it was still worthwhile. The trailer makes it look like it's going to be more satirically funny than it is - it's a much more serious film than initially presented. Plus, it's just plain...cynical. Which, I guess, is not really surprising, given the subject matter.

 

[shrrshrr]

Oh - well that makes a lot of sense! I didn't know that (and I don't remember your mentioning it).

How sad - looks like this thread is dying and all the posters are gone.

I've been watching a ton of films - loved Me Without You, did not like Y Tu Mama Tambien (what was all the hype about, anyway? It was just mediocre at best), and found Talk To Her to be extremely thought provoking.

I also say Pirates of the Caribbean, and thought it was an absolutely fabulous romp! Just what I would have wanted.

On the other hand, I saw the original Ocean's Eleven, and with the exception of the final scene, wonder why they bothered? Yeah, sure, the Rat Pack was popular and all, and I'm sure that was the draw, but the movie was so unnecessarily long that it lost me. It could have held me of the pacing had been better. And I just adore young Shirley McLain, so her cameo was definitely a highlight. Plus - Sammy can sing, which I'd completely forgotten. I'm going to see the remake to see how it compares.

See - I told you I'd been watching a lot of films.

*sniffle* Where is everyone?

 

[mukooh]

hi....thought i'd give the thread a "push".....sorry shrrshrr i thought you had mentioned on this thread that you'd seen 'swimming pool'....after you see it...reread my pm and tell me what you think....there's something else i'd like to ask you about this movie...in regards to 'lost in la mancha' i was thinking last last night that maybe the reason this film felt incomplete is because the documentary film makers ran out of money too...i think they were being paid off by terry gilliam.....(if the backers had owned it i don't think they would have allowed this movie to have been released because it would have been part of the total "package")....and with everything coming to halt on the "main" film the way it did there wasn't that much more for the documentary film makers to shoot.....i don't know if i explained that right...

i saw a good film the other day, i liked it anyway...it's called 'the cuckoo'.....as my mother used to say the ending was kind of "hokey" but it worked for me...and i walked out of the film feeling good....short synopsis (no spoilers).....

in world war 2 this film creates the unlikeliest of bonds (between three different people of three different cultures, speaking three different languages.) comic and sometimes tragic, misunderstanding soon arise resulting in a passionate and very human three-way relationship....

...this is one of my favorite times of the year....the obon festivals have started..this saturday, with family and friends, i'm going up to the temple to dance and celebrate...

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist festival usually held in mid-July or August for a week and is a time when the souls of dead ancestors are supposed to return home for three days. In particular, prayers are said for anyone who has died in the previous year as it is believed that they need more guidance to find their way. The festival has been held since the 7th century although many of the events have changed and it is one of the most significant and enjoyable of the Japanese festivals. It goes by a variety of names, the most popular of which is "The Festival or Feast of the Dead".


During the celebratory week of Obon, bright red lanterns are hung everywhere. In actual fact, these lanterns were originally to guide the dead spirits home from the spirit world and then back again, but they are usually lit at night for the festival dances.


The celebrations are held in the square, temple or a vacant block of each town. A temporary wooden tower is erected in the centre and, at the top of the tower, a taiko drummer plays. Sometimes this is a recording instead, but generally it's a real drummer. Large speakers at the top of the tower play special Obon music and men and women in 'yukata' or summer, cotton kimonos circle the tower dancing 'bonodori'.


Bonodori are easy, rhythmic, repetitive dances. Each movement in the dance has a special significance such as digging, threshing wheat and so on. These dances are important because it is said they soothe the spirits of the dead during their visit. This type of dancing can be learned outside the Obon Festival but it is very simple to join in and pick it up as you go. It is worth noting that these traditional dances vary from district to district, as does the music.

hope all is well with everyone.....

 

[AuburnGrad]

This weekend I saw Unfaithful and The Ring.

Unfaithful---I wasn't impressed much with the movie, itself; though, I was impressed with Diane Lane and Richard Gere. I thought both gave good performances.

The Ring---I finally saw it, after much pressure from friends and students. I liked it. I knew absolutely nothing about it going in, so I thoroughly enjoyed its creepiness. I plan to add The Ringu to my Netflix list.

Tonight I'm going to watch (if I have time) The Count of Monte Cristo.

 

[RockStar]

I always enjoyed reading this. It reminded me of going to school and just talking movies all day, jumping from movie to movie, topic to topic. Who needs classes, anyway? We even managed to have teachers caught up in the discussion. Hehe.