ayesinback

bravo1102
After watching the Ninth Gate that movie was an absolute pleasure. Someone really botched the script there

Agreed. Ninth Gate is torture; and because I want to block it from mind and memory, I keep stumbling upon it thinking, oh, Johnny Depp - what's this?

Hahaha! I remember when that came out- I was great friends with a collector/dealer in rare books who had a special interest in books on demonology, witchcraft etc.- The real things basically; mouldy old, stinky, crumbly, spotty things from three, four, five hundred years ago in Latin, French, Greek...

Anyway, he was really excited to see the film to see what they were going to get right about their depiction of a book collector/dealer like that and whether they'd mention any of the important titles and what have you. He came back bitterly disappointed, saying that they got almost nothing right about the titles they mentioned or their depiction of the rare book collector world.

Someone gave me the Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 DVD for Xmas and I finally got around to seeing Fantasia 2000 for the first time. I was surprised by how much I really liked it.

It did have its down moments. I didn't really care for the flying blue whale sequence set to "Pines of Rome". I thought the merging of CGI with cel animation was really slapped together and forced. I also didn't really go crazy for the piece about the Forest Sprite going through Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite". It seemed like a pale imitation of the classic "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" bit from the original Fantasia.

I did, however, really enjoy the one about Donald Duck as the first mate on Noah's Ark. It gave a new purpose to "Pomp and Circumstance". The short cartoon about the flamingo with a yo-yo was a cute and funny complement to Camille Saint-Saens' last movement of "Carnival of the Animals". And, as for CGI-heavy sequences, I thought the technique was well executed for the loose adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". The Dmitri Shostakovitch piece was a great musical choice for that story as well.

My absolute favorite part, however, was the pairing of Al Hirshfeld-inspired animation with George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". That piece is one of my all-time favorite classical compositions, and I thought the storytelling choices in the cartoon were wonderful. (Especially the figure skating part)

So yes, I really enjoyed it.

The Losers


Decent action flick carried by a strong cast. Nothing original but entertaining.

So I ended up watching The Squid and The Whale and it proves again that when your gut is telling you to DO something or NOT to DO something, listen to it. I'm a half century old and I still haven't learned. pathetic.

Oh sure, Jeff Daniels, great actor, Laura Linney, great actor, Jesse Eisenberg, coming right along --- and they brought the height of their skills to two hours of a family in emotional train wreck --- I knew from the music. Why didn't I listen to myself!?

Just seen "The Social Network" this Sunday. Pretty interesting movie, really liked it.

The Secret Of Kells
I would liken this film to ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus. Not in terms of art or plot. But rather the fact that a simple story with seemingly simple Flash animation can be so good. A kid and an adult can watch this and both be enchanted.

I especially like the fact that actual 8-year-olds were the voice actors/actresses, rather than female voice actresses with squeaky voices. And the little girl sang the song too, rather than some stand-in alternate singer.

Old books on demonology

I used to shelf books in the college library as my part-time job. Encountered a few musty old OLD books on hierarchies of heaven and hell. The cloistered smell and tactile weight of these tomes alone transport you into a different plane. I can definitely see why some people would collect them; they're as close to "forbidden magic" as I've ever encountered in the real world.

A Few Good Men

Rob Reiner got good performances out of his cast. Even Tom Cruise is really good. But of course the must see is Jack Nicholson.

Reap the Wild Wind
Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, John Wayne, Robert Preston, Raymond Massey, and Susan Hayward? Directed by Cecil B. Demile? A great underwater scene with a believable giant squid? Though the Gone with the Wind parallels are a bit much in places it gives an idea of "what might have been" had Paulette Goddard been Scarlett. The part where she sings the salty song is a must see. Ray Milland makes such a great rake and Raymond Massey just drips with venom. And as all Duke fans know it's one of that handful.

bravo1102
Reap the Wild Wind

It IS good. I saw it as a kid and that squid terrified me. And Milland's fob and Wayne's stoic are classic studio Hollywood. (Matches -- what will they think of next)

---

Defending Your Life, when I realized Meryl Streep can play comedic. imo, Albert Brooks is way under appreciated.

Underworld

It was on TV last night so i watched it, or some of it.

Swear it gets worse everytime I see it.
Still Kate Beckinsale in tight leather :)

Resident evil; Afterlife

Well I don't expect anyone would watch it expecting a classic, and it certainly isn't.
It really is like a computer came, only less interactive and with worse story telling.
The bad guy is a lame neo/agent smith wannabe hybrid. The cast weren't even sleep walking, more like they just filmed without any rehearsal and read straight off an auto cue.
It's really shit but thoroughly entertaining in the it's so bad it's funny way.

I'm currently playing RE5, and it's a far cry from RE1,2,3,Veronica.

It's no longer about zombies... it's more like a Black Hawk Down + 28 Days hybrid. Unfortunately, it loses a lot that way... I'm not sure who at Capcom thought that shooting angry African protesters is scary.

The bonus episode, Lost In Nightmares, however is very good, because it's more old school RE.

Peter Jackson's Forgotten Silver

made for New Zealand TV, but quietly hilarious. If you like mockumentaries.

BLACK SWAN

Darren Aronofsky's filmography continues its series of high-points. Natalie Portman's performance is intense.

Abt_Nihil
BLACK SWAN

Darren Aronofsky's filmography continues its series of high-points. Natalie Portman's performance is intense.

#
I really like Aronofsky's work, although i wasn't too keen on requiem for a dream (except the soundtrack that's all kinds of awesome) I really want to see black swan, might slip out to the cinema soon. Be interesting to see what he does with Wolverine 2.

Genejoke
I really like Aronofsky's work, although i wasn't too keen on requiem for a dream (except the soundtrack that's all kinds of awesome) I really want to see black swan, might slip out to the cinema soon. Be interesting to see what he does with Wolverine 2.

But... but... Requiem for a dream is my favorite of his! T_T
There's only one film of his which I don't deem superb, and that's The Fountain. Now, you might say that I'm predisposed to like weird meta-philosophical stuff, but The Fountain was just a little too pretentious to me. Of course, I still like it :p
And yeah, looking forward to Wolverine 2 too.

I think the fountain is my favourite...

As for requiem.. i kind of liked it but found it pretty dull, that said only watched it the once and that was when I had been watching a lot of dumb action flicks. speaking of which

The expendables.
Watched it twice last night, first normal then second with commentary. I swear it gets better every time I see it. It's an awesome throwback and when you accept that it is nothing more than a massive homage to 80s action flicks it's easy to enjoy.
Slys chat track was also really good too.

Well, as long as you like Aronofsky's films in general, it's still all good ^_^

Aaaaaand I just came back from watching TRON: LEGACY, and man... that was really bad. From now on, Jeff Bridges won't be a decisive reason for me to watch a movie...

Watchmen (again)

Watched it a few times recently as I work on comics and find I'm enjoying it more each time. Weird.

Recent for me:

Blue Valentine: Great performances, great writing, great directing. Almost everyone I know has said that it's too painful to watch, but I couldn't help really enjoying it, even if I did wince in sympathy more than a few times.

Black Swan: This was very difficult to watch. I almost got up and left. Not because it wasn't really, really good, but because it was so claustrophobic and demanding. I can't remember the last time I was nearly beaten by a film.

Tron Legacy: That it was completely predictable and very slow did nothing from keeping this movie from being fantastic. The film begins it's slow build in the first few minutes and doesn't stop until the very end. It's a slow, purposeful journey through beautiful spectacle that builds as it goes. It embraces cliche and predictable twists and transforms them into slow, beautiful, hypnotic art.

Summer Wars: Beautifully executed big idea sci-fi with charming animation and fantastic characters. Probably the funniest, and most fun, movie I saw all year.

Revolver

first time I've seen it, having herd a lot of bad stuff about it I hadn't hurried to see it.

Wish I'd seen it at the cinema. I really liked it.

My mrs bought me a jason statham box set last week with revolver the bank job chaos and war.

Revolver was mentioned in previous post

The bank job, a very good film, certainly not a typical statham movie. A decent british crime thriller.

Chaos, is pants to be honest. There may have been a half decent script to begin with but it's really poorly put together.

I saw the new True Grit movie pretty recently. I thought it was quite good. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it's definitely worth seeing.

It's a lot closer to the book than the original John Wayne movie. (Both in terms of accuracy and in terms of tone) The Coen Brothers throw in a few of their own touches here and there. Most of them work, and the ones that don't are forgivable. The whole cast is really fantastic, especially Jeff Bridges. I think that he's usually the best part of any movie he's in, so that's not much of a surprise to me.

Hailee Steinfeld is usually singled out for her performance by the other people who have talked about this movie with me. And yeah, she did a good job. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she turns out to be a big star in the coming years. Of course, it helps that her character has more than a few of the best lines in the movie. The dialogue is good throughout, but most the phrases that stuck with me came from her.

This movie doesn't reinvent the Western, but it doesn't try to either. If you go in with reasonable expectations I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Dinner for Schmucks

A slower start than I expected, but worked for a good build up. Carell and Rudd make a hilarious team.

Air Raid Robertson
I saw the new True Grit movie pretty recently. I thought it was quite good. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it's definitely worth seeing.

It's a lot closer to the book than the original John Wayne movie. (Both in terms of accuracy and in terms of tone) The Coen Brothers throw in a few of their own touches here and there. Most of them work, and the ones that don't are forgivable. The whole cast is really fantastic, especially Jeff Bridges. I think that he's usually the best part of any movie he's in, so that's not much of a surprise to me.

Hailee Steinfeld is usually singled out for her performance by the other people who have talked about this movie with me. And yeah, she did a good job. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she turns out to be a big star in the coming years. Of course, it helps that her character has more than a few of the best lines in the movie. The dialogue is good throughout, but most the phrases that stuck with me came from her.

This movie doesn't reinvent the Western, but it doesn't try to either. If you go in with reasonable expectations I don't think you'll be disappointed.

i agree! i hate to admit that i've never read the book or seen the original (forgive me john wayne!) but i really enjoyed it. all around a good movie! i recommend it.

Genejoke
Watchmen (again)

Watched it a few times recently as I work on comics and find I'm enjoying it more each time. Weird.

That was okay. What I liked is that they pretty much followed the book dead on.

The issue was some of the actors.

I mean, how do you make Night Owl the best character?
It just doesn't make sense...

RED

Excellent fun! Can Helen Mirren do no wrong?

The new True Grit. I actually liked it despite the fact that Matt Damon didn't die but on the bright side he did get his ass kicked. And Bridges didn't do that cool flip the rifle thing on the horse.

I watched/bought a lot of random VHS movies since I last visited the board, but up until late, hmmm...

I decided to go see 'I Am Number Four' with my friend Jay who was gonna be going into the Navy the next few weeks and won't be back for another five years. I was kinda disappointed I missed the boat with the Green Hornet film to check that out with him, so they didn't have much between this and Gnomeo and Juliet.

In my opinion, I really think IAN4 was a nice take on the superhero-ish/alien movie. Something not based on a familiar franchise and unique.

"Jay, this fused with Superman Returns and Dark Knight would have made DBZ Evolution so much more... interesting," I said. "I still can't get over Goku going to High School and struggling with Chemistry class and listening to Fall Out Boy."

Not that he does that, mind you, but eh... Hollywood does that to my favorite things. D:

/doesn't want to imagine a Naruto movie like that.

I just spent an evening at the movies watching The King's Speech and 127 Hours back to back. The King's Speech was as great as an unoriginal, conventional movie can be. That may sound harsh, but I liked it a lot. It was just very... "classic", implying it was also very conventional. 127 Hours was nice, but in the end it was just a movie about a man stuck in a crevice. That man happened to be played by James Franco, who's one of my heroes. He did a great job, but again, he just played a man stuck in a crevice. I'm sure playing that was very demanding, but seeing a man stuck in a crevice isn't something that's gonna enlighten me. It did a nice job of entertaining me, though. Once again, Danny Boyle did what he often does: He made an interesting film that's worth the time spent watching it. But I also often get the feeling that his films lack something that would make them really great. Excelt Trainspotting maybe... that was his only film I found truly great.
Long story short: I loved The King's Speech, and liked 127 Hours.

Just watched the movie Crank 2; High Voltage , this movie was terrible, just terrible!