[Ghost Dinosaur]

[Ronk]

all the potter movies past 3 are pretty good, in my opinion. 3 is the best (directed by alfonso cuaron), 4 and 5 are ok and fun respectively, 6 has a lot of awkward teen moments but is alright. 7th part 1 has the best cinematography out of all 8 movies, and 7 part 2 is a satisfying conclusion.

granted i've only read the first four books and am not that big of an HP fan.
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[allensmithee]

6th is cute!
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[protoblax]

I cried a little at the end of the 4th. Parents mourning their children always gets me.
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[analogos]

rip gorblax

[protoblax]

I read that as "Rip Gorblax"
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[Winona Ghost Ryder]

Saw Boxing Gym. Frederick Wiseman continues to be solidified in my eyes as the great american filmmaker. As a chronicler of institutions in the micro, he has no parallel, especially in consideration of the editing (dozens to hundreds of hours) he has to work on with each project along with the conscious choice of no expository or intervening elements common to the documentary.

On an aside, this is pretty awesome. Mac OS X only, though.

[Rud31]

Scott Pilgrim was fun. Fuck all y'all for making me feel self-conscious that I might actually like it so my cred would go down.

The only thing bearable about Masculin Feminin were the cute girls were cute. I hated everything that came out of every characters mouth though. SLC Punk is pretty much the same film but better. I will give Godard's 40 year career one more try so please give me a film that is more than "interviews with yuppies."
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My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[Winona Ghost Ryder]

Godart

[Rud31]

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My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[Winona Ghost Ryder]

[Rud31]

Those aren't recomendations CoSo :|
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My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[Winona Ghost Ryder]

Breathless, Bands of Outsiders and Vivre Sa Vie are his most accessible works (as in someone not into a Maculin Feminin or Pierrot Le Fou could like them). I really like his later 60's to modern era films (sadly to many it's as if Godard retired/died after the 60's) but I'd imagine his detractors would view them as marxist tracts with contempt for narrative and audience (which is unfair and close minded, plus some of his 80's work such as Detective, Hail Mary, and the crazy King Lear are accessible by Godard standards).

[Tulpa]

Man how can you leave out Alphaville why does everyone leave out Alphaville?
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[Winona Ghost Ryder]

Really excited that Terence Davies is releasing his first feature in over a decade. In my view he is the great living british filmmaker. Distant Voices, Still Lives & The Long Day Closes are outstanding works in a humanist tradition, and I couldn't recommend them enough. After The Turin Horse, there is no other film I'm anticipating as much this year.

Also, the sophomore film by Steve McQueen (not that Steve McQueen) has certainly piqued my interests. Hunger was a rather powerful (especially in regards to Fassbender's performance) and visually well composed film that handled its difficult subject in an objective manner (though I'd imagine it could be quite polarizing in form, particularly a 20 minute dialogue that ventured into Beckett-esque absurdism). McQueen's art pieces and installations before film are also rather fascinating. He'll be one to watch.

[Winona Ghost Ryder]

[The Blueberry Hill]

I second/third Alphaville. I suspect me and rudie are bored by similar things in Godard's films, ie unrelatable characters.

[winkerwatson]

Rud13 watch La Chinoise
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tim?

[Dracko]

Never forget:



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[Ghost Dinosaur]

rudie watch contempt. if you hate all the characters that's the point.

[costel]

[Dracko]

Everyone leaves out Alphaville because it's sci-fi.

[evnvnv]

Robocop 2 is fantastic, engaging satirical propaganda. One of the best movies of its kind.
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The text will not live forever. The cup are small

[remote]

Yeah, I love Robocop 2 almost as much as I love Robocop. It's one of the better sci-fi franchise sequels.
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[Renfrew]

Captain America was probably pretty much everything it should have been.
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[Dracko]

Yeah, RoboCop 2 gets a bad rap. Besides anything else, I don't know how you can hate on the animation of the robots. Also, the same director did Empire Strikes Back.

If you can find it, the comics adaptation of Frank Miller's original script is worth a look, since it reunites the plot threads that later got used in both 2 and 3, and it's just pure mayhem from beginning to end.

P.S. Paging Cocaine Socialist:


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[Ghost Dinosaur]

[allensmithee]

Trust me Dracko, neither do I understand people's tastes in SFX, but it goes to show that people told me for all my life that Superman (1978) was rife with cheesy special effects.

And yet, Star Wars is not cheesy?

Especially on the Krypton scenes, where they could load it up with foke and smog, it worked well because they just burned magnesium or however and it all was great.

I am normally not a big fan of John William's disgusting overscoring, but hear I was totally into it.

There are some bits I took issues with, in regards to Clark's dishonesty by acting as "Clark Kent" and really being Kal-El -- this is something I never really felt in my interpretation of the character, I always thought of Kal-El as a foreign bit of heritage that, while important, will never override the influence of Ma & Pa Kent and the fair teachings of The American Way.

I did really enjoy Clark's acceptance of Ms. Tessmacher's offer even at the jeopardizing of Lois' health. Definitely sensing some great drama in the second part, what with the loose ends regarding those zany guys stuck in The Phantom Zone.

I have great disdain for Lex Luthor's character in this, however -- he's just a stock villain, played for laughs and doesn't reach that level of camp offered by, say, Caesar Romero's Joker and falls flat with his gang of dorks. He just doesn't really make any sense to me and to my idea of how I'd write Lex. It is simply the devaluing that I dislike most, as I'm fine with character interpretations not in line with my own, just so long as they are presented nicely.

I will say though that the actress playing Lois is fab. She really reminds me of Zooey Deschanel, actually, hahaha. She has that level of crude city-gal that hides the nearly ethereal beauty that should be Lois Lane. The reason I think this is necessary is, well, she ain't got time for that shit and so she devalues much of her femininity, and I think that they hit it with the actress, the make up, the costumes, and so forth.

On the subject of costumes, Reeves looks great in the Superman outfit. I couldn't get over how well the cape draped the entire time, and it absolutely captured the stoicism necessary. I say it, time and time again, to my friends who like comics that the super-hero costumes we see in cinema today are too textured and overdone. The costume here was perfect and entirely believable.

Perhaps that was due in part with Reeves' spectacular performance as the man himself, Clark Kent. Golly, although I'm not entirely happy with the character interpretation, Reeves' pulls it off with charm and is endearing the whole way through. That honest smile is wonderful, and yet we see the God-like power he holds when he rages at the death of Lois Lane -- and, reminded of his inability to save Pa Kent, does the physically impossible but absolutely comic-book cool race around the world backwards, heaving time in the opposite flow.

Now here's where I give the writers much respect: He could have diverted the entire thing. No missile misfiring mishaps, and therefore no earthquakes and so on. But the writers hit the nail square on the head by having Clark fix it to only save the one he cares for most. Two things here are important. First of all, it shows that he is aware of how far he will go in abuse of his powers. He knows for a fact that Jor-El's warning is important, but we can see his response to Lois' demise as being driven by Pa Kent's greater advise -- and Clark's greater purpose. He's Clark Kent, from Smallville, Kansas, and he's got a greater purpose on this earth than kicking homeruns. And yes, the death of his father figure drives his guilt at being unable to save one person and now with the ability to save another he feels he has to, but really, here's the second point that makes it great:

Clark Kent is a human. And he grants himself this small abuse of the blessing of being born Kal-El, son of Jor-El and Lara to give himself this very human wish. The guilt that this must stir inside of him, the question of having an ability far greater than any man should is the crux of Clark's character and why I love Superman so.

He left many dead but he granted himself the secret of keeping her alive. In a way, he murdered the rest. He COULD have saved them too, but as per his birth father's request, he is not to affect the paths of history. This respect of his heritage is an important part of Clark as an adopted son.

Anyway, the great this about Clark Kent is that he is not Beyond Good & Evil. He is fully capable of Good or Evil and he tries to do the right thing. He is effectively God Incarnate and yet he remains human, for he is Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas.

Also of note is that Lois' perils were very perilous and regardless of knowing the outcome (saved by ol' Supes), I was at the edge of my seat the entire time.

TLDR I just watched the 1978 Superman film, loved it, and wrote a bunch of stuff y'all have probably thought up anyway.


EDIT: I was just thinking about a certain scene more deeply and it is really unsettling for who the character is (to me) but with, as always in this movie, a glimmer of hope.

In the scene after "Superman" amazes Lois, Clark is supposed to go on a date with her. He is almost going to admit he is Superman -- I hadn't noticed until this point how much he differentiates his voice; Kevin Conroy was the first to alternate the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman -- and this matters because Batman can be a liar. Bruce Wayne is just a platform for Batman to exist properly. Batman uses Bruce Wayne's identity for all sorts of things, but one thing that should always be kept in mind is that at the end of the day, Bruce Wayne sheds his False Smile and Vapid Charms to return to the Cape, Cowl, and Gotham @ Night.

See how this bothers me? Now, I fully understand Clark putting on a different air when he bears the S-Emblem -- but I don't think it is an intentional bravado or gusto, and if it is then it certainly isn't the tone he'd use to talk to Lois. The movie implies here that Kal-El is always there and he acts a buffoon in order to lead the feeble earthlings astray in the guessing game of "Who is Superman? Who is the Man of Steel?"

Of course the saving grace here is that he does revert back to Clark, clearly due to nerves and lack of decisiveness, which is a very bumbling Clark-like attitude.

It is pretty clear that Clark might be more comfortable as Superman. He doesn't have to hide his talents -- which also describes another feasible interpretation for part of Clark Kent's mumbling clumsiness: He's focusing so much on NOT crushing that pencil and NOT floating up those stairs (after all, nobody is looking), how can you expect him to be 100% aware of all that's happening around him.

Yes, I do like that, and am surprised I never thought of it before.

I think the other reason Clark is more confident as Superman aside from scare tactics against his foes, and on top of focusing less on control of his strength and powers is that idea of being in a costume -- when I wear a mask or an outfit I get crazy. Crazier than normal, anyhow! And it is easy to do because you can put on a character, and be The Guy.

This actually creates a nice identity struggle for Superman, but I think, when he comes home at the end of the die, flies into his quaint flat and sits down on his favourite chair reflecting on the day, or the past, or whatever else, he isn't thinking in out-there abstract alien concepts. He's thinking of the great times with his dad, Jonathan Kent, and he's thinking of what he's gonna write for The Planet, and he's thinking of how he's gonna impress Lois.

He's a Man. The Super is part-time stuff.
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[wasted potential]

Robocop 2 is disgusting because it un-does what the entirety of Robocop set out to do.


The miniature animation is amazing, I'll give it that much.
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[Winona Ghost Ryder]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/2011/08/01/images_from_ridley_scotts_prometheus_comic_con_footage_leak/

[This Machine Kills Fascis]

Neat.

I hope the script's good.
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"Godzilla could be anyone."

[Dracko]

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[Toptube]

I need to go watch cowboys and aliens. looks like a fun movie.

[Ronk]

i just watched Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and it's pretty good. it takes all the conventions of teen slasher/horror movies in the woods and turns them on their head. it's basically from the perspective of the "creepy hillbillies" (one of them being alan tudyk) and has a lot of great "miscommunication" scenes. also still very gory.

just don't watch the trailer because it gives too much away.
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[wasted potential]

Tales from Earthsea - I've been waiting since I was in high school to see this. Ever since release I've heard it was terrible and Goro, Hayao's son, failed.

Regardless, I always thought that maybe I'd like it. Maybe the rest of the world was wrong. Maybe lil' Goro Miyazaki was just misunderstood.

After finally viewing it, let me specify: he failed miserably.

In absolutely no part of any of the movie's whole does it reach any kind of quality threshold we're used to seeing from Studio Ghibli.

I can't even remember the last time I've wanted to just stop a movie without finishing, take it out of the player and be done with it.

If there is any redeeming quality in it it's that I'm thankful that Hayao un-retired because of this. My god. Now I understand why him and Goro aren't on speaking terms.

I've waited all these years for this? Man. Man oh man.
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[Toptube]

Yeah its too bad they didn't present Tucker and Dale as just another teen slasher flick in the trailer.

[remote]

Yeah, apparently Ursula K. Le Guin was deeply disappointed in the Earthsea movie (and the fact that its direction was placed in Goro's hands rather than Hayao's), too.

Having read about what a failure it is, I've kept away from it...
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[parker]

http://www.slashfilm.com/bobcat-goldtwaits-dark-comedy-god-bless-america/

[Dracko]

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[evnvnv]

i finally saw tree of life!

for the first half i was fully convinced of malick's genius, but the ending of the film really really turned me off. it was still a worthwhile experience, if only because i enjoyed imagining traveling back in time to 1986 with this film and trying to convince everyone that it was what all movies would be like in 2011. maybe next decade!
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The text will not live forever. The cup are small

[Winona Ghost Ryder]