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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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 Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 6:42 pm |
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| This Machine Kills Fascis wrote: |
| Cocaine Socialist wrote: |
I would like to point out that Wild Grass is my second fave film of the year, and that Vincere is pretty good.
Doesn't change my mind that White is an insincere and immoral attention whore (aka dmx). |
Man, are there any good film critics out there?
It's seems like half of them are opinionated attention whores, and the rest of them are just sort of boring.
There's nothing particularly "wrong" with Ebert or Maltin's writing, but it's not like I find them at all interesting or insightful. |
there's something kind of insane about hating critics for being opinionated...
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:44 am |
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I saw Tron at the El Capitan theater, which featured a fucking laser light show set to daft punk before the film. Movie rulz, fuck the haters.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:39 pm |
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I get you, but I find it even more disturbing when criticism masquerades as some kind of objective (or at least populist) analysis
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:41 pm |
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i'm going to see it opening weekend because i want jay chou to be a (stateside) star
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:06 pm |
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| This Machine Kills Fascis wrote: |
| evnvnv wrote: |
| I get you, but I find it even more disturbing when criticism masquerades as some kind of objective (or at least populist) analysis |
Well, it's not like you can write "IMHO" at the beginning of every sentence in a review. It's definitely lame to pass off an opinion as somehow "objective," but at the same time writing that lacks authority (opinions consistently qualified with "I thought," "in my opinion," "felt like," etc) is tiresome in professional writing. As a critic, I think it's your job to state your opinion as if it were fact and then try to validate it as an assertion, with the assumption that the reader will understand that ultimately you understand that you are only expressing your own perspective. |
Yeah you are very right. In fact I forgot the point I was originally trying to make. I think it had something to do with "taste" and popular opinion, but whatever.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:06 pm |
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| 108 wrote: |
roger ebert calls "the green hornet" "an almost unendurable demonstration of a movie with nothing to be about."
man, what a good sentence.
i guess i am still going to go see it with my little brother, because what else are you going to do with your little brother before going back to san francisco until christmas? |
ebert is a cool guy but he really wears his vendettas on his sleeve. i'm skeptical of any review he does of a film in a format that he has repeatedly stated is the downfall of cinema, or something (three dee).
also how could he not fall for the charms of jay chou :(:(:(
i am seeing this tonight, due to presence of chou and hans landa i am basically guaranteed to like it. we'll see!
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 1:39 am |
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the green hornet is both the first (and possibly only) "bromance"-style super hero film, and is also a lot more similar to 'observe and report' than i expected. it is not nearly as bleak and discomforting, but it is anarchic and amoral in the same way. it's definitely the best movie i've seen in 3D, but probably didn't need to be 3D at all. as expected, christoph waltz was great. it comes a little close to being a cartoon version of hans landa, but then you realize he basically has a different accent in every scene (or even every line, sometimes). such a good character!
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:48 am |
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| JamesE wrote: |
So I'm trying to honour the "watch two unseen films a month" part of my new year's resolution. Current DVD backlog is as follows:
- Streets of Fire
- Two Lane Blacktop
- Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia
- if...
- Willard (2003, holy shit R Lee Emery is in this)
- Think I have a lose DVD of Dark Star floating around somewhere but I might wait for the Blu Ray release
...what to watch first? I want to shake this hangover before I do, mind. |
I just saw Two Lane Blacktop (at a special screening with the director in attendance, who did an amazingly boring Q&A session afterward about aspect ratios, union problems, and casting issues [the casting part was admittedly pretty cool, i guess they looked at every actor in hollywood at the time before the director saw a picture of James Taylor and decided to use him instead]). It's pretty good, but the next night I watched vanishing point (feeling inspired by the road) and I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I enjoyed that one more.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:30 am |
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| shrugtheironteacup wrote: |
but
but there's no Warren Oates in Vanishing Point D: |
| Cocaine Socialist wrote: |
evnvnv >:(
Monte Hellman is one of the most under appreciated directors.
Rudolph Wurlitzer is one of the most under appreciated writers (FUN FACT: HIS UNMADE SCREENPLAY INSPIRED DEAD MAN, AND HE PUBLISHED IT INTO A NOVEL IN '08 AND IT'S THE AMERICAN NOVEL OF THE DECADE AND NO ONE GAVE A SHIT AND MONTE HELLMAN HAS MADE HIS FIRST FILM IN OVER 20 YEARS AND NO ONE IS GIVING A SHIT AND AUUHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGGHHGHGHH) |
oh, don't get me wrong, i loved 2 lane blacktop, but i was more surprised by how much i liked vanishing point considering i have had it on netflix for about a month and couldn't really bring myself to watch it till blacktop put me in the right mood.
both were already kind of legendary movies to me, even though i had never seen either of them (weird explaining that one, but i'll tell you a framed one-sheet in a friends' house and primal scream had a lot to do with it, respectively).
i am also going to try to put more warren oates in my life, and also monte hellman had a little bit to say about his new movie and it got me interested. the q & a really was amazingly boring--for such a legendary film you would expect them to have a little more self-importance about it, but both he and the (uncredited, due to union issues) cinematographer just seemed like the ultimate middle aged film nerds. also, fun fact: james taylor has never seen the movie. also, the ending came to hellman in a dream, and at first he thought it was too flashy to put in such a subdued movie.
vanishing point was more like the movie i expected it to be, i really had no idea what 2 lane blacktop was. i think due to the presence of dennis wilson i was anticipating something a little zanier. but it really is like a 100 minute moving william eggleston photograph. an exhibit of his photography was the reason for this film series at lacma, so that also gave it a much better context.
in other film news, probably seeing johnnie to's first (?) english movie tomorrow, which stars johnny fucking hallyday. for real. has anyone seen this? also ip man 2 is coming out friday and i've only just now watched the trailer. i'm sure donnie yen will be brilliant, but i'm kind of bummed it appears to be a rehash of the first movie, plus more nationalism, with a rabid english colonial instead of a japanese general. i was impressed by how well-developed the japanese villain was (since all the unfortunate stereotypes were quarantined in his obnoxious henchman), but from the trailer this looks like a straight-up cartoon. sweaty, arrogant bastard who yells all the time. you can practically smell the butter. oh well, there's still hope for wong kar-wai's ip man movie (can't wait to hear the story on how he and wilson yip both managed to do ip man movies at around the same time--funny that yip has managed to make two movies in the time it has taken wong to barely make one). also sammo god damn hung is in ip man 2, rejoice!!!!
also: huh? there is apparently a THIRD ip man movie, that sammo hung is ALSO in... whaaat. there has got to be a story here.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:12 pm |
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| rabite gets whacked! wrote: |
evnvnv, Vengeance is sitting in my netflix instant queue waiting for me, so I may get to it tomorrow myself.
I'm assuming you saw Flash Point? So vicious. |
I did watch flashpoint! There were lots of impressive things about it, but I felt like the film couldn't decide if it wanted to be a brooding, 'election'-esque cop drama, or an off-the-wall action movie. I really liked donnie yen's character though (as well as his v. unique fighting style in this one), but he wasn't really given that much to do (aside from kick so much ass in the last half of the film). It did make me realize that basically every martial arts movie is about getting the protagonist to a place where violence is the only way out--obviously, that's why you pay to see the movie, but the way it was established that yen's character had a rage problem made it seem like there were going to be some more interesting consequences for his actions.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:07 pm |
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I did watch vengeance last night, and sadly it was not the spectacle of ass kickery i had imagined. still a pretty decent flick, though, and johnny hallyday is a seriously weird looking dude. you will believe true love can bloom between an old french bastard and three goofy yet somehow also cold and emotionless triads.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:55 am |
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| vision wrote: |
holy shit, Carlos
came for the revolution; stayed for the militant, left-wing German feminist terrorists |
?
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:24 am |
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I just watched the movie "Miracle Mile" which was shot entirely in the neighborhood I'm living in now, prominently featuring lots of local landmarks
it's about anthony edwards trying to escape nuclear holocaust
if you can put up with late 80's cheese i highly recommend it, it has a groovy synthy soundtrack and it goes in many strange directions.
it's kind of depressing because it is a sort-of haunting movie and now every day i am going to be reminded of it every time i leave my building. weee
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:36 pm |
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| CubaLibre wrote: |
| Whoa now, Freud is way better than Kubrick. |
yeah but you gotta admit eyes wide shut is way sexier than anything of freud's
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:46 am |
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yeah green hornet was pretty great i really don't understand why so many people didn't like it. it's a better satire of super hero movies than any other, even those that blatantly attempt to do so only to become that which they hate in the last reel.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:53 pm |
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| Predator Goose wrote: |
This movie was an aimless, terrible wreck of bad acting and guns blazing for no reason. Paul was mediocre at best, for exactly the reasons ghost dinosaur put down + Seth Rogen and Kristen Wig, but it was still more bearable than watching the master/manservant relationship in GH.
Well, different strokes anyway. |
| CubaLibre wrote: |
| Wait, Green Hornet is actually worth watching? The previews made it look awful and I didn't hear word one about it so I assumed it was trash. Do I have to see this now? |
I don't know if I am prepared to give a dissertation in defense of the motion picture Green Hornet, but I will at least say I have no idea where the 'bad acting' critique comes from (except in the sense that all actors are horrible liars, I guess). As for "aimless" and "guns blazing for no reason," I think those are probably two fundamental components of the film as it was meant to be understood. That is why it works as a satire of super hero movies: the hero (the green hornet) is motivated first by hatred of his father and second by the desire, basically, to Start Shit. It is more like Observe and Report than other super hero movies in the way that it delights in wanton, amoral destruction. I feel like a lot of critics hung their ridicule of the film on this idea of plotlessness (famously roger ebert, but his review should be read as part XXI in an ongoing diatribe against any film released in 3D), when to me the plot and general thrust of the movie was absolutely clear. The "lack of motivation" is not a flaw in the characters, but an aspect of them. Criticizing the movie for this is like reading one page of "HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY" and then deciding that act 3 should have begun a page earlier and the character should have had some kind of mysterious trauma in the past that will be revealed on page 62.
As for the relationship between GH and Kato, fair enough, but I was impressed enough by what the movie didn't do (as far as racial/ethnic humor, easy jokes, etc) to not be extremely bothered by the relationship. This is an inevitable consequence of making a Green Hornet movie, and if you do not want to present a problematic relationship between a white person and an asian person then you should probably not make a Green Hornet movie. That said, the aim was clearly to turn the story into a 'bromance,' and I think involving Kato in the love triangle (with Cameron Diaz, the only truly boring character in the movie) gave him a little more humanity and equal footing and elevated him beyond 'manservant.' That plus Kato is unquestionably smarter, more talented, nicer, and more handsome than the Green Hornet. He is not recognized because the green hornet is, basically, an amoral douche. Seth Rogen seems to delight in creating/portraying this kind of character. Combined with Michel Gondry's whimsy I think it makes for a very successful movie. The extreme poles of this persona, Observe and Report and Paul, are either too threatening and bizarre to be accepted by any audience (thus making the character more of a sympathetic villain than a real antihero) or so defanged as to become more like bart simpson than anything else. I still think O&R is a good movie, but I can understand more why it failed hard.
I don't know if you "Have" to see it, Cuba, but I think as a person who appreciates a good action sequence you might find the very end of the movie pretty entertaining. It's pretty inventive, serves the film's theme of 'destroying the father' well, and is just cartoony enough to be amusing. As far as appreciating the subtleties of the oeuvre of Seth Rogen, I realize I may be reacting as a french person does to Jerry Lewis, so YRMV.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:32 pm |
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jesus christ paul verhoeven directing the fantastic four reboot better not be a fucking april fool's joke or imma break stuff
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 10:39 pm |
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ugh i hate this day. people should not make these jokes about things that are actually good ideas
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 11:39 pm |
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| Predator Goose wrote: |
| remote wrote: |
| I feel like Source Code is the kind of movie that should be generating as much argument around here as Inception did around these parts, though I've hardly seen any mention of it. I enjoyed it, overall, but despite claims to the contrary the ending was anything but "wrapped up all too neatly." It left so many entirely absurd loose ends open to questioning. Most of them lead to really amusing (or maybe really depressing) possible conclusions despite the tone the movie tried to convey during its finale. Saying all this, I actually liked it more than I expected I might...! It wasn't as good as Moon, though. |
I had this reaction actually, that I felt it was wrapped up too neatly. I think it's more a reaction to the tone of the ending. It's pitched as a happy ending where all is right with the world. But you're still thinking of all those loose ends that are going to make life hell for a few characters.
On the other hand, many of those loose ends don't really have much to do with the main conceit of the movie (the source code) so they didn't bother me as much as they have in other movies. |
yeah, i actually kind of liked the source code ending. (spoilers)starting from when it was confirmed that the protagonist was actually nearly dead (which is far less disappointing then it would have been if he was actually dead, and they were somehow contacting him in the afterlife, which was my initial suspicion) i was wondering how they were going to give it the semblance of a happy ending.
I think it's kind of interesting that the lead scientist is portrayed as such an incorrigible villain, when his thinking is more altruistic than anyone else. The conclusion seems to be that saving the world is pointless, and we're supposed to be skeptical of Science for trying, because in some other dimension the world will always be either saved or ending no matter what. That's a really strange kind of relativism. I love jeffrey wright, but I wonder if portraying him as such a skeevy character was part of the script, or just his attempt to inject some menace into an otherwise boring character.
As for the loose ends, it is kind of weird thinking about the protagonist having to deal with living in someone else's body for the rest of his life, and knowing that he basically erased that school teacher from existence (in this reality). But I don't think those consequences are really things that the filmmakers did not consider--the final scene of him looking into the mirror sculpture and seeing someone else, in a distorted reality, makes the eerieness seem deliberate. There is something kind of disjointed about the tone, though. I'm curious what other people thought of this ending, maybe there are some other consequences of the events in the conclusion I'm not really getting.
yes. all in all, i think more twilight zone-styled sci fi movies is a good thing.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 10:56 pm |
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| Toptube wrote: |
I watched Toy Story 2 yesterday for the first time since it debuted in Theaters. Although I liked many things about it, I probably didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
I'd completely forgotten though that Rex had become obsessed with videogames.
Gonna watch 3 tonight. I've never seen it!
Oh yeah, I also watched Fantastic Mr. Fox the other day. Its quite the thing that they created there. Honestly though, as out there in left-field as it seems, I'm not sure they could have done it any other way. |
fantastic mr fox is better than the entire output of pixar in every conceivable way
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 7:42 pm |
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| This Machine Kills Fascis wrote: |
Huh. I'm actually a little surprised to see so much Mr. Fox love. I didn't really dig it.
And I definitely wouldn't say it's better than Pixar movies in "every way." I'm honestly not that big a fan of Pixar, but the craft in a Pixar movie is definitely more impressive to me than the craft displayed in FMF. Honestly, the claymation seemed amateurish to me, though maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about. |
wes anderson was constantly battling the animation studio to make them do less 'professional' work. i can't remember the article where i read this, but i got the impression that the animators wanted to prove that their stuff could be indistinguishable from CGI, but he wanted something that could never have been mistaken for it--it was supposed to have a feel that couldn't be accomplished in any other medium and remind people of older stop-motion animated things. i guess maybe this is retro-obsessed hipsterism but i think it's a pretty noble effort, and the result is beautiful! (to me). i love all of their little clothes, and the way the hair on their faces moves in really erratic ways.
i agree, though, the source material is key. yet i don't think anyone else has had quite as much luck with roald dahl movies (original choco factory movie being the exception, for me, but mainly for nostalgic reasons)
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 12:15 am |
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Oh! I completely forgot about James and the giant peach. I haven't seen it in years, but I remember it being good too.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: the los angeles
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 8:32 pm |
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I've actually been thinking about Schindler's List a lot lately, as it is one of those movies that seemed like such a big deal in the 90's and then disappeared completely. Like Titanic? It seems like watching Schindler's List was sort of part of your responsibility as a growing youth, like a rite of passage or something. It's weird that, in spite of its value as a tool for making sure kids know what the holocaust is, it is also kind of a mediocre melodrama with a lot of its own quirks. I mean it is not just Holocaust: The Motion Picture, it actually has a plot and stuff, but it seems like that all takes second place to its supposed value as a historical re-creation. I don't know if there are really any other movies that are (or were? Maybe it doesn't have this status any more) taken so seriously as 'historical' films. Maybe "Glory" or something like that?
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
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| Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:14 am |
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| costel wrote: |
| Dracko wrote: |
| Guys, how is Assembly? |
Stunning propaganda fused with devious sentimentality disguised as generational discontent regarding sacrifice. Perhaps, propaganda itself is reliant on sentimentality now that I consider it's frequent comparisons with Saving Private Ryan.
I would say it's worth seeing, at least once. It's always problematic though, sort of like Purgatory, which detailed the Russian-Chechen conflicts, Assembly is hellbent on a certain black and white history that acknowledges blatant dismissal of military service and worth, yet at the same time manages to cultivate a nationalistic fervor.
It's battle scenes are...intense. But nothing that actual represents the level of conflict that started to brew during America's dismissal of Chinese policy after World War 2. I think a prior knowledge of the actual events of the film really ruins the experience. It's totally copying Saving Private Ryan and Tae Guk Gi. There is a ton of inaccuracies regarding tactics, and weapon anachronisms and military advisers that, uh, pretty sure didn't really study their material, but they did a damn good job of selling it!
Once more, the Communist Party member starts as a coward, but then finds reason to believe once more, in country, brotherhood, and possibly Confucian ideals. It's a weird, and deeply unbalanced film. |
Have you had a chance to see Nanjing, Nanjing? I'm curious about that one
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
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| Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:07 am |
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i like ken jeong on community. zach galifianakis is approaching jack blacktitude at warp speed.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
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| Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:46 am |
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The new x men movie is the best x men movie, for whatever that's worth.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
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| Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:57 pm |
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it's really long, and while it has that 'prologue to something else' feel, there are enough memorable moments for it to stand alone. definitely classier than thor, i might even put it with TDK on the list of "feels like a real movie, not just a comic book movie"-caliber films. i actually prefer the (heavy spoilerage) non-costume wearing, globe-trotting, anti-heroic suave and deadly version of magneto to the more familiar one. in fact, when he is introduced in full getup at the end of the movie, i was actually disappointed they decided not to prolong his transformation for another film. the guy who travels through argentina murdering nazis and drinking heavily does not seem like the type who would put on a goofy red helmet and cape just for laughs. same goes for non-paralyzed xavier. at least they didn't have a traumatic hair-loss scene.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
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| Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:50 pm |
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| This Machine Kills Fascis wrote: |
| Ghost Dinosaur wrote: |
| I can't decide who is worse, Ken Jeong or Zach Galifianakis. |
| evnvnv wrote: |
| i like ken jeong on community. zach galifianakis is approaching jack blacktitude at warp speed. |
| Isfet wrote: |
| i mean, has Galifinakis ever actually been in a good film? i gather it's really just a source of income for him. it's not like his stand up could really transition into any kind of cinema. i guess the closest i've seen to what i think suits him is his work with Tim and Eric. and...well, i guess that may or may not make things better, depending on one's opinions about that show. |
Ken Jeong is an unabashed hack as a stand-up--like, offensively so. As an actor, I haven't seen him be much better. I thought his performance in The Hangover was clownish, embarrassing, and played into racist stereotypes in a kind of creepy way.
Galifianakis was/is a great stand up. He's written at least an hour of great one liners, that anybody could deliver and get a laugh, but more than that, he has a very defined voice as a comedian--one that is original and just so happens to be very timely. Basically, he appropriates aloof lameness ("My new year's resolution is to stop saying 'You go girl' to myself. I've broken it three times, so far. Because I completed three puzzles"). Later, he added a brand of contempt that often manifests in explosions of anger at the audience--something that he's mastered and made his own in a way that I've never seen before. Unlike Hicks, Kinison, or maybe even Kindler, the audience is always aware that Zach is joking when he yells. It's essentially a brand of performance; inappropriate yelling is bizarre enough to be funny; it simulates the trainwreck spectacle of an actual meltdown on stage and blurs the lines of reality and performance. So as a stand-up he's very skilled and original. And from what I've heard/seen in his everyday life he's a pretty spontaneously funny guy.
If you look at the guy's IMDB it becomes immediately apparent that he will take any role. He even jokes about it from time to time ("If I had only gotten Kangaroo Jack 2...."). Like David Cross, his attitude seems to be that he'll do whatever he can for a pay check and work to the best of his ability in whatever role he's given. But he uses that money and fame to afford him the opportunity to continue his career as a truly funny comedian and performer--to do something he believes in.
I actually really respect Galifianakis for finding a way to work as a mercenary actor while maintaining his integrity. No matter how many G-Forces or Out Colds he does, it's clear that he maintains a certain distance from his success, and that he has not been in some way "co-opted by the Hollywood machine."
I was pretty "meh" over The Hangover. It's definitely overrated, but I didn't think the Praise-to-Unwatchably-Unfunny ratio was as bad as it was with Meet The Parents. Now that he's actually famous and eyes are on him, it would probably be shrewd of him to make responsible choices with his acting career, but I don't think shitty movies are going to compromise him as a comedian--at least not until he has kids or something. |
Yeah, i make no claims about ken jeong being likable outside of community but community is a cool show when i remember that it is on. What I meant about galifianakis was, in the case of jack black, it seemed like he was also doing big time hollywood stuff just as an easy cash-grab so he could keep doing other, smarter things. I mean i don't really care about tenacious d but at least it's something. Now, jack black's movies are even worse than they were when he still was doing other stuff, and he doesn't really produce anything worth caring about elsewhere. I see the same thing happening for galifianakis if he keeps it up. Anyhow, if you're going to make the argument that it's cool for people to do shit just for the money, you might as well just stop criticizing films at all. I mean I doubt anyone in x-men, first class would have been genuinely, passionately engaged if they weren't being paid millions of dollars. I don't see either of those guys becoming the next woody allen any time soon (or even the next seth rogen...).
I respect your opinion and I even like zach galifianakis but i'm basically just playing devil's advocate here. Maybe it's harder for a comedian to get into 'the business' these days, but comedians doing shitty crap to continue to fuel their stand-up career has always been a thing--it just seems like in the past people were a lot more proactive about getting their own style onto the screen somehow. Woody Allen, Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, etc.
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evnvnv
hapax legomenon
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| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:42 pm |
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if you only watch two movies a year and one of them is a terrence malick film you might as well just get a subscription to national geographic and give up on the cinema altogether
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:42 pm |
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If they make a sequel I'm sure he'll be back. Like the watchmen, he'll learn to reassemble himself slowly
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:54 am |
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IIRC, Fellowship is more like other Peter Jackson movies than it is like the other two LotR films. For me this means it is a better movie but I don't know if others agree
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:57 pm |
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i would like to have a dvd version of the films with all of the extended edition dialogue scenes added and all of the large-scale battle scenes removed or heavily edited. i do not care to look at seven thousand computer orcs running
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:57 pm |
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you know, as good as this looks, i kind of expected a movie about jung and freud directed by cronenberg to be a little zanier looking, and about weirder stuff inside people's brains than kinky sex
i guess i'm still thinking of the 'old' cronenberg, though
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:45 am |
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| Cocaine Socialist wrote: |
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this is beautiful
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| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:32 am |
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for all the masochists out there, just letting you know that green lantern suuuuuuuucks
(as expected)
though, i have to give credit to a film that ends with the protagonist punching a gigantic space octopus into the sun. way more satisfying climax battle than Thor, though the two movies are eerily similar in many other ways.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:57 am |
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| This Machine Kills Fascis wrote: |
Oh, wait, something I wanted to mention about Super 8:
For the most part, I thought the direction/cinematography was pretty transparent/unimpressive. There was an overly deliberate attempt to have characters talk over each other and allow action to take place out of frame, which I saw as a Abrams deliberately cribbing from early Spielberg who was cribbing from Altman who was probably cribbing from a French New Waver or something.
But among the handful of scenes that worked like this, there were two or three instances in which the camera (which had probably been panning in a Fellini-ish way), suddenly wheeled around as the fat amateur film-maker character leaped into frame in an extreme close up and shouted something, his eyes looking just off frame. These moments were definitely visually compelling, though I don't think they contributed to a larger theme or anything. Mostly I'm just wondering where Abrams got the idea--if it was another Spielberg homage that I don't recognize, or if maybe it's cribbed from some other director I should know. Or maybe he came up with it himself. Anyway, it's sort of like an arbitrary moment of real direction in a movie that mostly seems to be on auto-pilot. |
I'll admit to being a sucker for that kind of dialogue, even when filtered through several layers of inferior direction and script. Though I guess Altman probably got it from somewhere it's kind of hard to insist that he did not perfect it! Robert Altman is (was T-T) the best director. Infatuation.
Anyway, RE: Super 8, I agree with you for the most part but I still enjoyed myself. Abrams needs a new thing besides lens flares, though. Everything was pretty much as I expected, but I was really surprised/impressed by the sequence when the boys return to the town and everything has gone to shit. I don't think that's a spoiler. There was so much going on, and everything moved so fluidly. I wish that type of filmmaking could be done in a way that wasn't treated like a nostalgic gimmick--same goes for "not showing the monster till you absolutely have to."
Like many movies I have seen recently, I am able to appreciate it in a "you know, for kids" type of way. I don't even know what it would take to engage and stimulate my adult mind without reservations, but I am kind of pleased when I see a movie that looks like a wholesome and educational attraction for the young people. This is kind of a good movie for parents with fond memories of the goonies or whatever to see with their next generation goonies. I can't really knock that... I guess?
Speaking of things that engage my adult brain, I am really excited about Transformers 3. I am in the "this shit is so weird it should be treated like abstract art" when it comes to Michael Bay, and years of being a film major have taught me the fine art of completely ignoring everything about the actors and narrative of a film to focus on the technical / visual elements. It's like you can just watch money being spent in real time, and it looks so weird.
I don't understand why more people are not engaging in this kind of neo-brechtian approach to cinema appreciation, unless they simply hate the thought of deriving any kind of pleasure from inferior melodrama. The biggest criticism leveled against this type of film is some dumb screenwriting 101 logic about character development. Have you ever noticed that "character development" almost always means exactly the same thing? I hate character development, it is incredibly boring. I also hate plots, because they are also always the same. This is why all of the super hero movies of late are just complete failures on a narrative level, because they are all exactly the same story of a weak/formerly strong person gaining/regaining their abilities. Just cut and paste the pieces. By now it should be clear that these are vestigial limbs of the form, things that are included because they are things that traditionally move us from one scene to another, but most people involved with film production have apparently long given up on trying to do anything exciting or groundbreaking with them. Why is it, then, that so many film critics seem content to write reviews scolding filmmakers for their bad characters? It's like restaurant review about silverware. This is not to say every blockbuster film is some kind of aesthetic achievement, but I find writing that actually addresses other elements of films (lets say, everything that does not involve what the actors do) to be very entertaining.
Anyway, it also ensures that I generally have a pretty good time when I go to the movies, by trying to pay attention to where all that money is actually going. I hope Transformers 4 is just a completely incoherent whirlwind of grinding metal and fire, Metal Machine Music on film.
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:22 am |
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Yeah, I wasn't really sure where the brecht thing would go for someone who probably actually knew anything about hiM (I don't)
I guess I just mean these days I feel like a film should be appreciated the way one might observe a nice vase
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 5:19 pm |
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transformers 3 was just a movie and it was fantastic
one of the scene-opening location titles early in the film was "ILLEGAL NUCLEAR FACILITY -- MIDDLE EAST"
the first line of the film is "We were once a race of peaceful mechanical beings"
I don't know what more anyone can ask for in a film, it's like an extremely faithful 200 million dollar remake of a movie made after school by a bunch of kids with their toys
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:39 am |
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i think the whole thing should have been in slow motion
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 6:54 pm |
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nothing is really worth watching
i mean, i suppose it depends on how much ~$10 and ~3 hrs means to you
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evnvnv
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| Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:50 pm |
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you know, for all the ironic laffs and eyeball destruction that are the traditional reasons to enjoy a transformers movie, this one actually had one sequence that was incredibly thrilling and (for me at least) literally breathtaking--the part where all the nameless marinesdudes jump out of a plane and glide through the city like weird human flying squirrels. i don't know that i have ever been that entranced by a stunt/action sequence, or that confused by what is real stuntwork and what is a cgi effect. i'm really surprised more reviews don't mention it. i can only imagine what it is like in 3D (until i lose my resolve enough to spend nearly twenty dollars to see it that way)
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