Moviethread II: The Watchening

This Machine Kills Fascis · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 7:50 am

Saw Tabloid tonight. It's definitely a pretty crazy story, but as a film I thought it was pretty "meh."

There was a sort of overbearing score throughout, providing straight-forward emotions for moments that I think should have been left ambiguous. I mean, part of the point of the movie is to conflate various truths, so I don't want music telling me when something is creepy and when something is funny.

Morris makes an attempt to spice it up, visually, but ultimately it's nearly 2 straight hours of talking heads.

I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't say it's a classic must-see.

I mean, it's kind of like a particularly memorable This American Life episode without any of the heart. Yeah, I think that's the best summary I can muster.
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Ebrey · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles

TMKF watch Cave of Forgotten Dreams and the Interrupters, 2 great documentaries released this year with almost no talking heads!

Ghost Dinosaur · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Location: Moving

if you count herzog's narration then cave of forgotten dreams is almost 100% unbearable talking heads.

Tulpa · Joined: 31 Jul 2008

Narration isn't talking heads
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Ebrey · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles

This Machine Kills Fascis · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 6:10 pm

I actually went to see Cave of Forgotten Dreams, but it was sold out :/

I might go today if I can rope someone into it. I'm not a fan of going to movies alone, but the guy at IFC said he couldn't guarantee that it would run for more than another week; so I may have to!

Again, Tabloid wasn't bad, but I was a little disappointed that I went from going to see a movie that I will only be able to fully appreciate in theaters to seeing a movie that wouldn't be at all diminished if I watched it on my computer a month or so later.

Ghost Dinosaur · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Location: Moving

yeah you guys are right, i was just looking for a way to slide in my comment.

remote · Joined: 11 Dec 2006

it's basically not good, but it is interesting to see how this ancient wonder of the world takes a back seat to the awkward technology of 3D cinema

also i think it's a joy to listen to herzog's musing, even if i'm finding it a bit more amusing than he intended for it to be
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bleak · wizard life Joined: 31 Jul 2007

been watching a lot of movies lately, nothing has been incredibly stand-out, though I rather liked the men who stare at goats and was pleasantly surprised at The Shooter. oh, wait. no. jackie chan's Police Story was really fucking fantastic. its sequel was not. think i'm going to see Willow for the first time soon too. I will let you all know how that experiment goes
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A New Duck · Joined: 08 Dec 2008 Location: Eugene, ORLY

Watched A Lonely Cow Weeps at Dawn. It was pretty great. Blind Love was real good as well. Goto Daisuke seems to make pretty interesting pink films. A pity more of them aren't available to English-speakers.
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A New Duck · Joined: 08 Dec 2008 Location: Eugene, ORLY

Winona Ghost Ryder · lives in a monochromatic world Joined: 04 Dec 2006

Cronenberg would make an awesome professor.

8128 · Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Location: a very very very fine house

just finally watch paths of glory (twice)

so good I can hardly believe kubrick made it
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evnvnv · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:37 am

he had a lot of help
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Dracko · a sapphist fool Joined: 06 Dec 2006

What you got against Kubrick?
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rabite gets whacked! · Joined: 05 Dec 2006

Sequels I'd forgotten existed until Netflix instant reminded me:

Speed 2
Staying Alive

Didn't watch either. Watched Cold Weather instead, cause it's got my friend Robyn in it, but she was kind of the only character that wasn't an unbearable waste of breath, and the mumblecore/hardboiled fusion completely failed, by virtue of awful dialog and plotting. Good location scouting and cinematography though.
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Ghost Dinosaur · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Location: Moving

aw too bad. my professor told me to go see cold weather when it was at the living room, but i missed it. he is notoriously generous, but i was hoping he was right about this one.

rabite gets whacked! · Joined: 05 Dec 2006

Well, it's on Netflix instant now, if you're still interested.

I'm probably being a little harsh too; to its credit, it does eventually celebrate action over torpor, and it has a nice idea by putting intensely incapable people in an extraordinary situation while staying true to their world, without playing it for dumb zany laffs. But every step it takes to arrive at that endpoint is pretty painfully bad when judged against other works of the genre it's trying to assimilate.
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RobotRocker · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 8:55 pm

Isfet · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: A New York

recently watched the Russian film "The Return." hadn't heard of it before, but was pleasantly surprised. it's...intense, without being overtly so. kind of sublime and mellow the whole way through.

108 · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:24 pm

going to see steven soderbergh's "CONTAGION" friday night because: why not!

then, to maintain my street cred i am going to go see a remastered "the man who fell to earth" on saturday night at the landmark theater in berkeley! it's a pretty hokey film, though it should be awesome to see it in a nice theater.
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Ghost Dinosaur · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Location: Moving

bowie's full-frontal scenes are especially "in your face" in huge 35mm.

108 · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:06 pm

i'll have my 3D glasses on 8-3
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evnvnv · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:37 pm

elvis.shrugged · Joined: 17 Apr 2007

Jam · Joined: 27 Sep 2007

I tried watching Oldboy on Netflix recently. I got about 15 minutes in before I realized what had been nagging at me since I started watching. Netflix has the dubbed version of Oldboy and the voice actor for Oh Dae-Su was really hitting a familiar note for me. I came to the realization that the voice actor either is or sounds incredibly close to the narrator to EDF 2017.

Admittedly it seems like it would be kind of great to listen to the guy narrate Oldboy as well. But I've got to find it with subs now or all I'm going to be thinking about is killing giant ants and mecha-godzillas throughout my first viewing.
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Shiren the Launderer · Joined: 25 Sep 2008

Really? Because incest was all I could think about while playing EDF.

Predator Goose · Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Location: Oversensitive Pedantic Ninny

15 minutes Shiren. I've only seen 15 minutes. Now all I'm going to be thinking about when I watch Oldboy is how incest ties into the story :(
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parker · Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:06 am

http://www.mtv.com/videos/movie-trailers/689593/the-raid.jhtml

Movie about a swat team raiding a building to get a drug lord who announces over the intercom that he's putting a bounty on them.

Now, why doesn't gears of war or the like just have a story like this, instead of going down into the hallow earth to bomb the reptillians but the bomb doesn't work so you escape the hallow earth and find a robot on the side of the road next to the hole you crawled out of that tells you your father is responsible for everything etc. "30 floors of hell" seems like a much simpler and cooler premise.
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Ghost Dinosaur · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Location: Moving

how will video games be art if they don't try to be more like (bad) movies??

Rud31 · forum ruler of Iraq Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: SanAnTex

I want to play that video game (shut up G_D)
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Dracko · a sapphist fool Joined: 06 Dec 2006

When will cinema have its Dog Days, G_D?!
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Ghost Dinosaur · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Location: Moving

showgirls not good enough, dracko?

parker · Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:07 am

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parker · Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:08 am

Madden 12: Experience 100 Yards of Hell
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Tim · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: Silver Spring, MD

I also saw Contagion and now I just want to cough on everything.

Also, Jude Law's tooth. I don't remember that being there.
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remote · Joined: 11 Dec 2006

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/sep/09/werner-herzog-into-the-abyss
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This Machine Kills Fascis · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:23 pm

"Wargames" holds up beautifully, if you can handle mediocre direction.

Man, these 80's movies for teens are a lot less condescending than contemporary movies for everyone.
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remote · Joined: 11 Dec 2006

Cinema 21 in Portland is showing the 3D version of Dial M for Murder from the 16th through the 22nd. Might have to see that...
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Rud31 · forum ruler of Iraq Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: SanAnTex

looking at What's playing at the indie theater in town. It's all films about foreigners who only speak with an English even in Iraq or East Berlin or France.

Then there is this
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Winona Ghost Ryder · lives in a monochromatic world Joined: 04 Dec 2006

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-benshi-from-hell-val-kilmers-musings-on-spartan