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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

FILM: Mini-reviews of a bunch of random movies

It's cool--wasnt trying to attack anybody. Anyway, since everyone's talking about In the Bedroom here's my two cents--it was ok. Most defintely overrated. Marissa Tomei and Tom Wilkinson did a pretty good job but why anyone would give sissy spacek the kind of praise she's been given is beyond me. I don't think there are too many actresses that couldnt sit around and say nothing. Audrey Tatou's(Sp?) performance in Amelie blows away Sissy Spacek yet she doesn't get a nomination(even though the awards are a joke this year).
 
In the Bedroom was far far overrated. The Royal Tenebaums was pretty much shut out of the Academy Awards. But what else is new? Oh, and where the fuck was Memento? And will somebody please knife that old bitch Judi Dench. She's gotta have cut a deal with Satan, I mean shit, every fucking year she is nominated, we get it, your British and your old and you have a haughty accent...
Oh, and Moulin Rouge, I mean are people really that fucking dense and devoid of taste, or is it that they are just, yet again, overly impressed with pretty colors that move fast. Seriously though, it was a FUCKING MUSICAL for god sakes. Dear god, is this like the fucking apocolypse, did evil finally destroy the last real people in Hollywood.
Damn, those awards just make me so bitter. I don't think I ever recovered from Gladitor beating Traffic for best picture. That movie was one of the most pertinent politcal statements ever put on film. The other one had lions and blood and tabloid darling Russel Crowe. (Perhaps, I can enjoy the irony in him not winning the Oscar for A Beautiful Mind. He really acted well this time, his best work since Romper Stomper).
I mean, I'm not stupid, I know the awards are nothing but a fucking joke, a 4 hour faceless commerical that is nothing more than a glossy front for yet another fashion show. But for some reason every year I masochistically watch the show, I know I'm gonna get hurt in the end, but everyone is just so pretty and shiny, it's like I have to watch...
Sigh...who am I kidding? I would shamelessly sell my soul and integirty to Hollywood at the drop of a fucking hat, as soon as they offer, I'm thier puppet. Fuck artistic vision, whatever that is anyways? I think I am deluding myself with this film school bullshit. I think maybe all I really want is just to be famous...and there are so many ways to do that...
 
Yes, Moulin Rouge was a musical.. so? There is no reason why the Best Pic statue has to go to some pretentious arthouse darling, or to a thick-with-tension drama as it does every other year. I hope it does win, it was one of the most innovative movies to come along in a very long time. Baz Lurhman is a genius. :)
Now back to movie reviews!
Queen of the Damned
This was really pretty good. I went to see it with vague memories of having read the whole series of books at some point years ago. However, I did think the movie was based more on the book The Vampire Lestat than its namesake.
Don't go expecting this movie to be all about Aaliyah either, she is not on-screen until almost an hour in, and she doesn't have much time total. The actor (Stuart Townsend) playing Lestat is phenomenal. And, as first mentioned by Trippies, it has one of the absolute coolest special effects sequences I have ever seen. You can start looking for it after Akasha, the Queen, takes Lestat "home." No synopsis needed, its a vampire movie of course. :) 6.5 of 10 stars.
 
Look, please I have an urgent message, absolutely urgent.
This movie is not in the cinema but hopefully you can get it on video or dvd or something.
It is called 'Festen' (danish) - 'The celebration'
and if you see it you will be so so happy you followed my advise.
It is an amazing black comedy but i have seen no mention of it on bluelight.
Even if it is difficult to get hold of try your best i dont want to build it up too much but it will be the only way to get you to watch it.
Especially simply_rhymathic will like it based on prev posts
 
They actually show The Celebration on IFC every once and awhile--i've only been able to catch pieces of it but I liked what I saw.
 
If you know elements of the story without seeing it in one piece it will not be quite as good.
Simply it relies on being amazingly suspensful and you really really wanting to know what happens to the main character. I mean it is still a very good movie but on first viewing it is a great monster of a film.
I had missed it at my film society and stuff and then saw it on channel 4 while flikking through channels i didnt know what it was but i had been intending to go to bed and i could not turn my head away from the telly till the end.
And ever since then my view of hollywood and foreign films has changed completely, unfortunately ive probably never seen a foreign film as good as this i have seen some other good ones though.
 
Ooooh, oooh, I'm late, but here's my 47 cents.
LOTR and Harry Potter: Impressive fun. I'm lumping these together, well, because I'm a snob. Anyway. I really admire the lengths they went to with LOTR for the sets. Some of the most stunning scenery I've ever seen. Harry Potter was fun too, and I was suprised how relatively close they kept to the book.
Super Troopers I can't believe I actually went to see this movie, in the theaters, but I did. And I was pleasantly suprised to find myself laughing at it's sophomoric humor. Best seen while intoxicated.
Amelie: Wow, Jean-Pierre Jeunet sure has come a LONG way since City of the Lost Children and Delicatessen. He is one of my favorite directors, with his wacky dark humor and sense of beauty projected against grittyness. I am so used to seeing hues of grays and greens and blues, and here his world explodes with color. I was charmed by the main character, and delighted to see some he still uses his favorite actors. I read a few scathing reviews who thought the movie was too syrupy, but I think they were missing the point; it was supposed to be a half cartoon. The girl falls into a puddle of water, for crying out loud! Anyway, I was delighted by this little piece of film.
Memento: What can I say except, perfect editing? Without such a deft hand the story could have gotten incredibly confusing, boring, and/or repetitive. I thought Guy Pierce did an excellent job with his character. Unfortunately, I was hoping that the second viewing would leave me impressed in a different manner, but I was just bored. Still, an ingenious way of telling a story and it gets my wholehearted recommendation.
Moulin Rouge: A self indulgent, stupid, big stinking pile of CRAP. Costume and set design does NOT a movie make! Ewan McGregor impressed me with his voice, but this movie takes itself WAY WAY too seriously despite its farcelike qualities. Two hours of my life I will not be able to get back. I can't believe it was nominated for so many Academy Awards.
The Royal Tenenbaums, Gosford Park, A Beautiful Mind, and the Count of Monte Cristo (simply because I LOVE the book) I still haven't seen because it's only been playing at crappy theaters, but I will, soon.
I did not know the Coen brothers had a movie out. Excuse me while I take myself out back to flog myself repeatedly.
Oceans 11, Not Another Teen Movie, Orange County, etc. That crap doesn't get my money. I wait for video... maybe. If I'm really bored. Yup. I am a fucking SNOB. :D
Holding my breath for Darren Aronofsky. I recently read that in addition to the new Batman movie, he's also working on another, called "Below". Pi was absolutely brilliant, and I was impressed enough by Requiem, so here's to waiting.
And... Spiderman is going to rule. At least, I really really really really really really hope so. And I refuse to watch the trailers. I want to be suprised.
 
Ive got the impression Aranofski could be doing a film version of Alan Moore's comic 'the watchmen' after Batman.
That should be interesting to say the least, but many directors have thought of doing it before and not been able to get it working so we will see.
 
"Below" was co-written by Aronofsky and I think he's got a executive producer slot but he didn't direct it. I think the date on it is pushed back.
Aronofsky's next picture is going to be a science-fiction film called "Last Man" starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Production will start this summer. "Batman: Year One" will be after that.
And on to movie reviews...... ;)
Gosford Park was a gorgeous film with great acting. However, it had way too many characters. I couldn't keep up with them, and some really great storylines were really underdeveloped because they had too much to work with. However, I definitely see Helen Mirren winning the Oscar for this one.
The Princess and the Warrior was definitely not "Run Lola Run." It lacked a lot of energy until the end, and I've never seen so many truly nasty suicide attempts in one movie before. I also really hated the ending that's been mentioned before. However, the acress from RLR was great, and this is better than 3/4 of American movies.
I saw Gimme Shelter and Down From the Mountain at a film festival last week, and I highly suggest renting those if you like music docs at all. Also, I saw a new film called Making Arrangements that's making the rounds of the festivals right now. EXCELLENT mockumentary. If it comes to a festival in your area I HIGHLY recommend it.
 
<---- Another one leaping onto the Amelie bandwagon. We had to drive and hour and a half away to see it, but oh was it SO worth it. Too many favorite scenes to name.
So, between this movie and BOTW, I think I might start viewing more foreign films. I tried to get into them earlier, but the whole Roberto Begnini thing just turned me off of imports for a while.
Amelie gets 8.5 of 10. :D
 
Maybe I'm too late on this (it hasn't come out here yet but it may have already finished it's run in the U.S), but has anyone seen Human Nature? The pairing of Michael Gondry and Spike Jones/Charlie Kaufman sounds too good to be true :D
 
Human Nature hasn't been released yet, but almost every early review that has been written about it has been fairly negative.
 
Ariela: Gimme Shelter is a great documentary! I was cracking up seeing all these people in Melvin Belli's office, and that one twit kept asking, "Is anyone in touch with Jagger?" LMAO
Okay, I have been avoiding the movie theaters because of all the crappy movies that are dumped onto the market in February and March, but I got an email from my old movie-reviewing nemesis at a different message board. (We used to do dueling movie reviews and would be completely thorough, not this half-assed crap I do here! LOL) Anyway, hadn't heard from him in months and he tells me I have to see Harrison's Flowers. Never had heard a word about it, but I check and the oddball theater is playing it just this week as a special engagement. So I drag myself down there, bad knee and all, to see....
Harrison's Flowers A Pulitzer Prize winning photographer is contemplating retirement to spend more time with his family. His wife (played by Andie MacDowell) and two kids really miss him. I think there is some great character development early in the movie. The war in the former Yugoslavia is just starting (movie is set ten years ago), so he reluctantly agrees to cover the "civil unrest." Of course he is walking into complete anarchy, and word travels back that he has been killed in the crossfire. A little later his wife thinks she sees him in some CNN televised coverage, and decides to go looking for him. She is not ready for the horrors of war. She somehow teams up with a group of photographers and they venture into ground zero of the "ethnic cleansing." People are being gunned down in the streets right in front of them. What impressed me was that Harrison's Flowers had the character development, a compelling plot and some suspense/action. This would be among the ten best movies I have seen in the past twelve months. I am forced to give it the mandatory half point deduction for Andie MacDowell, but I highly recommend this movie. 9.5/10!
__
I don't like Andie MacDowell because she talks funny and inevitiably ruins at least a couple scenes per movie.
 
I absolutely CANT STAND Andie McDowell, that was the only reason I wasn't going to see that movie^^^, but now I may have to re-consider. 9.5 huh? thats a damn impressive rating.
 
Hedwig, wherefore art thou?
The Academy just didn't get 'Hed. Literally and figuratively, in fact. Too bad.
There are some pretty good films in production/pre-production right now that I'm hungrily awaiting with baited breath.
Amelie was adorable. Really lives up to the joyful noises that everyone makes about it. I love Audrey Tatu. Girl, you better work!
As for In the Bedroom, I could have done without. I love Sissy Spacek at any rate. Badlands & The Coal Miner's Daughter are fantastic films.
Can I also get a 'Fuck yes' for the new Hollywood/Highland complex, as the facade is a direct descendent from D.W. Griffith's Babylon set in "Intolerance"? It's beautiful. I'm still not going over there, though. Not til Hollywood Blvd. is reopened.
I don't want to know who the Oscars will be going to. I did vote in the SAG awards but was unfortunately kicked in the butt by love on Russell Crowe's behalf. *growl*
 
Panic Room This movie packed in a whole lot of suspense while also managing to keep the plot believable. The character development was sparse but suited the slick style and pacing, which are best captured by a few clever few sequences of camera work. The plot is kind of similar to the underrated 1992 Ice-T movie Trespass. A recently divorced mother (Jodie Foster) and her daughter buy an old townhouse in NYC. Their first night in the new house is all lovey-dovey until....well, if you have seen the trailer, you know that three thugs break into the house (they thought it would be unoccupied) and all hell breaks loose. Mother and daughter take refuge in the "panic room," a steal reinforced closet built by the previous owner of the house. The problem? The former owner of the house, a reclusive millionaire, had hidden his fortune in this panic room and the three crooks (a steady Forest Whittaker, a convincing Jared Leto and a creepy Dwight Yoakam) need to get inside. Running at 112 minutes, there are a few dead spots in Panic Room but overall I thought the suspense was maintained pretty well. 8/10!
I have a headache as I write this, but fuck it....needed to post while it was still fresh in my mind.
[ 02 April 2002: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]
 
i LOVE movie snobs.
and i share so many favorite movies with bluelighters that i almost always value their opinion highly. enough ass kissing.
i saw "death to smoochy". ooh, it was dark. but, the ending kinda of surprised me. catherine keener was in it, and she was great. edward norton rocked as usual. he plays an amazing sap! and robin williams plays a wash-up so well, i actually started to get annoyed by him. he was so pathetic! this movie reminded me so much of "election"! it was just plain silly sometimes, though, but...it WAS about a big purple rhinocerous.
3 out of four stars
and i also <3 "amelie". it was so heart-warming. i saw it with my boifriend, and he actually recommended it to his other male friend (as a date movie).
i rented "k-pax" and "AI" recently. i was fairly impressed with both. same with "ghost world". i hadn't heard anything about that movie either. i just saw it on the shelf at blockbuster and got it because of steve buscemi.
 
Blade 2 Hmmm....well, this is not exactly my usual genre. If I am watching action movies, I usually prefer something along the lines of John Woo's Hard Boiled or The Killer. And I am not into vampire stuff and I think Wesley Snipes looks like Kool Moe Dee. But....on with the review! This movie was very slick and action packed. I am colorblind, but someone pointed out to me the movie is filmed in the amber part of the spectrum. The plot? I am not really sure. Wesley Snipes plays a vampire who is not deterred by silver, garlic or sunlight. He strolls around wearing all black and blasting every vampire he can find. The President of the Vampire Association summons him to request that he help the elite vampire fighting force elimate a brand new superbreed (genetically engineered!) of vampire. Blade leads this goofy squad of vampires into a disco looking for their prey. Lots of action sequences ensue. Along the way Blade begins to get attracted to the President's vampirish daughter, which is understandable because this sweet lil vampire chick is way hot! Hmmm....eventually there is a showdown and lots of vampires are killed by sunlight, various karate moves and of course silver bullets fired from a machine gun. I am sure some people will really love Blade 2, but the highest score I can give this movie is 6.5/10. Sorry, but please wait until this puppy comes out on video! :\
As an aside....
The scariest part of this movie-going experience was actually a trailer shown before Blade 2. The year is 2552....people are in outer space....some students are examining an abandoned spacecraft and find a frozen body....hey, on a whim they load it into their ship and head home....the creature thaws out and all hell breaks loose....the scariest part? The defrosted villain is none other than Jason Vorhees! I shit you not. He somehow gets upgraded into a cyborg hellbent on destruction. The movie is called....gulp....Jason X. Damn, you know what they say?
How to deal with dead horses?
  • Buy a better whip and flog twice as hard
  • Get a more experienced rider
  • Provide horse with better food so he has more energy
  • Harness all the dead horses together so they run faster
  • Honor tradition by continuing to ride the horse just like "back in the day"
or my personal favorite....
  • Dismount the dead horse and walk away!
8)
 
I refuse to reply to this thread until the work "Movie" in the subject line is changed to "Film". ;) But hell, since I'm already replying...
Death To Smoochy- DeVito is a near-godlike director. Remember the movie Mathilda? Only time I've ever loved a kid movie so much. This isn't a kid movie. This is a grown-up movie. With a lot of swear words, but (thank God) no nudity (Katherine Keener is beastly). Robin Williams is insane, as per usual, Edward Norton is amazingly versatile and skilled, and takes his shirt off, as per usual, and John Stewart is a weasley little Jew. He was in this? Ummm...yeah, I meant the movie...pshhh...what do you think, I was talking about him in real life? Pshhhh....(just kidding, I love John Stweart) If you're an Honest to God film buff, you'll like this one. Don't believe the reviews. If you're a simple brained yokel, you won't. Personally, I give it 6 thumbs up.
Panic Room- YAYYYYY! David Fincher's back, and he's come to deliver us out of bondage and into the Promised Land! Just not with this particular movie. Don't get me wrong, I love David Fincer. I have a major hard-on for the guy. And this was a good movie. But it was no Fight Club, and it was no Se7en. It seems like he blew all his "Cool CGI Camera Pan Budget" in about a half an hour, too. Jodie Foster was her typical Jodie Foster self, Eddie Furlong expertly played her little daughter, Forrest Whitaker once again showed us that he is incapable of playing someone completely evil due to his horrendusly good nature and lazy eye, Jared Leto had corn-rows, and Dwight Yokham showed us all just how wretchedly ugly he truly is. Wow. I just covered every damn character in that movie. Bottom line? Go see it. What could it hurt. I actually have this one 6 1/2 thumbs up. I had to take a half a thumb off for Dwight Yokham's missing one. I know I'm bitching about this movie but I gave it a high score...It's because David Fincher should NEVER get less than 8 or 9 thumbs up, damnit!
 
Panic Room: I loved it! Everyone in the entire theater was paying utmost attention, even the guy who always is on his cell. We cheered, we booed, we hated the ending. What I liked most, though, was the camera work. From the opening titles, to the shot through the coffeepot handle, to the propane lighting, absolutely phenomenal. A well-done, truly suspenseful movie has been a long time in the coming. 8.75 stars.
But... tonight I saw Big Trouble. Funny as hell! Probably more so to me, because the film is set in my area, and we kept going, 'hey we were there just last weekend' through the whole thing. Its based on a Dave Barry novel, and he also writes for the Miami Herald. Every actor it Hollywood it seems was in this movie - Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Tom Sizemore, Stanley Tucci, Johnny Knoxville, even Heavy D. :D There are six stories, all connected by a big metal suitcase lol. Martha Stewart drug references rock! 6.75 stars.
 
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