Film What's the Last Film You Saw? v. Tell Us What You Thought!

[sconnie420]

Still have yet to finish that... Started watching it for the first time ever a month or so ago and something came up.

You should give it another go and have the 2nd one on hand also.. It was just as good, surprisingly.


Ghost Dog is what I watched yesterday.. Fucking that movie..

 

[MrGrunge]

Ran - After a vision of his death, an aging warlord decides to split his territory amongst his three sons who immediately begin to fight for total control of the land. Basically, it's King Lear set in Edo-era Japan. Like Kagemusha, Kurosawa's use of color is beautiful and his camerawork is as fantastic as ever. Unlike Kagemusha the pacing, while still slow and deliberate, is much less painful and the story moves along fluidly (both movies are just under 3 hours long). I ended up enjoying Ran much more than Kagemusha, but I'm chalking it up to already being very familiar with the story of King Lear, which is my favorite Shakespeare play. Loved this film.

Shotgun Stories - Michael Shannon and his two Southern Arkansas redneck brothers (one of whom looks a lot like Danny McBride) incites the wrath of another family of rednecks - Hatfield/McCoy-style bloodfeud ensues. Though the tone is very serious throughout, there are a couple moments that made me laugh out loud and made me think it was meant to be a sort of dark comedy, but I'm not totally sure. It definitely didn't end how I'd expected, at any rate. Good movie, would watch again. I give it a B+/10.

Broken Flowers - A man with difficulty maintaining relationships suddenly receives an anonymous letter from an old flame, informing him that he has a son who is looking for him. I'm not sure what I expected from this movie, but I was not prepared for how completely hilarious it is - Bill Murray, once again, delivers the laughs. My only complaint is that Jarmusch overuses the Fade to Black technique, just like all of his movies...other than that Broken Flowers is fantastic.

 

[L2R]

i was bored beyond belief in the cinema during broken flowers.

but anway.

last night i saw flight. it was good to see zemeckis tackle an adult film, albeit with his trademark cheesey devices. it's a good film, and denzel is fucking amazing in it.

 

[GodSpeedK]

Barking Dogs Never Bite - An aspiring, broke, grad student struggles with the difficulties of his professional and personal lives while being driven crazy by the many dogs in his apartment complex. A very enjoyable, wonderfully-shot, dark comedy. Also it's Korean.

Will have to check that out. As well as Mother and The Yellow Sea. I Saw The Devil and The Chaser are very good Korean thrillers too.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

about half of district nine

 

[MrGrunge]

Seven Samurai - Desperate peasants turn to samurai to protect them from a group of bandits. It's the exact same story as A Bug's Life. I watched Kagemusha and Ran as preparation for this one because the three and a half hour runtime always scared me away, but now that I've actually seen the movie I can say that those hours flew by. The length was barely noticeable, despite the fact that it's probably the longest movie I've ever seen in one sitting. My only complaint is that it isn't in color, which, if Ran and Kagemusha are any indication, would have made Seven Samurai a perfect film.

I've got Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, Rashomon, Sanjuro, and Red Beard ready for viewing - Akira Kurosawa is gonna be my Flavor of the Week.

 

[poledriver]

last night i saw flight. it was good to see zemeckis tackle an adult film, albeit with his trademark cheesey devices. it's a good film, and denzel is fucking amazing in it.

Yeah I enjoyed 'flight'. Denzel was fantastic in it, battling his addictions.

 

[MrGrunge]

Sanjuro - A clever Ronin helps a group of hapless young clansmen to free their wrongly-imprisoned uncle from a corrupt clan leader. I had heard that Sanjuro is one of Kurosawa's most Western-style film (the pacing is fast, the characters are pithy, and the script is dotted with fight scenes) and from what I've seen so far, this seems accurate. For someone had never seen a Kurosawa film before this would be a good one to use as an introduction. All-around great film.

On a side note, I'm starting to have dreams about feudal Japan that always end with me getting eviscerated by angry samurai. Also I'm eating rice more often.

 

[L2R]

^bro! nooooo! why did you watch sanjuro before yojimbo! ..dude, sanjuro is the sequel!

yojimbi is far superior. rashomon is my favourite kurosawa. save that one for last.

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

Lars and the Real Girl

kelli is beautiful. her character is everything nice and warm. she is cute in every way. the modest but young wardrobe on a girl that's radiant. her eyebrows are light like her hair. i wonder if that's real. i love the way her hair looks in this movie.

the doll detracts from the movie. best scene is kelli getting ryan to agree to a date after he comforts her about the teddybear. partly because kelli's character is pretty when she cries and laughs, but also because a troubled ryan falling in love with a sunny yet lonely kelli is better than a guy who thinks he's dating a sex doll. other than the usual themes of isolation and romance, i don't have a great grasp on what the movie is getting at. the brother is all about realizing the hurdle of putting others in front of himself and ryan's character is harmless but needs everyone to bend over backward for him so he can act weird in return. they waste important shit--like an ER run--on a plastic doll. this guy just has this network of people. maybe he was always really nice. the point of the movie is easier to finger. so that lonely people can fantasize that, despite all their oddities, if they'd just open up, someone as adorable as kelli would want to go on a walk.

 

[MrGrunge]

Yojimbo - The same character from Sanjuro (I accidentally watched them out of order, but they're not related story-wise) stumbles upon a town divided by two rival criminal factions and decides to pit them against each other for profit and giggles - A Fistful of Dollars is a remake of Yojimbo. On just about every level, Yojimbo is superior to Sanjuro. My only complaints were about the music (kinda cheesy) and that I think Mifune played the character better in Sanjuro. This is probably the funniest Kurosawa movie I've seen so far and has some of the best cinematography.

 

[L2R]

bruce willis' "last man standing" was a fun run and gun adaptation of yojimbo. check it out.

edit: grunge, as an insight into mifune's character in seven samurai, that long arsed sword he uses is meant to be used from atop a horse.

 

[Max Power]

I knew I was having deja vu for a reason.

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/...ast-film-you-saw-mate?p=11077317#post11077317

 

[MrGrunge]

edit: grunge, as an insight into mifune's character in seven samurai, that long arsed sword he uses is meant to be used from atop a horse.

That's the point: Kikuchiyo is so obviously not a samurai that he doesn't even use the appropriate weapon, which is what makes him so awesome. His character is the reason so many Japanese anime/video games have characters with big-arsed swords - he practically created his own trope.

The Hidden Fortress - Two hapless, conniving peasants help a Princess and her General bodyguard escort treasure through enemy territory. This is the film that inspired Star Wars, but you'd never know it upon watching - aside from a couple similarities (the 'tough' princess and the peasants = C-3PO & R2D2), there really isn't anything to suggest the two films are related. Anyway, The Hidden Fortress is my least favorite of the batch of Kurosawa films I've seen so far. The characterization is poor, the script seemed lazy by Kurosawa standards, and while there is some good cinematography it's the weakest I've seen. Mostly though it's the character thing: the Peasants are douches, the Princess only speaks in yells, and Mifune's character is boring as shit. I was kind of surprised by how much I didn't like this movie, to be honest.

I knew I was having deja vu for a reason.

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/...ast-film-you-saw-mate?p=11077317#post11077317

Kwaidan and a couple other Kobayashi films are on my To-Watch list after I'm done burning through Kurosawa.

Throne of Blood - An evil spirit appears to an ambitious feudal Lord and prophesies his rise to total power. Throne of Blood is Kurosawa's adaptation of Shakespeare's MacBeth, and like Ran (his adaptation of King Lear), it's excellent. Unlike Ran, Throne of Blood is a fast-paced movie - though some scenes are rather long and drawn-out, the story moves along quickly culminating in a wonderfully satisfying (and beautifully filmed) conclusion. Mifune is in top form...actually, better than top form - Throne of Blood is the best acting I've seen from Toshiro Mifune (so far) who delivers an amazingly complex performance as Lord Washizu (the MacBeth character). Also, the cinematography is top-notch, as expected.

Roshomon - Three men seeking shelter from the rain in a ruined city gate recall the events of a terrible crime as described by the victims and witnesses. This is a film that I think will require at least one more viewing before I feel I fully understand the story. The whole movie (except for the ending) plays out sort of like The Usual Suspects in that the plot is told in a series of flashbacks, and it plays a game of three card monte with your brain leaving you unsure of the truth. The script is probably the strongest part of the film and kept me very mentally engaged despite the films slow, minimalist aesthetic. The acting varies from awesome to a little cheesy, the music is great, and the cinematography is strangely experimental and varied for a Kurosawa film because of his collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. This is not his most exciting film and I don't know if I'd recommend it to someone who isn't a film buff, but Rashomon is as great a work of art as any Van Gogh or Picasso painting. Despite it's lean hour-and-a-half run time, the movie manages to beautifully explores some truly heavy themes of life, love, death, and the frailty of the human spirit (among others). I have a feeling it's even better the second time around.



PS: I have the week off of work while the building undergoes renovations, that's why I'm watching so many of these damn things.

 

[L2R]

we went to les mis. last night.

fucking long film. the first third was outstanding, the second third dragged on and it was difficult to keep my brain tuned to it, not for want of quality though. the last part pulls it back somewhat. the music is incredible, when you consider the actors sang it on set, and not recorded later in a studio. you can really tell, and the vocal talent of the cast was amazing. the first anne hathaway solo gave me shivers and my hair stood on end. watch her closely and make note of how long that shot is. this is more than acting.

 

[MrGrunge]

The Lower Depths - A group of poverty-stricken peasants live out their days with drink and dreams of escaping the slums of Edo (feudal Tokyo). The Lower Depths is an adaptation of a Maxim Gorky play with the same name. This film serves as an interesting companion piece to Rashomon in that while the films are unrelated, they share a number of similar themes, most notably the idea that we lie to ourselves to displace feelings of shame. The large majority of the film takes place in the sparse interior of a run-down tenement house, and though the setting is very limited (similar to Rashomon), Kurosawa makes impressive use of lighting and camera angles to make the scenes feel varied. More so than Kurosawa's camera work, the performance of the actors is what really carries the film. Unlike other period films by Kurosawa, the characters of The Lower Depths (especially the women) forgo traditional Japanese social etiquette in their speech and behavior and instead speak very crassly and honestly to one another (a result of their living in poverty) which makes for some very entertaining dialogue. All in all I really enjoyed this film and I'm kinda surprised it's not as highly regarded in the Kurosawa catalog as some others.

Red Beard - A young ambitious doctor becomes apprenticed, against his wishes, to the head doctor of a free medical clinic for the poor. Simply put, this isn't my favorite Kurosawa film. The acting is great, the cinematography is as good as anything else Kurosawa has filmed (there are a few notably spectacular scenes), but the script suffered in a number of areas. Kurosawa has a tendency to inject humanist themes and morals into his scripts, which is a big reason why I'm so drawn to his work, but they're usually subtle or a part of a larger message. Red Beard is so blunt with its messages of charity/grace/compassion that I felt like I was being preached to, or at the very least manipulated. Some might call it sappy melodrama - I don't necessarily think that, but I can see how someone could.

And with that, I've seen all of Kurosawa's period films.

 

[Carl Landrover]

Boogie Nights (1997)




Pretty good movie about the adult film industry in the late 70's and early 80's, the years prior to videotape. Lots of big names in this: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, etc. to name a few. Since it was about the porn industry there was a lot of fucking, lot of nudity, and a lot of drugs. Never really thought Heather Graham was as hot as everyone made her out to be, but she look good naked. Her and Julianne Moore both looked hot in this movie and both played the part of porn stars "Rollergirl" and "Amber Rose" really well.

I thought the movie did an excellent job in showing the downward spiral that drugs had in their lives. It was present fairly early on, but the decline and change in personality/character were slow, like in real life. It wasn't like they showed them doing coke then a few scenes later their lives were all fucked up. Given that fact it seemed more realistic, as did the scenes where they were actually using.

Was a little on the long side at a shade over 2.5 hours, but was better than I thought it was going to be.

 

[L2R]

^love that movie

 

[MrGrunge]

High and Low - A successful businessman is placed in a awkward position when his chaffeur's son is mistakenly kidnapped in place of his own. While I wasn't totally satisfied by this film, there's no denying that there is some serious quality in its writing and direction. Good stuff. It's not my favorite Kurosawa film, but I enjoyed it very much.

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

Pretty good

psh