Seen any good movies lately? - Films you MUST see (2 Viewers)

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I just finished watching Borat.
One of the funniest, most uncomfortable movies I've ever seen.

Confirms my prejudices, I'm afraid.

The world is full of stupid people.
 
Wristcutters

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Tom Waits, and Gogol Bordello fans take note...
 
If you liked the movie you will really dig her book, NO ONE BELONGS HERE MORE THAN YOU.

http://smog.net/index.php/146

I'm 50 pages into it.

fantastic. The Sister was incredible.
I hope she writes a novel, or makes another film. or comes to visit me.
wait, what?
nothing.

seriously, she's very good in a way that makes other writers insane with jealousy.
 
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea. A fun little documentary about the history of the Salton Sea and its eccentric inhabitants (if you don't live in So Cal you've likely never heard of the place), which began as a mistake, became a trendy tourist destination, and then rotted away.

Recommended. Two thumbs up. Four Stars.

I'll be looking for this, as I live 30 minutes away.

It was pretty well represented in Into The Wild. The Salton Sea, that is.
 
I hope she writes a novel, or makes another film.
seriously, she's very good in a way that makes other writers insane with jealousy. I know, being one of those writers.

I think that her - whatever you call it; style? - is well suited to the short stories. I don't know that it would sustain a novel. But she may have something up her sleeve.
 
I'm insane with jealousy also.

she got her way through a screenplay, so maybe she could manage a novel. but I see what you're saying.

but I'm still pretty sure she might pay me a visit. I'll make pesto.
 
Miranda July has a web page. I signed up and now, every couple of weeks I get very bizare and provacative e-mails. Artsy Fartsy on steroids. I always believe that corny sells.
She is offering her book No One Belongs Here More Than You on a cd with her awesome voice inflection and rythym.
http://mirandajuly.com/
Visit her site.

Back on track: The movie I saw last nite was so bad I won't mention the name in the same post with Miranda July. (A. Sandler-Kevin J.)
 
Adam Sandler = the pinnacle of bad. I think PT Anderson had something with "Punch Drunk Love" until he brought Sandler aboard. When will the studios stop tapping SNL alumns for comedic leads? Probably after Lorne Michaels passes on.
 
Please let's not tarnish this wonderful thread
I saw a French movie.
here

I enjoyed it. Disclaimer: I was drinking strawberry Margaritas- fresh strawberries
 
Just saw Across the Universe. Though it wasn't really a good movie... Love the Beatles, hate easy cash-ins on their music. A shame, cuz I loved Frida. Ah well...

Factotum is taunting me from my NetFlix envelope too... I'm thinking of sending it back unwatched though. Two disappointments a week would be a bit much.
 
Finally saw Juno yesterday. Looks like Ellen Page has arrived as a major young talent for years to come. (And yes, I am the 18,144,329th person on an internet forum to say that).
 
Finally saw Juno yesterday. Looks like Ellen Page has arrived as a major young talent for years to come.
Liked Juno a lot but would reserve comment on the young actor until I see her in a role where she's doing more than channeling a young Janeane Garofalo...
 
someone mentioned jodorowsky.
great filmmaker, weird stuff.
if you found El Topo interesting, try Santa Sangre. Equally weird, but more watchable with less religious overtones.
His other film I've seen, Holy Mountain, is one of those movies that is more over-the-top than El Topo, and you'd envision
it playing on a big screen without sound at some underground psychedelic party behind a Jefferson Airplane live show circa '68.

anyhow. my 2 cents.
here' s a dozen or so mostly mainstream movies I've rewatched within the last year and they get better every time.
if any ya'll haven't seen these, throw "em in the netflix queue and enjoy:
- someone mentioned Deadwood. Other incredible mini-series to invest in (Band of Brothers, Six Feet Under, Dexter)
- Big Lebowski (best movie ever)
- Help (the Beatles) - just released on dvd
- Boogie Nights
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)
- Mallrats
- A Clockwork Orange
- The Last Detail
- Raising Arizona
- Mean Streets
- Hard Core Logo
- Jackie Brown
- Requiem for a Dream
- Amelie
 
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Liked Juno a lot but would reserve comment on the young actor until I see her in a role where she's doing more than channeling a young Janeane Garofalo...
I see the Garafolo comparison, but have to say she is quite a bit ahead of Garafolo already. Especially in the close-up, vulnerable scenes (don't want to detail them here and spoil the film). I haven't seen every one of J.G.'s performances, but the ones I have seen didn't have the subtlety and nuance like this one did.
 
I just filled my new Netflix queue and used many recommmendations from this thread...

First up is Citizen Kane (not sure if it was mentioned here or not). I have heard so much about it and it is constantly discussed as one of the best of all time...I figure I might as well finally see it. I have no expectations one way or the other.

Here's my list so far:

1) Citizen Kane
2) I'm Not There
3) Touch of Evil
4) Brian Regan: Standing Up
5) The Third Man
6) Shane McGowan: If I Should Fall From Grace
7) The Charles Bukowski Tapes: Disc 1
8) The Charles Bukowski Tapes: Disc 2
9) Cashback
10)Vincent: Series 1: Disc 1
11)Vincent: Series 1: Disc 2
12)Down by Law
13)The Proposition
14)You're Gonna Miss Me


of course, some that I really want to see are not available:

The Bank Job
Barfly
Killer of Sheep
 
Miranda July is weird, but in a good way. I like the thought provoking adventures she creates. I like her so I am weird too.

Thank you Ruby
 
, which is one of the most inventive uses of a site I've ever seen. And I've seen every web site!

Well, it feels like it sometimes.
 
"Factotum" is hardly a disappointment.

Saw "Michael Clayton" last night; not nearly as complex a plot as I was led to believe. Tom Wilkinson's character reminded me quite a bit of Peter Finch's mad newsman Howard Beale in "Network" and Clayton (Clooney) was not too dissimilar to William Holden's Max Schumacker -- otherwise, a damn engaging movie.
 
Oh my, oh my, oh my - saw God Grew Tired of Us last night:

After raising themselves in the desert along with thousands of other parentless "lost boys," Sudanese refugees John, Daniel and Panther have found their way to America, where they experience electricity, running water and supermarkets for the first time. Capturing their wonder at things Westerners take for granted, this documentary, an award winner at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, paints an intimate portrait of strangers in a strange land.

This movie doesn't get into the Sudan/Darfur/political/religious/genocide issue too deeply, it's just the story of the thousands of young boys who were orphaned when things started getting really ugly in Sudan. Almost 30,000 of them banded together and walked to Ethiopia, where they were safe for a while, until Ethiopia's government changed/collapsed in the early 1990's. Then they walked to Kenya! 1000 miles these kids walked. And they've been behind barbed wire fences in Kenya ever since. They can't go back to Sudan because they are afraid (for good reason) that they will be killed.

So different countries take a handful of them out of these camps and place them in government and charity sponsored homes, help them get jobs, go to school, etc. Watching them go from the dry Northern plains of Kenya to Philadelphia and New York is really something. This one really brings home the disparity in the world. Watching it will fuck you up.

--

The walking-through-the-desert brought to mind another great, powerful movie called Rabbit-Proof Fence. I think I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Highly recommended, though also very gut-wrenching.
 
And I watched Super Bad It will fuck you up too. It is scary that there are people like that in the world, well a bunch of kids like that in California anyway.
 
Best thing I heard about Superbad, UK movie critic Mark Kermode, who is always very dry anyway, said that it was the first movie he'd seen where the title was all you needed if you had to write a review. Or something like that :p
 
Let me know what you think of Citizen Kane, JM. For my money, it's the most over-rated, pretentious film in American cinema (Aldous Huxley's fictional portrayal of William Randolph Hearst in After Many A Summer Dies The Swan is far superior); Touch of Evil, on the other hand, is just brilliant if you can overlook Charlton Heston's ridiculous brown-skinned make-up.
 
Oh my, oh my, oh my - saw God Grew Tired of Us last night:

After raising themselves in the desert along with thousands of other parentless "lost boys," Sudanese refugees John, Daniel and Panther have found their way to America, where they experience electricity, running water and supermarkets for the first time. Capturing their wonder at things Westerners take for granted, this documentary, an award winner at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, paints an intimate portrait of strangers in a strange land.

This movie doesn't get into the Sudan/Darfur/political/religious/genocide issue too deeply, it's just the story of the thousands of young boys who were orphaned when things started getting really ugly in Sudan. Almost 30,000 of them banded together and walked to Ethiopia, where they were safe for a while, until Ethiopia's government changed/collapsed in the early 1990's. Then they walked to Kenya! 1000 miles these kids walked. And they've been behind barbed wire fences in Kenya ever since. They can't go back to Sudan because they are afraid (for good reason) that they will be killed.

So different countries take a handful of them out of these camps and place them in government and charity sponsored homes, help them get jobs, go to school, etc. Watching them go from the dry Northern plains of Kenya to Philadelphia and New York is really something. This one really brings home the disparity in the world. Watching it will fuck you up.

--

The walking-through-the-desert brought to mind another great, powerful movie called Rabbit-Proof Fence. I think I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Highly recommended, though also very gut-wrenching.


Dave Eggers wrote a book on this subject.


Whatwhat.jpg


I bought it and read 100 pages or so, then put it down.

I'll try it again. and I'll search out the movies also.
 
I think this is a case where hearing the people speak brings the issue home much more than reading about it could. The movie is about three of the "lost boys" - it doesn't really go into politics or the reasons behind the war there. Just the effect on one section of the Sudanese population.
 
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