Seen any good movies lately? - Films you MUST see (3 Viewers)

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Watched The Killer of Sheep a few days ago, and it left me largely unimpressed. I mean, it's a good movie, but after reading all the posts here I was expecting something, huh, different... more powerful or something.
Well, that's the problem with being really impressed with something and telling people it's GREAT! There's an inevitable letdown because everyone's idea of GREAT! is different. I also had the benefit of seeing it without any expectations. So maybe it's best to approach it that way.


That being said, Killer of Sheep is GREAT! ;)


It's really a time capsule of a certain time and certain area of Los Angeles, so maybe it will resonate more with some than others. But I thought it was ultimately a painfully human and universal movie as well.
 
I agree with #6. The Assasination of Jesse James is a great movie.

I have also recently seen No Country For Old Men. I highly suggest you see it if you have the means.
 
Watched The Assasination of Jesse James last night. A tad too long, don't you think? Pitt was ok but I think the actor playing Bob Ford overacted a bit.
 
I also had the benefit of seeing it without any expectations. So maybe it's best to approach it that way.

Definitely. I can't recally many movies that met the expectations created. The higher the expectations, the shittier the impression.

You know:
"The happier you fly, the sadder you fall"
 
Watched The Assasination of Jesse James last night. A tad too long, don't you think? Pitt was ok but I think the actor playing Bob Ford overacted a bit.

No - I don't think he over-acted at all. I thought the mannerisms (most of which were in the vocal inflection) were pitch-perfect and entirely appropriate for a character so full of envy, self-loathing, anger, fear etc... I'd like to see him get the Oscar, though I hear Tom Wilkinson is pretty strong in Michael Clayton, too.
 
Watched The Killer of Sheep a few days ago, and it left me largely unimpressed. I mean, it's a good movie, but after reading all the posts here I was expecting something, huh, different... more powerful or something. Maybe there are a few cultural references that I didn't get, who knows.

And the subtitles did help!

of course, different strokes....

but i thought Burnett did a fantastic job of catching a mood, especially when the camera was on children. the scenes of children at play were very powerful. he understood when to just set up the camera and film their play, instead of imposing a script (for the most part).
and when the children were working from a script, it seemed natural and spontaneous (particularily the little girl).
the film did a great job of capturing the inevitable journey of being corralled,
slaughtered and hung up into adulthood.

or, I think too much.

on a side note, I finally saw Me and You and Everyone We Know.
excellent, worthy of the hype.
and I may now have a little crush on Miranda July.
but you probably didn't need to know that.
 
after seeing that stunning piece of filmmaking, no country for old men, on monday, i then went to see 30 days of night on tuesday. worst vampire flick ever. i mean, i LOVED the blade trilogy (even the third one which everyone else hated and thought was lame) but this movie was so boring and unoriginal, and relied solely on blood and guts for effect.

BUT it was filmed largely in NZ, and i think i annoyed quite a few people by loudly whispering things like 'OH MY GOD THAT'S MARGE FROM SHORTLAND STREET' (long-running nz soap).
 
bagdad cafe
bagdad_cafe_01.jpg


i just finished watching this film
for a second time,
the first time being years ago.
it's a great film
if you haven't seen it, check it out
 
of course, different strokes....

but i thought Burnett did a fantastic job of catching a mood, especially when the camera was on children. the scenes of children at play were very powerful. he understood when to just set up the camera and film their play, instead of imposing a script (for the most part).
and when the children were working from a script, it seemed natural and spontaneous (particularily the little girl).
the film did a great job of capturing the inevitable journey of being corralled,
slaughtered and hung up into adulthood.

Hooch -

I haven't seen Killer of Sheep yet, but the way you describe those scenes makes me think of Spike Lee. Remember the final shot of the hopscotch game in the street ? A perfect metaphor for a life lined in chalk - gone with the next rainstorm but treasured here and now.

Some say Spike is a racist bastard, but I disagree. He has only occasionally proven himself to be a part-time racist bastard, which is OK in my book.
Examples : Crooklyn ( wanna-be-white black woman wearing an Elizabethan collar ) - Summer Of Sam ( tons of semi-literate Italian Americans in tank-tops ), Bamboozled ( militant BLACK panthers ). However his characterizations go, I usually think Spike finds his way along the narrative path just fine and 25th Hour is perhaps his finest.

Though I should stop here
and return this thread
to CHARLES BURNETT

</cinematic thesis>
 
I think Spike Lee definitely saw Burnett's films when he was younger and studying film making. The timing would have been right. The way Barnett captures people just talking to each other...slow pauses...missteps...it's real. And while Spike Lee used more experienced actors, you can see bits of clumsy, real speech written into those scripts.
 
Absolutely agreed. Even though I have yet to see it for myself, most reviewers point out those same similarities. And let's face it - Spike had to draw inspiration from somewhere. Thank God he had such good taste ;)
 
bagdad cafe is one of my all-time favourite movies. i watched it for the second time last year, after having seen it many years ago. i didn't remember the story, just the feeling it left me with, which i liked a lot. it's one of those movies like no country for old men and dead man which draw you in and hypnotise you.

i just rented the first season of deadwood tonight.
 
I own all three seasons, and what would I give to discover it once more.
Rather that discover it once more, I would have preferred that the knucklehead who created it would have finished it, rather than abandoning it to go make perhaps the world's most negative and utterly useless show, John From Cincinnati.

But that's just me.
 
I would have preferred that the knucklehead who created it would have finished it, rather than abandoning it to go make perhaps the world's most negative and utterly useless show, John From Cincinnati.

But that's just me.

amen to that.

i've come to think that

h - e - a - r - s - t

had something to do with it ending, so RIGHT NOW, as it did.

haw haw.
how silly i am.
 
I just returned from seeing Michael Clayton. Very, very good film. All three central actors - George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, and Tilda Swinton - deliver the goods. This is the kind of thriller I like. A minimum of gunplay/violence and no goddamned car-chases or exploding helicopters, thank you very much. Hitchcock managed to enthrall the viewer without overly-relying on such action gimmicks*, and so does this director, Tony Gilroy. You either have a strong script, or you don't. This one centers around a law firm defending a rotten international agriculture corporation, but there's nothing dry or boring about it.


* I know, I know....Psycho, The Birds, etc... But he didn't have to solely rely on them to keep you involved.

Jellon Lamb: Forgive me, sir, but I've been stuck here with no one but this sorry sack of Hibernian pig shit for conversation. Poor, poor Dan O'Reilly. Sit, sir. Drink with me.
[Charlie cocks his gun and points it to Lamb]
Charlie Burns: One more crack about the Irish, Mr. Lamb, and I'll shoot you. Am I clear?
Jellon Lamb: Oh, as the waters of Ennis, sir. Let us drink, then, to the Irish. No finer race of men have ever... peeled a potato.
[Charlie cocks his gun again and points it to Lamb]
Charlie Burns: Do you pray, Mr. Lamb?



A friend of mine (a screenwiter himself), just recommended this the other day. That dialogue looks terrific. I need to hunt this one down, too. Thanks for posting, Erik.

My favorite exchange of dialogue in Michael Clayton occurs between Clooney, a lawyer trying to help his partner, played by Wilkinson, who is in the grips of a manic episode...

Wilkinson : I don't know who I am anymore !

Clooney : You are the senior litigating partner in Kenner,Bach & Ledeen. You are a legend !

Wilkinson : I am Shiva ! The God of Death !

Clooney : (sigh) Let's get out of Milwaukee and we'll talk about it.
 
200px-Mystery_Train.jpg


mystery train
saw this a couple of nights ago
it was an o.k. film
not a bad acting by the late joe strummer
and the young japanese actress
yuki kudoh......hottie
 
2917-large.jpg


the red violin
i saw this one some years ago
and again last night
a great film in my opinion
outstanding story, photography, acting
and soundtrack
 
so i'm up to episode 12 of the first season of deadwood, about a third of the way into it... and the disk decides to fuck out. if someone had mentioned timothy olyphant was the star of this show, i would have gone out of my way to watch this A LOT sooner...
 
yeah, i kinda wondered whether it was such a good idea to let myself get sucked into something i knew was going nowhere.
 
There's another great show that didn't get a proper sign-off, but they kind of improvised one in the last episode that was still very touching.

I's not an extremely realistic HBO crusty type of thing, and it's kind of old, and it may "out" me as a softie, but it was called Northern Exposure, and if you stick with it it, is really rewarding in a kind of idyllic, idiosynchronic but ultimately always funny way.

I think it's perhaps the best network "dramedy" ever produced (it sort of invented the genre). Kind of the anti-Twin Peaks (which I would also highly recommend, though putting the complete Twin Peaks set together on DVD is difficult and expensive).

There is a horribly awful show on now called Men In Trees that is a direct and shameless rip-off of Northern Exposure with none of the charm, originality, writing or acting talent, and every time I see it flash by I wonder, "how the fuck can they do that?!" It's an abomination, and I think I should get Howard Sounes to do something about it. It has to be copyright infringement...
 
There's another great show that didn't get a proper sign-off, but they kind of improvised one in the last episode that was still very touching.

I's not an extremely realistic HBO crusty type of thing, and it's kind of old, and it may "out" me as a softie, but it was called Northern Exposure, and if you stick with it it, is really rewarding in a kind of idyllic, idiosynchronic but ultimately always funny way.

it does surprise me that you liked it.
but it is one of my fav's.
tho it's no secret I'm a softie.
 
Yeah, I liked it enough to have all 120 episodes on VHS tape, which, I noticed when I moved recently, take up a hell of a lot of space.

The DVDs, of course, take up considerably less space, but I still have the tapes. Why? I don't know. I filled literally half a dumpster with tapes when we were moving, but I saved those. I suspect it has something to do with being crazy.
 
Not too bad ? NOT TOO BAD ! :(

(I am obviously a bigger fan of this film than most people - anyway)
Tilda Swinton won an Oscar tonight for Michael Clayton.

Okay, okay, it was good, real good. Tremendous performances from Swinton, Clooney and Wilkinson. Great stuff.
We got your back numbah six.
 
can someone give me a summary of episode 12, season one, of deadwood? i got about halfway through but the disk was fucked and wouldn't play anymore. so far: swearenge has laid the reverend to rest; bullock and alma are about to have dirty sex; the magistrate has just been killed. what happens in the rest of the episode?
 
Maybe this list of high points from all three seasons could help a bit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood_(TV_series)#Season_1_.282004.29

A dying Reverend Smith, seemingly from a brain tumor, is smothered to death by Al Swearengen.
Tolliver attempts to bribe General Crook to leave a garrison in Deadwood (no doubt to his own ends) but is indignantly refused.
Magistrate Clagett attempts to extort Swearengen further over the murder warrant. Swearengen's response is to hire Clagett's toll collector, Silas Adams, to murder him. Silas performs the deed and allies himself with Swearengen, becoming his agent.
As Sheriff Con Stapleton has been compromised by Cy Tolliver, Bullock volunteers to become the new sheriff as the cavalry ride out.
 
thanks bukfan! i knew from the very first episode that bullock was going to end up sheriff in deadwood.
 
The first season of Deadwood is, in my opinion, the best season of a TV show that has ever been made. The way the show ended was extremely disappointing.

The best show ever made, consistently, over five whole seasons, is The Wire.
 
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