A few films recently watched.

[Guest Gary C]

I don't know why Idiocracy's gotten under your skin so much... it's just a comedy... a great satire but ultimately just a comedy - you either like it or don't.

 

I love it for its unabashed elitism. A lot of people took it as just making fun of generic 'dumb people', but it's really a pretty brutal and cynical mockery of lower-income Americans. This might have a little to do with your not getting the film, being from teh UK - these are people I live with everyday, so I know them well. Just take tiny details like the old-english graphics used on teh police cars - i think of the dozens of times I've seen old-english script on some redneck's truck's back window - these morons are here, now, all around us! Also the film's timing was excellent - just after all these morons elected bush a second time, it seemed like anti-intellectualism had finally spun out of control. Idiocracy is just a fantastic piece of anti-anti-intellectualism.

 

I'll concur with the timing, perhaps it may have been more relevant as Bush was being elected by the hick population, and yes, it may be funnier to Americans who see these people daily. The little touches, in which there are admittedly many, are the only saving grace.

 

But it's still not a funny film. If the whole thing's a big joke then it's very poorly executed and needed a more solid story and characters.

[Guest A/D]

wolfman 0/10 i'm so glad i didn't pay to see this. i stopped before the end and went to sleep

 

high school 7/10 the camera work and editing are exquisite

 

farewell my concubine 7/10 beautiful frames, sometimes annoying camera, excellent acting, one really annoying main character. an epic production.

[Squee]

Crazy Heart - 6/10

 

Jeff Bridges plays his part pretty well but I don't see why he's such a big Oscar candidate? Anyway, haven't we already seen this movie... twice before? Also, lol at Colin Farrell

[Guest A/D]

p.s. idiocracy +1. the beauty of this film is that it's basically a true story. i think it's more likely that fox buried it because of all the corporations they dissed.

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

i remember liking idiocracy but not that much

 

just spent the weekend in bed watching dexter season 1 + half of 2. good stuff.

[Guest futuregirlfriend]

my friend's just started a filmblog for a local magazine/website. it's low on content as it's only a day old but please have a look and maybe join in with discussion...cinemateque @ the leither magazine

 

Looks like a good read. I've subscribed to the RSS.

[goffer]

i remember liking idiocracy but not that much

 

just spent the weekend in bed watching dexter season 1 + half of 2. good stuff.

I'm just finishing up with Season 3... loads better than 2 for sure.

[Dale]

Public Enemies (6/10)

On the whole, it was worth the watch but not completely enjoyable. It wasn't the way they had depicted Dillinger's life on the run that was the problem for me - it was more to do with Bale and Depp's acting. The dialogue exchanges for instance were few and far between, on the whole. For me, Depp did not make a convincing performance - it's quite difficult to pinpoint where exactly this went wrong for me.. I think it could have been better than it was if the dialogue between the main characters were a little more extended. It just came off to me as a typical stylish action film without substance. Does anyone agree? The only film I can think of which has it's similarities in terms of the criminal "on the run" storyline is Road to Perdition - I absolutely enjoyed that, I think it was done very well (e.g great soundtrack, good acting from Newman and Hanks, some great emotive qualities between the Father and son relationship).

[Atop]

I'm not going to watch it again, I think it's utterly dire and won't put myself through it again.

 

I have major problems with the characters, their goals, the dialogue, the pacing in the second half, and the ending. If you somehow found a level in which the stupidity actually became funny then I pity you.

I thought there would be a consensus amongst all of us here, but I guess you're still Americans with a juvenile and narrow-minded sense of humour.

 

You are the narrow minded one my chippy chap chapster, jolly good old fellow....

 

Most British humour is tame compared to American comedy....

 

Keep up your appearances while coupling at the boring office while attending four weddings and a funeral...

 

Jolly good times!

 

Anyways, most people were reacting the way you are when the film came out....

 

you sir, are jazzband....

 

most haters learn to love this film...

 

BEEF SUPREME WILL RAPE YOU INTO SUBMISSION WITH A GIANT DILDO TRUCK!

 

then you will love this film....

 

on the other hand, Mike Judge's film Extract was not very good....

 

you should be talking about that...

 

instead this film boiled your balls for some reason...

 

wonder why?

 

besides the fact that you say you don't like it...

 

did Upgrayedd slap you around a little too much last night?

 

Did Frito Pendejo catch you batin'?

 

Did U.S. President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, porn super-star and five-time ultimate smackdown wrestling champion, not give you the finger?

 

well I am sorry dear chap...

 

Go on about your business...

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

i remember liking idiocracy but not that much

 

just spent the weekend in bed watching dexter season 1 + half of 2. good stuff.

I'm just finishing up with Season 3... loads better than 2 for sure.

 

last night he dumped rita for lila (!!!!) as she gets naked more often

 

i don't really understand how dexter gets an erection. if he feels nothing how does he feel lust?

 

season 2 is fine so far, no complaints except rita started looking more hollywood (plastic surgery much?)

[Berk]

just watched Harry Brown. I quite liked it 8/10

[SR4]

Beat Takeshi's Zatoichi....i really liked it actually, played out like a great serial...which makes sense given its basis....the ending was great, lots of moments of funny mixed with hardcore action scenes...and the big bad "boss" of the clan revealing himself at the end was really cool.

 

 

though like most others who watched it, the fake blood was a little LOL....I am sure Takeshi had a point to it, but its hard not to cringe every time the horribly CGI'ed blood flies about.

 

all in all, recommended, but for a fun action flick and less for something timeless and classic.

[Guest Gary C]

Wolfman - 6/10

 

It was alright. A standard blockbuster storyline, not as close to the originals as I would have liked, but decent enough. The evolution of the love-interest was incredibly quick and underdeveloped though, which made the ending a bit of a letdown.

 

The Wolfman looked oldschool though, and that's the best thing about it. Sometimes the cgi looked a little hokey (especially the bear early on) and the London rooftop scene was a bit flashy. Also, the Hopkins Wolfman's face looked terrible.

 

It was modern enough with some good gory bits. But mostly the Wolfman was oldschool.

[Dan C]

Ed Wood, it was good.

[Guest futuregirlfriend]

The Men Who Stare at Goats - 3/10

Un Prophete - 6.5/10

[keltoi]

Un Prophete - 6.5/10

 

i'd be interested to know why you scored so low? i loved it.

[Guest futuregirlfriend]

To me it was just an alright film. Not bad but not mindblowing. I can cope with slow-paced and long films but the length felt unnecessary for what it was.

 

 

 

The build up to the killing of Reyeb was probably my favourite part of the film. After that, or maybe 1:30hrs onwards, I felt it lacked tension. I might have still been wound-up about the goat film, but when they arose I wasn't really bothered if events went one way or another.

 

 

 

Besides the Arab/French relations and a peek into French prisons there's not much that I haven't seen before, but maybe better. I'd like to watch it again in the future as everyone else seems to have enjoyed it a lot but I don't know if it'll easy to not just pick it apart in my head while I'm trying to enjoy it. I'll give it a couple of years.

[lumpenprol]

I just started watching Eyes Wide Shut. It's hilarious. There's this scene with Kidman and Tom Cruise trying to act with this 1950s dialogue and it's dragging on and on....

[Guest mrx]

peeping tom - Sort of a fun campy b-film that drags in a couple spots. 6/10

mondo hollywood - I've always enjoyed exploitation/mondo documentaries, so this one kept me entertained. 7/10

[Guest pulsewarrior]

la dolce vita - overlong but a rewarding film as usual with Fellini. 8/10

[Guest pulsewarrior]

Definitely. I think the only possible way to see this film as anything other than a mess is from an ironic perspective. A film about how stupidity is bad is... stupidly bad. But that still makes the film bad, it's an incredibly poor angle to be going for.

 

I have some respect for the world that was created as there's clearly some effort put into the details of every little advert, but they mostly return to the one most pervasive joke of the film; that the future is centered upon the sex industry.

 

Why else is the time-travelling sidekick a prostitute? The fact that she's a prostitute isn't really used as a tool during the film either. She cons one of the future idiots out of money, which she never actually spends, but at no point does her job benefit anybody. Her vocation is largely redundant leaving the main recurring joke stagnant.

 

I'm willing to grasp that maybe I'm supposed to be annoyed by the terrible characters of the future. The 'lawyer' who acts as a guide in the future and is essentially one of the four leads is infuriating. His dialogue consists of monosyllabic demands and grunts, often repeated over and over. The voice employed by the actor is borderline offensive and a mix of full-retard and a deaf person. Who finds this funny? He watches a man getting kicked in the balls and claims that he likes to 'fuck real good', but oh, lol, look, in the future people like him are lawyers.

 

It's a sad film. Really sad. This was the follow-up from the creator of Office Space. Office Space. Everyone loves that film.

 

Office Space is good because it involves characters we can empathise with in a situation we can understand. They encounter problems, have a plan, fall out, get back together and it's wrapped up nicely with believable dialogue. It's a great film, undeniably, but Jesus, the guy's clearly a one-hit-wonder.

 

How can you return with a film that has no likeable characters, a confusing and annoying world, no redeemable dialogue and an ending that clearly has no invention?

 

In fact, the whole film does trail off a bit. The characters encounter problems, run away, encounter some more and then run away again at least 3 times. When the focal problem of fixing the future arises, sure it's an incredibly simple task, that's the joke, but it's dispatched with little effort. That's it, it's over. An attempt at tension is raised only with the idiot guide, who has the task of remembering what he has been told to do.

 

It's a nothing film. Nothing. During the whole film the main characters quest is for a 'time machine' to return to the past. There's no time machine. Is that funny? The writer gave him a quest, had him run around for a couple of hours, and then took it away.

 

Aw, he's learnt to live in the future. Fuck sake.

 

This film is garbage. Absolute garbage. For some reason I hold the notion that the writer didn't intend this film to turn out this way. I do believe there's some scope in there for a decent story. Perhaps the production company took the reins and focused upon what they thought were the most funny characters (the idiots). I'm sure they would've had figures and demographics that said that the same sort of people who find those characters funny also like destruction derby's... and then, hey, let's put a destruction derby scene in there.

 

It's actually the worst film I've ever seen.

 

excellent commentary, i agree with most points. movie was just terrible.

[Guest Gary C]

I just started watching Eyes Wide Shut. It's hilarious. There's this scene with Kidman and Tom Cruise trying to act with this 1950s dialogue and it's dragging on and on....

 

I've never watched Eyes Wide Shut with a critical eye because I was pleased enough with the original, Abre Los Ojos. Check it out.

[Squee]

I just started watching Eyes Wide Shut. It's hilarious. There's this scene with Kidman and Tom Cruise trying to act with this 1950s dialogue and it's dragging on and on....

 

I've never watched Eyes Wide Shut with a critical eye because I was pleased enough with the original, Abre Los Ojos. Check it out.

 

LOL what? He's talking about Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" and you're talking about the original Vanilla Sky

[lumpenprol]

I just started watching Eyes Wide Shut. It's hilarious. There's this scene with Kidman and Tom Cruise trying to act with this 1950s dialogue and it's dragging on and on....

 

I've never watched Eyes Wide Shut with a critical eye because I was pleased enough with the original, Abre Los Ojos. Check it out.

 

Wait...wasn't Abre Los Ojos remade into the Cameron Crowe film Vanilla Sky? I'm talking about Kubrick's last film that also happens to star Tom Cruise, with a younger, hot, and pre-botox Nicole Kidman.

 

Incidentally I continued watching about another half hour of it during my lunch break. I want to savor how awful it is. It's like Kubrick has never had sex in his entire life. The idea that he was motivated enough to make an entire film about infidelity is just...quaint. It's almost like reefer madness, but with better production values, and about sex. On the plus side, the lighting is incredible but also unintentionally hilarious as Kubrick overdoes it on the christmas lights so after a while you start playing "spot the christmas tree" in each room a character enters. Deeply funny film.

 

I am amazed that he was able to find so many hot chicks with natural breasts, though. It's like a squee fever dream.

 

edit: squee beat me to it

[Blir]

Most British humour is tame compared to American comedy....

 

oh LOL!