A few films recently watched.

[Atop]

I think so...

 

he must have really not liked it....

 

I want to see it and hear it is good....

 

same director as 'Near Dark'....strange yet cool 80's vampire flick

[Guest beatfanatic]

I think so...

 

he must have really not liked it....

 

I want to see it and hear it is good....

 

same director as 'Near Dark'....strange yet cool 80's vampire flick

 

dont listen to him, its an amazing movie. One of the best movies of 2009 in my opinion.

[chaosmachine]

the brothers bloom

 

it seems like this could have once been a great movie, but somehow all the great parts got left out. the plot twists the least satisfying way possible at every juncture.

[Atop]

I think so...

 

he must have really not liked it....

 

I want to see it and hear it is good....

 

same director as 'Near Dark'....strange yet cool 80's vampire flick

 

dont listen to him, its an amazing movie. One of the best movies of 2009 in my opinion.

 

Will do...

[YEK]

is tha zombieland a good movie? i love zombie movies

[Guest zaphod]

hurt locker was amazing but watmm seems to dislike it.

[Guest Mirezzi]

The Race to Witch Mountain - Terrible. The production design reminded me of a cheap carnival. Not clever. Not interesting. Even if I were 8 years old, I'd probably hate it.

 

O'Horten - Garden variety Scandinavian fare. Eg. Austere, moody, cold, and a bit...boring. It had a few beautiful moments though.

 

Sugar - Brilliant. From the same team (a couple) that did Half-Nelson.

[Guest zaphod]

surrogates 1/10

probably the worst film i've seen this year besides transformers 2, and that wasn't attempting to be serious. laughably bad acting, special effects, painfully obvious cyberpunk tropes. a couple scenes where surrogates were partying looked straight out of less than zero...total trash

[Atop]

cool, I'll check it out!

[lumpenprol]

Drag Me to Hell - 8/10 fun and funny, and more importantly, hooker approved! I was at my local sauna watching this with one of my hookerfriends. In the middle she had to go service a client and so missed a good chunk of the film. When she came back it had finished and I told her I was going home, but she begged me to leave her the dvd and was so absorbed when I left that she said "I'd walk you to the elevator, but...." Sam Raimi would be proud.

 

Antichrist - I watched this after I got home from the sauna which is too bad as it would have been a verrry interesting candidate for hooker review. This was a very un von Trier looking von Trier film, some truly gorgeous and dreamlike cinematography, but von Trier is certainly no Tarkovsky no matter how hard he wanted to emulate something Tarkovsky-like in this film. The von Trier elements and Tarkovsky elements never really seemed to blend effectively. Von Trier's got this whole weird mocking sense of humor that seems at odds with the styles of philosophical directors who play it completely straight, like Tarkovsky and Malick. I thought the core story of the film was superb (the often deep mad selfishness of women) and would have been equally or more effective played as a straight-ahead thriller, without the heavy stylization. It didn't need a talking fox or a squawking raven more indestructible than Willem Dafoe's penis. The three animal guardians standing watch at the end was also too much, it seriously undercut the mood of the film. The one "dreamlike animal sequence" I thought was brilliantly handled was when Dafoe first sees the deer and it turns and you see it has a (dead?) fawn hanging halfway-birthed from its rear. That was probably one of the most well shot symbolic scenes I've ever seen in a film.

 

Of course the most glaringly implausible part of the film was that the wife, while displaying all the characteristics of an Asian woman, was played by a white woman

[Guest viscosity]

hanging five. documentary on surfer art

 

[Silent Member]

The hurt locker is fucking great. Drag me to hell is great fun, thank god Sam Raimi stopped wasting his time doing those shitty spiderman movies.

[Atop]

too bad Drag Me to Hell didn't make him any cheddar so now he is making more Spider Man films.... 8 (

[Squee]

Antichrist - I watched this after I got home from the sauna which is too bad as it would have been a verrry interesting candidate for hooker review. This was a very un von Trier looking von Trier film, some truly gorgeous and dreamlike cinematography, but von Trier is certainly no Tarkovsky no matter how hard he wanted to emulate something Tarkovsky-like in this film. The von Trier elements and Tarkovsky elements never really seemed to blend effectively. Von Trier's got this whole weird mocking sense of humor that seems at odds with the styles of philosophical directors who play it completely straight, like Tarkovsky and Malick. I thought the core story of the film was superb (the often deep mad selfishness of women) and would have been equally or more effective played as a straight-ahead thriller, without the heavy stylization. It didn't need a talking fox or a squawking raven more indestructible than Willem Dafoe's penis. The three animal guardians standing watch at the end was also too much, it seriously undercut the mood of the film. The one "dreamlike animal sequence" I thought was brilliantly handled was when Dafoe first sees the deer and it turns and you see it has a (dead?) fawn hanging halfway-birthed from its rear. That was probably one of the most well shot symbolic scenes I've ever seen in a film.

 

Of course the most glaringly implausible part of the film was that the wife, while displaying all the characteristics of an Asian woman, was played by a white woman

 

If it doesn't get nominated for best cinematography I don't know what I'll do...

It's definitely the most beautiful shot movie I've ever watched.

[sneaksta303]

If it doesn't get nominated for best cinematography I don't know what I'll do...

It's definitely the most beautiful shot movie I've ever watched.

 

I agree with the 1st statement but not the 2nd. My shitty opinion of course. Probably the best shot film of the year though for sure. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, but it didn't affect me like I imagined it would.

[lumpenprol]

 

If it doesn't get nominated for best cinematography I don't know what I'll do...

It's definitely the most beautiful shot movie I've ever watched.

 

the interesting thing is it looked quite different to me than the initial teaser trailer someone posted here - I'd have to compare the two again but I think the film got some serious treatment in post to give it a unified look. From what I recall that teaser trailer looked much more like typical handheld Trier, with only the dead tree scene and a few others that were more stylized. I did find myself getting distracted from time to time by the way some overzealous compositor blurred out the backgrounds behind the characters into that "fuzzy white" from what I presume was a more everday backdrop of some trees or something.

 

I did like the pinching or warping technique Trier used at various points, to pinch in part of a treescape or face to give an eerie effect. I just wish the film had more emotional impact. All the ingredients were there but somehow the suspense was uneven. I found myself riveted at points, and then my attention would wander, only to be recaptured by another sequence, then to wander again. I think part of this was due to Trier's silly title cards interrupting the flow. Chapter breaks are only useful if they are part of a naturally episodic film and come at a climactic moment (a la pulp fiction). In this case, for example, the cut between Dafoe being in the fox-hole and her digging him out was really jarring and unnecessary. I still wish he had played it as a straight thriller; he could have kept the dreamlike elements but just gotten rid of shit like the talking animals all hanging out together, the breaking the floorboards to get the wrench, etc - I like a hint of the supernatural, not being bludgeoned over the head by it. Strangely, for all the stylistic flourishes I found the film less engaging than Dogville, and I think the reason for this was the talking animal/constellation overkill. And who didn't chuckle at Dafoe's repeated smashing of the raven in the foxhole, lol, have no idea why von Trier pushed that sequence so far.

 

Also I thought the script was a bit crap, not terrible but not well-written either. Not sure von Trier really "gets" psychiatry (not surprising given his seeming disdain for it), and some of the dialogue was stilted. I did like a lot of small moments though: the aforementioned deer, the oak-nuts on the roof, the moment where she says "look I'm all better" and then blames him for not wanting her to be happy, and also the sequence where he discovers she put their son's boots on backwards, that was a pretty brilliant touch. Yeah. Evil women, who hasn't been there.

[Atop]

I have and this film nailed it, freaked me out and yes it has some of the best cinematography I have ever seen, not the best but one of the best examples.....brilliant!

 

haven't watched it again

 

I know I will someday

 

not sure when though

[lumpenprol]

lol we agree for once, I know we have a lot in common (Voyage to Arcturus) but I often feel you are too generous with your reviews, I'm not going to forgive you for having to endure 90 minutes of Nicholas Cage in Knowing (though I do understand why you liked it) ;-)

 

I also think I'll rewatch this film, tonight...I agree it got pretty dang close to a realistic portrayal of a bipolar or worse crazy woman. Close enough at least to remind me of a lot of real-life instances. I think the main reason I'm attracted to Asian women, apart from the physical side, is the mysterious emotional ebb and flow and personality switching that's so often there. Being close to that fascinates me. Don't know if you have ever had the experience of catching someone off-guard when they are looking at you with pure, undiluted evil in their eyes, but I have...I guess if women weren't capable of that we wouldn't be as interested, and a lot of art wouldn't have been made.

[Blir]

I'm going to watch Antichrist tonight I think, eagerly awaiting it. Not seem a Trier film before, I wonder if it's a good introduction?

 

Film sounds good anyway. Sad I missed it in cinemas.

 

 

Fuck me, WATMM is so dead right now.

[jeremymacgregor87]

Fuck me, WATMM is so dead right now.

 

 

 

 

[lumpenprol]

I'm going to watch Antichrist tonight I think, eagerly awaiting it. Not seem a Trier film before, I wonder if it's a good introduction?

 

Film sounds good anyway. Sad I missed it in cinemas.

 

 

Fuck me, WATMM is so dead right now.

 

I think any von Trier film is as good an introduction as any other. Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark are probably his two most celebrated works. As I think Yegg would agree his "TV miniseries" Kingdom 1 and 2 (Riget 1, 2) is excellent. I find him both pleasing and frustrating but he is certainly a true original. I actually really liked Dogville, the more I think about it that may be his best work imo.

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

can someone who liked hurt locker tell em what was good about it? i saw nothing of value or entertainment. pure pish. my wife said it was ok as "army guys have good bods".

 

 

 

the first trailer i saw for surrogates made it look great but recently the adverts make it look trash. shame.

 

 

Caprica pilot 7/10

not bad. without a link to BSG i wouldnt have given this a chance. they got a chubby zooey deschanel to play king of the cylons. i'll definitely watch the series. i'm not gonna start a fansite though or buy the boxset. merely watchable.

 

paul blart: mall cop 5/10

yes its trash. but i enjoyed it. could have done without the extreme sports guys. the badguy crew was so bad. the leader even worse. we played a fat joke drinking game. on a sunday night with kevin james. how decadent.

[Guest zaphod]

if you hated it as much as you claim to then i don't think i'm going to be able to convince you otherwise. and that first trailer for surrogates was terrible. if you liked that you'll probably love the movie, since it's just a two minute condensed summary of the film's major plot points, in order. i think it's a case of extremely differing tastes. although lately i haven't really agreed with any of watmm's general opinions on movies (in the loop being a prime example).

 

edit: you liked caprica, you'll probably like surrogates, since they're both the same dogshit rehashing of cliched and simplistic sf done as cheaply as possible.

[Guest Mirezzi]

edit: you liked caprica, you'll probably like surrogates, since they're both the same dogshit rehashing of cliched and simplistic sf done as cheaply as possible.

You liked Adventureland, zaphod. I think you should check out Garden State.

[Guest zaphod]

you liked wanted, your opinions are completely void