A few films recently watched.

[Guest Z_B_Z]

 

Merde (Leos Carax) - 6/10 - My least favorite of the three... some interesting idea's but overall it wasnt executed very well. It produced a few belly laughs but that is about it.

 

 

easily the most interesting out of the three for me. the opening alone makes it worth it.

[goffer]

I did enjoy the opening... the long, un-cut spree of digestive debilitation was quite entertaining... it was interesting yes... but on a literal level. It's just not what I typically look for in a film. The other two films were more character driven and less literal which is what I like.

[perunamuusi]

surrogates. lol bruce willis. i presume this was an analogy for WATMM. rubbish story. every plot developmen was telegraphed ahead form the previous scene. theoretically you could watch the titles at the beginning, see where the whole thing is going and save yourself the time of sitting through it. silly. made m night shamalamadingdong films seem good by comparison (though had nothing in common other than bruce looking all pensive) quite fancied his mrs, though. seen her somewhere before but nothing on IMDB looks like anything i've seen. bruce willis is such a fucking rubbish actor . i fucking love him.

[Guest zaphod]

genius party 7/10

some gorgeous anime from studio 4°c. my favorite piece was baby blue, from the guy who did samurai champloo and cowboy bebop. some of the pieces fell flat, but it's worth picking up if you like animation.

 

kaiba 8/10 so far

weird series from the director of mindgame. he also contributed a short to the above film. i don't really know how to describe this. it's basically a science fiction series but the animation is fantastical and in the style of mindgame.

[Blir]

Shutter (2004) - One of the finest comedies of the last decade. Recommended viewing.

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

Battle for Terra 1/10

maybe i just wasn't in the mood but i didnt enjoy one thing about this film. unimaginative, bad voice acting, very predictable. half way through the fire service arrived next door and we watched them for half an hour . there was no fire, they just stood around but it was infinitely more interesting than this film. i guess i'm not the intended audience anyways. animation was ok when it wasn't humans, they always look weird.

[Squee]

Fall of the Republic - 7.5/10 Wow Alex Jones, your first movie without a shot of you talking every 2 minutes! a pretty decent film not following the typical conspiracy theory style of his previous work. I feel like you could show this film to practically anyone and they wouldn't have a hard time agreeing with it.

 

I watched this yesterday and I can honestly say that I didn't get the first half of the movie. The second half on the other hand about global warming was great. Al Gore is such an easy person to hate.

 

how did you hear about the movie ? it would probably help to be an American to understand the first half better, especially the dynamic between the republican and democrats and about how overall they work towards the same draconian goals but manage to trick the public into thinking one party is significantly more aligned with their interests than the other. but maybe if you had specific questions i can try to help answer them

 

My friend wanted to watch it (he's into Alex Jones, Infowars and so on...) and I had no idea what it was about other than it was a conspiracy movie about American politicians not keeping their promise. I can't even remember half of the movie now because I didn't really pay attention - plus, I don't give a rat's ass about politics in general. There's an election coming up in a couple of weeks here in Denmark and I have no idea what any of the candidates stand for. When everyone is out voting I'll probably walk around naked in my garden, drink coffee and listen to some Rhythm & Sound.

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

When everyone is out voting I'll probably walk around naked in my garden, drink coffee and listen to some Rhythm & Sound.

 

i hope they vote for some assholes who take away your freedom to be naked, ban coffee and ban repetitive music

[goffer]

Monsters vs Aliens - 4/10- The gf has been pestering me to watch this with her for a long while... she said I owed her after I "made" her watch the Shining. I rebutted that I did her a favorite and cooked her a fine meal to go with so, if anything, she owes me. She then reminded me she has boobies and such so I went along with it. The animation was amazing as expected and shined brilliantly in 1080P but the same old story and tired characters existed below its shinny goodness.

 

Going to watch Tulpan and The Earrings of Madame de... tonight most likely.

[Dr Clitterhaus]

The hURT lOCKER - 9.2/10

rEal good shit hear.

[Dr Clitterhaus]

Observe & Report - 0/10.

I dont really wanna go into it.

[Hoodie]

paranormal activity - 1/10

 

the sound effects were cool. that's about it. the plot was boring. the characters were miserable. it's really hard to feel sympathy for people who are whiny and stupid.

 

this is my best imitation of the boyfriend for the entire movie: "FUCK YOU, EVIL SPIRIT. I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU MYself oh fuck it's throwing things oh my god what are we going to do I'M A MANLY MAN, I'LL DESTROY YOu oh fuck it's making weird noises."

 

i probably would've felt more sympathy if the boyfriend actually tried to get rid of the haunting or whatever instead of antagonizing it for the entire fucking movie. and the girlfriend's hypocrisy was just as bad. yeah, bitch at your boyfriend for the entire movie, but refuse to do anything as well, that's a great plan.

 

the actors were good though, really captured the shallow and static nature of the two main characters.

 

god, what a waste of money. scariest movie of the year? psh, yeah right. i don't like the comparisons with "blair witch" either. "blair witch" had suspense down really well, unlike this formulaic piece of shit.

 

on a separate note, i just watched "the birds" yesterday. that film terrified me far more than the waste of human resources that is "paranormal activity." why don't people make more movies like that? subtle and unnerving? goodness gracious.

[SR4]

Fitzcarraldo-9/10

 

Wow. Just wow.

[lumpenprol]

Fitzcarraldo-9/10

 

Wow. Just wow.

 

I think it's great Herzog is getting this second wind of attention later in life, seems to prove he was ahead of his time - while many of his contemporaries were making political or philosophical treatises dressed up as films, he was trying to capture something more timeless and universal and I think that's helped his continued relevance...I'm still amazed at how easily and unselfconsciously he can combine the pseudo-documentary format with the surreal and dreamlike...don't think there's been anyone who can do it better...Malick for example is a bit too brooding and self-serious, and even Von Trier, whom I like, often calls too much attention to himself with his Dogme mannerisms. For example there's one scene in antichrist in the hospital where he zooms in on the stems of some plants in a vase and it snapped me out of the film thinking "Von Trier is now zooming in on the plants in a vase to underscore the wildness of nature and foreshadow the events to come." With Herzog everthing flows so naturally.

 

I haven't seen Fitzcarraldo for a while but you've reminded me of Aguirre. Man I love that movie.

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

watched amityville horror for the first time ever. fuck that weird, but impressive. i was uncomfortable thru the whole thing. it seemed like there was never hope

 

10/10

[SR4]

aguierre is next on the list....goddamn herzog is great.

[Guest Z_B_Z]

 

just watched recently. ive seen it a number of times and its probably one of friedkins best. all of his usual themes are represented (the fluidity of identity, the fine line between 'good' and 'evil') but theyre executed so well here. the editing and direction are all top notch. also, if you pay attention to how the themes are dealt with within the characters, its actually a very subtle film. granted, that might be hard to accept considering it has a number of scenes in crowded gay s&m clubs... anyway, an extremely bold, intelligent film from one of americas best directors (of any era). also the soundtrack is fucking fantastic.

[Atop]

Mirrors 7/10 I was like all thinking about mirrors and how weird they are and then I forgot I downloaded a movie about mirrors and then I watched it and was like oh this is the guy who directed High Tension, this should be fucked up and it was and Kiefer was all freaked out in it and the music and editing was good and it scared me.....scarred me.....don't look into mirrors!!!!!! Was awesome............

[keltoi]

herzog can be hard work, but i agree, very rewarding. aguirre didn't wow me as much as fitzcaraldo.

 

i watched premonition (from 2004 by Tsuruta Norio, not the shitty sandra bollocks remake)... cool athmosphere, pretty entertaining although no real surprises, Ring-like, creeped out horror.

[Guest Z_B_Z]

1.9/10

[AJW]

'Heart of Glass' by Werner Herzog.... all the jesuit style German village traits are certainly there, the whole thing with the guy being able to foresee things of great fires and other apocalyptic goings on got me thinkin of Göethe. I liked the glass factory thing kinda reminded me of the role of the sawmill in Twin Peaks.

 

mmmmmm Red Ruby glass mmmmmmm

 

Some alright scenes but I felt it went over my head to some degree.

Much preferred Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Even Dwarves Started Small. The latter is delightfully 'out there'. Much recommended.

[goffer]

Punch Drunk Love - 8/10 - I have confirmed with myself that this film is great. After reading through the Magnolia thread and bringing up PDL, I had to rewatch it. It's definitely PTA's best, though I have There Will Be Blood eying me right now, it's next in the queue. I love his use of colors, the ongoing chase of blue to red... the unorthodox use of sound that complimented the chaotic atmosphere so nicely. These fucking love stories... I can't get enough of them.

[lumpenprol]

 

 

Some alright scenes but I felt it went over my head to some degree.

Much preferred Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Even Dwarves Started Small. The latter is delightfully 'out there'. Much recommended.

 

I like the final sequence in Heart of Glass. Even Dwarves Started Small is one of my favorite of his. You should check out Signs of Life, his other early black and white film, if you haven't already

[goffer]

Tulpan - 9/10 - Extraordinary in all respects.... all the long takes and use of uncontrollable elements in these takes.... made everything almost too real. Beautiful film and highly recommended.

[Guest Benedict Cumberbatch]

the men who stare at goats 4/10

for not being quite as bad as i expected. theres a bit when clooney says "tell the world what happened" and i thought "but nothing really happened". thats sums up the film pretty much