Films Recently Watched

[Guest isaki]

Sunshine - ehh it was okay. looks good in HD

[lumpenprol]

flol thanks Robbie.

 

also, the only reason people like american history x is bc of the curb scene which lends the film an "oh shit this shit is real" kinda air.

that, and they secretly delight in the hate that Ed Norton so articulately spews. It's basically a movie where he says a lot of what the audience has already thought. It's like watching Scarface, sure crime lords are bad, but Al Pacino makes it all look sooooo sexy. It's sort of a subgenre of films I'd call "criminal porn".

[lumpenprol]

 

i've never seen a uwe boll flick. where should i start?

 

just start with Postal. the movie opens up with a scene inside the cockpit of United 93 on 9/11 where the terrorists decide not to crash the plane or do a suicide bombing, but then the american guys ram the cockpit door down and crash the plane themselves.

 

 

this is one of the better scenes from it

 

ain't gonna lie, I laughed. Funny how no-one has really challenged the fact that it's ok to laugh at Asians. I guess that's because they tend to be successful. That, and avenging angel Bruce Lee is dead.

Edited February 4, 2013 by lumpenprol

[Guest Blue Peter Cheat]

Stewart Lee - Carpet Remnant World: 10/10

 

Orphan: 3/10

[gaarg]

Jackie Brown: 8/10

 

I loved the atmosphere throughout the movie but it felt awkward at times and a bit long.

[lumpenprol]

Stewart Lee - Carpet Remnant World: 10/10

 

Orphan: 3/10

haha, I thought Orphan was good, lol.

[Blir]

 

flol thanks Robbie.

 

also, the only reason people like american history x is bc of the curb scene which lends the film an "oh shit this shit is real" kinda air.

that, and they secretly delight in the hate that Ed Norton so articulately spews. It's basically a movie where he says a lot of what the audience has already thought. It's like watching Scarface, sure crime lords are bad, but Al Pacino makes it all look sooooo sexy. It's sort of a subgenre of films I'd call "criminal porn".

 

 

I think there's some truth in that. I remember a guy I used to work with years ago saying American History X made him hate black people.

 

I also file Rise of the Footsoldier under that heading. Vile, shitty movie.

[Guest Blue Peter Cheat]

 

Stewart Lee - Carpet Remnant World: 10/10

 

Orphan: 3/10

haha, I thought Orphan was good, lol.

 

I was a bit drunk watching it but so many things didn't make sense and I hated the father. Total asshole. It was a decent idea.

[Guest Mirezzi]

Lumpy - Are you sure you're not referring to The Orphanage?

 

The Orphan was a horrible American movie.

[Atop]

Yeah even I didn't like that movie. Old russian midgets can fuck off.

[eugene]

the master - n/a/10 - this looks like is a serious movie. it looks and sounds amazing, the acting is fantastic as well but i can't quite piece it all together and embrace it properly, some of charterers' motivations are unclear to me. i guess it needs some more processing/rewatching.

Edited February 4, 2013 by eugene

[Guest zaphod]

orphan was terrible. the orphanage was mediocre though too.

[lumpenprol]

Lumpy - Are you sure you're not referring to The Orphanage?

 

The Orphan was a horrible American movie.

I was talking about the Orphan. I watched it with my wife, she was scared, the end. Lol. Basically what I'm saying is I'll review your movie favorably if it scares my wife.

 

It was a pretty well-crafted movie for what it was, though. If you take a scene like the scene where the orphan pushes the daughter off the play set, the director was good at creating tension in a fairly ordinary, everyday environment. I like movies where they pull that off. Which brings me to -

 

Arbitrage: another one of those flicks where they need to create tension and keep it going, without a lot of "action". Basically tight and well-done, but it's one of those films that will give you deja vu: haven't we seen Richard Gere in this very kind of movie like 20 times before? He's probably even wearing the same suits he wore in Primal Fear. It's a bit uncanny, but Gere pretty much created the mold for the "sleazy lawyer", so can't blame him for milking it. He and his beady little eyes do a fine job.

 

The movie was strange though, in that it wants you to root for the "bad guy". It does a very good job of that, as Gere is both crafty and sympathetic. There's also the vicarious thrill of watching someone trying to escape being punished for "doing something bad" - we've all been there, even if it was just stealing from the proverbial cookie jar, so I'm sure it resonates.

 

I did have one problem with the film, though, which is with the character of the black kid. It was nice to have a splash of humanity in the film, but at a few points I did end up wondering if the filmmakers had ended up actually buying into the mythology of the Gere character. It seemed a bit implausible that he would have helped this kid out so much in the past (given that he was an asshole), and the kid's very "forgiving yet cheerful" demeanor seemed like a bit of a stereotype. Something about it bugged me.

 

I thought the heart of the film was showing how very powerful people often get to their positions through force of will, taking foolish risks, and often being ADD or sociopaths or both. Not talking about the "management types", but the "self-made men". Now that I'm a "boss" I've come in contact with more of these types, and I think Gere does a good job of playing one. The bargaining scene with the other tycoon, the moment where he talks about how much of winning is simply projecting confidence, and the conversation with his daughter where he gushes about the money he could have made and brags about being the patriarch of the family, were very well done and seemed "true to form". That mixture of overblown ego, but justifiable competence. The gambler's high. Loved that stuff.

 

Did not like the 11th hour "now we have to give him the slap on the wrist the audience thinks he deserves" convo with his wife. Incidentally, Susan Sarandon has become really annoying. Maybe she was always that way, but she used to also radiate sensuality. Now she's just this old broad with chicken legs who seems like an insufferable yappy "feminist" type - and I'm talking about outside the film role. Though her film role was obnoxious too so I guess she was well cast. Seeing her in both this and Cloud Atlas, I'm wondering if she's starting to become a bit senile...she gives off that vibe.

 

I had to wonder about the point of the film, if it had one. It was more like an episode of "rich people's problems." But I guess we can all enjoy that if it's filmed well enough. Still the higher moments of the film hinted at a more dark comedy/social satire movie-that-might-have-been. I should probably watch Margin Call, that might be the film I'm looking for.

 

8.5/10, It's like a Grisham film without a hero, or courtroom (lol).

Edited February 5, 2013 by lumpenprol

[eugene]

i think the point is that it's "people with power problems" rather than some rich people that are detached from society. it almost seems like there's a new genre with those films lately, "post-capitalist thriller" (or something), you could throw "michael clayton", and "margin call" in it easily, "ides of march" too maybe.

[lumpenprol]

Good point, though his biggest problem in the film (apart from his cash-flow merger problem) is more of a "rich person problem". Not to give too much away for those who haven't seen it.

[Guest zaphod]

jeff who lives at home - it broadcasts its goofy ass intentions through a series of cliche "realization" moments, culminating in susan sarandon standing in "the rain" of an office sprinkler system. the lesbian twist (whoops, spoiler) is obvious and trite. jeff's personal philosophy is some earnest pandering shit straight out of a rejected mcsweeney's story. then there's the direction: why is the camera always zooming in and out like an episode of the american office cut by paul greengrass? isn't this sort of a comedy? why all the close ups? that means when there's supposed to be emphasis on something, a close up, it loses all meaning. bad script, acting, direction, music, concept, title, on set catering. total. fucking. traaaash.

[SR4]

jeff who lives at home - it broadcasts its goofy ass intentions through a series of cliche "realization" moments, culminating in susan sarandon standing in "the rain" of an office sprinkler system. the lesbian twist (whoops, spoiler) is obvious and trite. jeff's personal philosophy is some earnest pandering shit straight out of a rejected mcsweeney's story. then there's the direction: why is the camera always zooming in and out like an episode of the american office cut by paul greengrass? isn't this sort of a comedy? why all the close ups? that means when there's supposed to be emphasis on something, a close up, it loses all meaning. bad script, acting, direction, music, concept, title, on set catering. total. fucking. traaaash.

 

 

 

that's pretty much the consensus ive heard from anyone and everyone who has watched it. good to know to avoid.

[lumpenprol]

why is the camera always zooming in and out like an episode of the american office cut by paul greengrass?

lol, perfect mental image

[syd syside]

The Orphan scared me, so for that I think it deserves some credit.

[lumpenprol]

yeah, dunno why people be dissing it. It's a humble but successful genre film. Reminded me a bit of that McCaulay Culkin film I saw like 20 yrs ago, The Good Son. I don't think that got much respect either, but I remember it being good for what it was.

 

 

http://d1535dk28ea235.cloudfront.net/preset_65/412TP2PK7HL.jpg

[lumpenprol]

Just saw Moonrise Kingdom. What a nice little film nearly undone by the director's absurdly self-conscious stylistic flourishes. The first 15 minutes made me want to punch Wes Anderson's face in; I have to admit it takes a special kind of director to elicit that sort of hatred from me. Stop your stupid tracking shots and 4th-wall-breaking narrators and just tell your fucking story!

 

Once the story got underway it was mostly ok, and actually hit a high point once the runaway couple got captured; he managed to have a few sequences of decent dialogue without excessive formalism getting in the way. This is a film that would benefit from a remake without all the gimmickry. Loved the colors and the period design. 6/10.

[Guest Mirezzi]

Lumpy, I like your reading of Arbitrage, except with regards to the ending and what I believe were the ultimate goals of the filmmaker.

 

There were two high profile films about shame: Shame and Arbitrage.

 

Shit, gotta go.

 

I'll write more later...xo

[lumpenprol]

okay, keen to hear your thoughts, as always. Just to be clear about what I thought of the end, I did read the abrupt cut just as he's about to start his speech as the directors finally making a judgment on his character: he's a hollow guy, you don't need to hear what he's about to say as you've heard it all before. He no longer deserves your attention; his story has been told. Still, it didn't seem to quite jive with how appealing they made him throughout the rest of the film.

 

I haven't seen Shame yet. I was just thinking that There Will Be Blood might be a good film to compare it to. They sort of have inverted structures in the sense that (spoilers)

 

this one starts with a murder, and you then gradually warm up to the character as he tries to weasel his way out, whereas with the other you sort of start off liking the character, but then it culminates with the murder, which may make the audience question more what they liked about him in the first place

. Both leads have a similarly "stop at nothing" ambition.

[Guest Mirezzi]

I think Arbitrage was an excellent exploration of severe narcissistic personality disorder in the form of Toxic CEO / Corporate Psychopathy.

 

What I enjoyed so much was the serpentine narrative. He's an asshole. He's charming. He's the worst! But he's so damned smart!

 

I think they manipulated viewer expectations several times, until, at long last, you realize that Robert Miller (even his name is incredibly generic) is the totemic symbol of the Corporate Personhood, commodity fetishism, and hyper esteem sensitivity.

 

In the end, there is only one sustainable or healthy response to extreme narcissists: GTFO. You can't reason with them. You can't change them. You can't challenge them. If you do, you merely invoke the Narcissistic Rage and nothing will come of it. After all, narcissism is simply unregulated and unprocessed shame.

 

I worked for a guy like Robert Miller and it was simultaneously fascinating and humiliating.

 

The genius of Arbitrage, for me, was in the way that it indicts and critiques the widespread social acceptance of and fascination with narcissists. It's like the Steinbeck quote taken to extremes: Every American, however minuscule their "net worth," is just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire.

 

They made this argument, almost an essay, in a fully engaging and totally fucking entertaining movie. So for that, if nothing else, I applaud this Jarecki guy. That family is full of talented and interesting filmmakers.

[lumpenprol]

Great review, I'll have to think about the line "After all, narcissism is simply unregulated and unprocessed shame." I would think "narcissism is simply unprocessed fear" might be more appropriate. Is the idea that someone is ashamed by their actions so they keep moving forward at a hectic pace in order to stay one step ahead of their shame? Incidentally I'm betting true sociopaths don't feel ashamed...