Films Recently Watched

[Guest Mirezzi]

Armond White is an insufferable twat, bless him so.

 

Nonetheless, he has teed off on Beasts of the Southern Wild and he's quite right.

 

http://cityarts.info/2013/01/30/how-do-you-pronounce-quvenzhane/

 

 

Quvenzhané’s name may be hard to pronounce (she must have been named after the ’90s R&B group Zhané), but her role as Hushpuppy embodies the familiar, patronizing white liberal attitude toward needy, impoverished, uneducated black people—the condescension that peaked when Hurricane Katrina unleashed floodgates of bourgeois pity. That’s the motivation behind director Benh Zeitlin adapting a Katrina-inspired stage play into a magical-realist art film based on the antics of a hyperactive black child. Quvenzhané milks audience sympathy by playing the lowly creature of Southern plantation disdain (black, juvenile, irrepressible) that used to be called a pickaninny.

[tec]

 

 

 

nope, just checked it out on wikipedia. So Craig plays a bum? :-)

 

Eventually...

 

 

 

 

Holy shit, what a cast.

 

Is the series any good?

 

Definitely one of the best TV serials I've ever seen. It's excellent. A must now that the BBC has finally released it on DVD - it wasn't available for years!

 

Yeah it's decent, not too sure how anyone from outside the UK will feel about it though.

 

I'm glad you brought up Daniel Craig as I was going to mention this show, he is stupidly good, ever since I've seen the peaks he can get to I've thought that he is being wasted in Bond.

[Guest zaphod]

beasts of the southern wild - patronizing generic garbage. cribs from george washington, which was a much better film. i strongly dislike magical realism and when it's used to detail the struggles of minorities it sets off a kind of blind rage in me. and then of course, this film is made by an apologetic white person who attended wesleyan. of course.

[Guest Mirezzi]

beasts of the southern wild - patronizing generic garbage. cribs from george washington, which was a much better film. i strongly dislike magical realism and when it's used to detail the struggles of minorities it sets off a kind of blind rage in me. and then of course, this film is made by an apologetic white person who attended wesleyan. of course.

 

Exactly. It's a great example of the sort of lols so powerful you shake your head and think, "You can't make this shit up."

[kakapo]

 

 

nope, just checked it out on wikipedia. So Craig plays a bum? :-)

 

Eventually...

 

 

 

 

Holy shit, what a cast.

 

Is the series any good?

 

Yes, it's great but not without flaws. It's my parent's generation portrayed and so there's an emotional resonance there. Not sure if it will translate to a non UK audience but the performances are all good.

[TRiP]

(SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE "ARTSY FILMS" THREAD)

 

 

• PLAYTIME - 9/10

 

 

 

• ON THE SILVER GLOBE 9/10

 

 

• THE TRIAL 9/10

 

 

 

• ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU CHOU 8/10

 

 

no joke, this is how all 'films recently watched' should be presented like - really gives a feel, or rather, an incitement to look it up and investigate further

[dr lopez]

beasts of the southern wild - patronizing generic garbage. cribs from george washington, which was a much better film. i strongly dislike magical realism and when it's used to detail the struggles of minorities it sets off a kind of blind rage in me. and then of course, this film is made by an apologetic white person who attended wesleyan. of course.

 

heyyy come on it was *slightly* better than that. It wasn't really about race at all. It was refreshingly post-racial for me... film didn't make attempts at differentiating a quality of life for blacks or whites. at least in contrast to patronizing generic garbage like "precious," this was manageable. How was this film about race to you? I think the failing of this film was the meandering last half... wtf was that bullshit in the hospital? I guess the white doctors v black hospital patients maybe? But what a way to totally destroy this charming miyazaki-esque fantasy world you've spent a lot of screen time developing. Bit of a shame this film exploded in the way it did, not worth all this attention, but still a completely respectable and impressive first feature, no? I was definitely pissed off during parts, but come on folks...

Edited August 20, 2013 by dr lopez

[takeshi]

lol

[Rubin Farr]

Warm Bodies 8/10 - entertaining take on zombie movies from his point of view, Rob Cordry is always good.

[TRiP]

Beasts of the southern wild is possibly the worst film i've ever seen

[Atop]

watch the original Last House on the Left for a more true worst film ever. Beasts is not the worst film ever for anyone, although I agree with most of the criticism.

 

When is SNL going to make fun of Lincoln by having him give famous speeches while hovering around on a candle with underground railroads flying past in the back drop? Have him hug Harriet Tubman and yell freedom. Then have him in the clouds giving more speeches with an eagle killing a snake superimposed onto the image. COME ON SNL!

[Guest zaphod]

detachment is literally one of the worst films i've ever seen. definitely the worst of this young decade. nothing can beat lucy liu's breakdown:

 

[youtubehd]9RDbdKU0qp8[/youtubehd]

 

embarrassing.

Edited February 1, 2013 by zaphod

[cruising for burgers]

the whole movie is an embarrassment, even i felt embarrassed watching it...

 

 

on the other hand, last night i watched this:
[youtubehd]Fy2y7UIpgP4[/youtubehd]

 

i quite liked it, lol, prove me wrong please!!!

[Suffocate Peon]

Indie Game: The Movie - 10
Dancer in The Dark - 9

Save The Green Planet - 9
What I love about asian films is their passion, at least in ones I seem to pick to watch. The passion of the lead character going to the edge of his own sanity, it's thrilling to just witness an actor act like it's his final day on earth, screaming and shouting and fighting, and because I can't understand the language it's more effective because i don't think it's easy to go as mental as these actors do and do it well. This is the same reason I liked Cold Fish and Strange Circus, the passion elevates the films, I'm pretty drained by the end.

Samsara - 9
The Hobbit - 9
Bedevilled - 9

The Clone Returns Home - 8
I've never seen a film that treats its subject with as much delicate sensitivity as this. Half way through I got that terrible sudden realisation you get sometimes where you realise you'll die one day and your brain can't comprehend what is left if there is no life because that's all you know. The film is so achingly slow and pure that it puts you in a place of contemplation.

Warrior - 8
Cold Fish - 8
Life Of Pi - 7
Samaria - 7
4th period mystery - 7
Lawless - 7
Immortals - 7
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter - 7
Samaria - 7
The Inbetweeners Movie - 7
Attack the Gas Station - 7
Suicide Club - 7
21 Jump Street - 7
Killing Them Softly - 7
Seven Psychopaths - 7
The House I live In - 7
The Imposter - 7
Searching for Sugarman - 7
Holy Motors - 6
GoldFinger - 6
Ghost and the Darkness - 6
Killer Joe - 6
Ted - 5
Go_Go - 5
A Separation - 5
Men In Black 3 - 5
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry - 5
Bottle Rocket - 5
A Simple Life - 5
Moonrise Kingdom - 4
Dr No - 4
The Amazing Spiderman - 4
The Tall Man - 4
Stake Land - 4

End of Watch - 4
I hated this. People don't talk like this, and if they do, I don't want to spend any time with them. It starts off promisingly with a convincing police surveillance tape chase scene which is ruined by Jake's I Am A Cop statement narration playing over it, which kind of sets the tone for the film ahead really. It's just embarrassing, closer to comedy or satire than realism. He talks like he's robocop, except robocop is cool and wouldn't come out with something as cringe worthy as that. Looking at it in writing it's pretty massive. It's hard to pick out a line because each one reinforces the stupidity of the other. It's insulting because it's such a simplification of good vs bad.

 

copied from imdb

'I am the police, and I'm here to arrest you. You've broken the law. I did not write the law. I may disagree with the law but I will enforce it. No matter how you plead, cajole, beg or attempt to stir my sympathy. Nothing you do will stop me from placing you in a steel cage with gray bars. If you run away I will chase you. If you fight me I will fight back. If you shoot at me I will shoot back. By law I am unable to walk away. I am a consequence. I am the unpaid bill. I am fate with a badge and a gun. Behind my badge is a heart like yours. I bleed, I think, I love, and yes I can be killed. And although I am but one man, I have thousands of brothers and sisters who are the same as me. They will lay down their lives for me and I them. We stand watch together. The thin-blue-line, protecting the prey from the predators, the good from the bad. We are the police. '

One starts a fight with a man in his house whilst the other watches, they're on police duty at the time, and it made me think, The Wire feels like a long time ago. Jesus The Shield feels like a long time ago. The film lost me from there on. The camera spazzes around, every other word someone says is bitch, dude, fuck, ass, I felt violated watching it. At one point the cop says to his best mate/partner 'you're a piece of shit', and then again 'you're a piece of shit', and I was so confused I just wanted it to end.

Silver Linings Playbook - 4
I don't know how this Weinsteins pushing their films for Oscars thing works, but Silver Lining's Playbook being nominated for so many (or any) is inexplicable on the basis of the film's quality. Jacki Weaver herself was apparently surprised that she had been nominated - she barely registers in the film, it is not a performance of note, I'm more inclined to remember Nucky's brother is in it along with a chubby Chris Tucker, though not for their acting, or how Julia Stiles has aged into a different looking person. Jacki Weaver is actually probably too good for this film, i suppose she's the only character who isn't cartoonish.

Robert De Niro... he's awful. That bit in the trailer, the 'when life reaches out with a moment like this it's a sin if you don't reach back' is actually redundant in the film, it doesn't work. His attempt at crying is embarrassing. I thought De Niro was better in Limitless. The script is so awful Jennifer Lawrence wasn't always convincing with it, it's a laughably unrealistic film that's kind of entertaining because of it. It equates mental illness with being obnoxious, loud and high spirited. The camera dances around the actors the entire time so I guess giving it a nomination for film editing isn't a stretch. All the characters spend all their time either running or shouting. Two characters argue about what in any film would be a touchy subject then the one on the receiving end gives the other the gift of an ipod who then exclaims 'oooohhh for me' and the touchy subject is dropped entirely in favour of talking about listening to Metallica when angry. Of all the things in the film, somehow I found it most far fetched that Bradley Cooper's character knows of The Clash and presumably likes them.

to sum up on the film's nominations, all actors nominated over act except for the one who doesn't and is just 'there', it's poorly written, and is the least challenging film to direct you could possibly think of, and maybe okay for editing if you're being amazingly kind. Best Picture win would actually challenge Crash as being the worst ever, and that in itself is remarkable.

Flight - 4

From Russia With Love - 3

Beasts of the Southern Wild - 3
I winced with embarrassment at some of the child's lines, I just found it unbearable the more I watched. It's supposed to be a film about the relationship between father and daughter right, but he's a cunt so I couldn't buy it. It made no sense to me that he reacts to her for the first time like they're strangers, I didn't even pick up that they're related. I did like the fact he reacted to some of her baffling nonsensical lines with real bemusement, as though the director had been feeding her with bullshit just before he said 'action'. The fact she was called Hushpuppy. I found it unbearable.

'I hope you die and after you die I'll go to your grave and eat birthday cake all by myself'. I mean, what. She comes out with this stuff with such frequency it's not like you can fantasize about her character dieing a horrible death like being eaten by a crocodile because she's not even on screen at the time she says half the stuff, so it's like she's violating your ears from beyond the screen, just endlessly yapping away, not actually saying anything. I don't usually hate small impoverished children, but she struck a cord with me I didn't expect, sort of in a way Dakota Fanning did in a few films. But she just moaned and cried, she didn't narrate with mawkish insincere words of wisdom.

Safe House - 0
It was so derivative it felt pointless. I've watched worse films because there is some quality to it, but it's one of a few films I've watched where I actually regretted it and wanted my two hours back. The film doesn't go with what is interesting. Denzel in a safe house being interrogated, messing with the minds of people, Reynolds being slowly introduced, a good psychological mystery thriller that has you hanging on every word said. Yeah, not of this happens, and essentially it just moves from place to place, with car chases and shoot outs in between. It's boring as hell, and is over directed to compensate.

[AJW]

even some old bond films mixed in there eh

[Suffocate Peon]

even some old bond films mixed in there eh

 

I tried to watch each one in order, and I thought if Goldfinger is as good as it gets then I might not bother. I wanted to see how they change through the decades, but they're just too slow and laid back for me. Each one feels like 4 hours long. They're like 10% memorable moments, 90% protracted dullness. I might try to watch them whilst doing something else, or split them into parts. And the 10% of memorable moments I've mostly already seen elsewhere in clip shows, out of the context of the film, so I kind of watch waiting for them to happen and when they do it's an anti climax.

[Guest Mirezzi]

Well done, above, Peon.

 

That's some quality reviews.

'I am the police, and I'm here to arrest you. You've broken the law. I did not write the law. I may disagree with the law but I will enforce it. No matter how you plead, cajole, beg or attempt to stir my sympathy. Nothing you do will stop me from placing you in a steel cage with gray bars. If you run away I will chase you. If you fight me I will fight back. If you shoot at me I will shoot back. By law I am unable to walk away. I am a consequence. I am the unpaid bill. I am fate with a badge and a gun. Behind my badge is a heart like yours. I bleed, I think, I love, and yes I can be killed. And although I am but one man, I have thousands of brothers and sisters who are the same as me. They will lay down their lives for me and I them. We stand watch together. The thin-blue-line, protecting the prey from the predators, the good from the bad. We are the police. '

 

To be perfectly honest, this opening was so fucking horrible, I dunno why I kept watching. Every single thing about that opening pissed me off.

[lumpenprol]

I was just going to say, great reviews Peon. Especially hit the nail squarely on the head with Silver Linings. Good on you for calling out Deniro, the oscar push, and the insultingly oversimplified view of mental illness.

[lumpenprol]

hahaha, yeah that too. Hey, at least Tucker is back to acting again (though one could argue that's a mixed blessing)

[cruising for burgers]

 

Lawless - 7

 

Immortals - 7

 

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter - 7

 

The Inbetweeners Movie - 7

 

Holy Motors - 6

 

Bottle Rocket - 5

 

Moonrise Kingdom - 4

if i haven't seen this outrage first i would have read the reviews...

[TRiP]

Enter the Void - 8.5/10 - want to give it 9, but somethings stopping me - enjoyed it immensely but perhaps it just over stayed its welcome, over used some of its effects (which on first viewings were amazing, but once repeated start to lose their power), The first hour is great, but starts to slip after that, would have been almost perfect had it been as short and tight as Irreversible.
Really inspiring film making tho, A+ for effort!

 

[pcock]

detachment 8.5/10. adrian brody is a beast.

[lumpenprol]

man that Lucy Liu video is really cringe-inducing

 

7 Psychopaths: well, that was a letdown after In Bruges. Kind of a bummer. Sort of like "Pulp Fiction" lite. Colin Farrell was surprisingly under-used and sleepwalking, after his brilliance in In Bruges. And I think Sam Rockwell was the wrong choice for his character, though I understood why they chose him. He didn't come off as nearly psycho enough. Even Christopher Walken, whom I normally adore, was pretty bad - he's seemingly had a new-ish facelift, so his face is strangely puffy and he looks like an old queen.

 

Basically I felt they had a great ensemble cast that was almost entirely wasted. The writing was often embarrassing (such as Rockwell burning his neighbor's flag, but inexplicably the neighbors left it flying, halfway burned? what? It even becomes the icon that ends the film.)

 

The film got a lot better at the climactic shootout ("your dog has a gay head") but even then the pacing was slightly off, and it wasn't enough to save the film. Overall 6/10

 

One take-away from the film: Abbie Cornish is pretty hot, and I look forward to seeing her in Robocop

[awepittance]

im going to see that just for the "your dog has a gay head line" i hope its worth it

[lumpenprol]

it's not, but knock yourself out