Movies Seen in 2012

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Starbreaker, Jan 1, 2012.

  1. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    Upon further investigation, it seems those criticisms of Chariots of the Gods (I wrote the wrong name above) are off the mark, since Erich von Däniken also appears to claim that Stonehenge and a variety of other ancient human achievements were the result of alien interference as well. His claims about the Pyramids are the ones that have stuck in the popular consciousness, though. I was pretty young when Stargate first came out, so I'm unsure if the movie popularized this particular notion, or was utilizing something that was already in the popular consciousness.

    Really, though, the most concerning thing is that so many people have lapped up Chariots of the Gods as anything other than fantasy -- when it was first published and today.
     
  2. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Location:
    Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
    1. My Week With Marilyn (B-)
    2. Fantasia 2000 (B+)
    3. Blade Runner (B)
    4. The Hidden Fortress (A-)
    5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+)
    6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+)
    7. The Descendants (A-)
    8. Monsieur Lazhar (A)
    9. The Prestige (A+)
    10. Blood Simple (A-)
    11. The Big Lebowski (B+)
    12. West Side Story (A-)
    13. The Hours (A-)
    14. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    15. An Officer and a Gentleman (B)
    16. All Quiet On The Western Front (A)
    17. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (B-)
    18. Spellbound (B+)
    19. Seven Samurai (A+)
    20. X-Men: First Class (A)
    21. Do The Right Thing (N/A)
    22. Martha Marcy May Marlene (B)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. LA Confidential (A)
    25. Young Adult (B)
    26. Children of Men (B+)
    27. Gaslight (B+)
    28. North By Northwest (A+)
    29. American Beauty (A-)
    30. Revolutionary Road (A-)
    31. Being There (B)
    32. Coriolanus (C+)
    33. To Catch A Thief (B+)
    34. A Separation (A+)
    35. The Hunger Games (B+)
    36. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (A)
    37. Saturday Night Fever (A-)
    38. The Tree of Life (A-)
    39. Hero (B-)
    40. Boogie Nights (A+)
    41. Magnolia (A-)
    42. The Lives of Others (A)
    43. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (A-)
    44. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (A)
    45. A Streetcar Named Desire (A)
    46. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (A)
    47. Downfall (A+)
    48. In Darkness (B+)
    49. Cabaret (C+)
    50. The Avengers (A)
    51. The Incredible Hulk (B)
    52. The Last of the Mohicans (A-)
    53. Alien (A)
    54. Mystic River (A)
    55. Amadeus (A+)
    56. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B)
    57. Snow White and the Huntsman (C)
    58. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (B+)
    59. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (B)
    60. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (A-)
    61. Field of Dreams (A+)
    62. The Conversation (B)
    63. American Gangster (A)
    64. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (B+)
    65. Damsels in Distress (B+)
    66. 3 Days of the Condor (B+)
    67. Star Trek (A)
    68. Thelma & Louise (A)
    69. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (B)
    70. Brave (B+)
    71. The Grapes of Wrath (A-)
    72. Where Do We Go Now? (B)
    73. The Night of the Hunter (C)
    74. Dangerous Liasons (A)
    75. Amelie (A)
    76. Glory (A)
    77. Savages (B+)
    78. The Amazing Spider-Man (B+)
    79. There Will Be Blood (A)

    My introduction to Paul Thomas Anderson back in 2007, though it took me until this year to start in on the rest of his filmography. After watching his two late-90s hits a while ago, I decided to revisit this. This has a much smaller cast (it borders on being a one-man show for Daniel Day-Lewis, with Paul Dano showing up periodically; Ciaran Hinds is kind of wasted as Plainview's #2). Both the movie and Day-Lewis' performance skirt right up to the edge of being histrionic, but somehow it all keeps together (though I can appreciate why some people might think it doesn't).

    Cinema: 19
    Home Video: 51 (+1)
    Computer: 8
     
  3. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    1. Holy Rollers (B-)
    2. The Kids Are All Right (B)
    3. History of the World, Part 1 (C-)
    4. Blazing Saddles (A+)
    5. Scarface [1932] (B-)
    6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (A)
    7. Rampart (B+)
    8. We Need To Talk About Kevin (A+)
    9. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (B+)
    10. They Live (B-)
    11. Darling Companion (D)
    12. A Dangerous Method (B-)
    13. Haywire (C+)
    14. Mission: Impossible (B+)
    15. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (B+)
    16. Twixt (C+)
    17. Burn After Reading (B+)
    18. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (B-)
    19. Drive (A)
    20. Crazy Stupid Love (A)
    21. The Omega Man (D)
    22. The Adjustment Bureau (B+)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    25. Hugo (A-)
    26. The Secret World of Arrietty (B)
    27. Twelve Angry Men (A)
    28. Act of Valor (F)
    29. Walker (A)
    30. Lonely Are The Brave (A-)
    31. Executive Action (C)
    32. Three Colors: Blue (A)
    33. Bright Leaves (A)
    34. Photographic Memory (A)
    35. The People Vs. George Lucas (C-)
    36. Avatar (B-)
    37. The Life of Reilly (A-)
    38. Limitless (B-)
    39. Star Wars (A)
    40. The Empire Strikes Back (A)
    41. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (A)
    42. Machete (C+)
    43. Unmasking The Idol (D-)
    44. Alien (A+)
    45. The Raid: Redemption (B-)
    46. Attenberg (B)
    47. 21 Jump Street (C+)
    48. Piranha 3D (C+)
    49. The Hunger Games (C-)
    50. This Filthy World (B)
    51. Bad Fever (C-)
    52. The Conspirator (C)
    53. We The Party (C-)
    54. My Darling Clementine (C+)
    55. Freakonomics (C+)
    56 Sound of My Voice (A-)
    57. Tales from the Script (C-)
    58. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (B+)
    59. Me and Orson Welles (B)
    60. Everything Must Go (B+)
    61. The Avengers (C)
    62. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (B)
    63. One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (B)
    64. Starship Troopers (A)
    65. Alien (A+)
    66. Aliens (A)
    67. Into the Abyss (B)
    68. The Expendables (D)
    69. Dumbo (B+)
    70. Bullet in the Head (B-)
    71. City Streets (D)
    72. Hard Boiled (A)
    73. Burn After Reading (B+)
    74. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (B+)
    75. A Few Good Men (B)
    76. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (A)
    77. RoboCop (A-)
    78. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (A-)
    79. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (C-)
    80. Your Sister's Sister (A)
    81. The Gunfighter (B+)
    82. The Sting (A-)
    83. The Thin Blue Line (A)
    84. Rango (A)
    85. The Killing (B+)
    86. The Order of the Black Eagle (F)
    87. Jaws (A)
    88. Marley & Me (B-)
    89. Dominick Dunne: After The Party (B)
    90. Prometheus (B-)
    91. Collaborator (B-)
    92. The Island of Lost Souls (B)
    93. The Taking of Pelham 123 [1974] (B+)
    94. High Anxiety (C+)
    95. Carlos (A-)
    96. Stargate (B)
    97. Ben-Hur (B+)
    98. Bringing up Baby (A)
    99. The Trip (B+)

    The Trip -- A follow-up of sorts to Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (both films star Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalized versions of themselves; both were directed by Michael Winterbottom), this is an amusing road movie that is as frequently hilarious as it is melancholy. It would be hard to duplicate the manic creativity of Tristram Shandy, but luckily, The Trip doesn't try. Instead, it sets its ambitions much narrower -- the pair take a week long trip through Northern England's restaurants and hotels -- and is far the richer for it. Coogan and Brydon play brilliantly off one another, spending much of the movie exchanging great and awful impressions; hopefully, it won't take another five years for a third pairing of the two.

    Theatres: 40
    Home Video: 51 +3
    Computer: 8 +1
     
  4. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2001
    I love that ending. It's one of the most memorable I've ever seen. Great twist/fakeout.
     
  5. nvek86

    nvek86 Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    May 25, 2005
    According to wiki, there were plans to do a sequel to this, but thankfully they never did. It would have lessened the ending of this film.
     
  6. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Location:
    Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
    1. My Week With Marilyn (B-)
    2. Fantasia 2000 (B+)
    3. Blade Runner (B)
    4. The Hidden Fortress (A-)
    5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+)
    6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+)
    7. The Descendants (A-)
    8. Monsieur Lazhar (A)
    9. The Prestige (A+)
    10. Blood Simple (A-)
    11. The Big Lebowski (B+)
    12. West Side Story (A-)
    13. The Hours (A-)
    14. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    15. An Officer and a Gentleman (B)
    16. All Quiet On The Western Front (A)
    17. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (B-)
    18. Spellbound (B+)
    19. Seven Samurai (A+)
    20. X-Men: First Class (A)
    21. Do The Right Thing (N/A)
    22. Martha Marcy May Marlene (B)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. LA Confidential (A)
    25. Young Adult (B)
    26. Children of Men (B+)
    27. Gaslight (B+)
    28. North By Northwest (A+)
    29. American Beauty (A-)
    30. Revolutionary Road (A-)
    31. Being There (B)
    32. Coriolanus (C+)
    33. To Catch A Thief (B+)
    34. A Separation (A+)
    35. The Hunger Games (B+)
    36. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (A)
    37. Saturday Night Fever (A-)
    38. The Tree of Life (A-)
    39. Hero (B-)
    40. Boogie Nights (A+)
    41. Magnolia (A-)
    42. The Lives of Others (A)
    43. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (A-)
    44. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (A)
    45. A Streetcar Named Desire (A)
    46. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (A)
    47. Downfall (A+)
    48. In Darkness (B+)
    49. Cabaret (C+)
    50. The Avengers (A)
    51. The Incredible Hulk (B)
    52. The Last of the Mohicans (A-)
    53. Alien (A)
    54. Mystic River (A)
    55. Amadeus (A+)
    56. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B)
    57. Snow White and the Huntsman (C)
    58. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (B+)
    59. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (B)
    60. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (A-)
    61. Field of Dreams (A+)
    62. The Conversation (B)
    63. American Gangster (A)
    64. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (B+)
    65. Damsels in Distress (B+)
    66. 3 Days of the Condor (B+)
    67. Star Trek (A)
    68. Thelma & Louise (A)
    69. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (B)
    70. Brave (B+)
    71. The Grapes of Wrath (A-)
    72. Where Do We Go Now? (B)
    73. The Night of the Hunter (C)
    74. Dangerous Liasons (A)
    75. Amelie (A)
    76. Glory (A)
    77. Savages (B+)
    78. The Amazing Spider-Man (B+)
    79. There Will Be Blood (A)
    80. Memento (A)

    The five-pack of Christopher Nolan Blu-rays that was just released was a particularly good deal for me; I had two of them on DVD (the Batman movies) and was planning a Blu-ray upgrade at some point (I was going to wait for the inevitable trilogy pack), and wanted to see the others -- the set even omits The Prestige, which I already have on Blu-ray. And $32.99 is a great price, when the same store recently had Memento solo for $19.99.

    Anyway, this was Nolan's second film, but real debut to cinema audiences. Given Nolan's penchant for reusing actors, it's interesting how none of the principals here have popped up in subsequent films. I was tempted to watch this movie a second time before reviewing it, but decided not to. On first impression, it's a pretty impressive piece of plotting, which has been one of Nolan's stocks in trade. It's a bit cool, perhaps, but the protagonist can't sustain emotional reactions for long and the story is backwards, anyway.

    Cinema: 19
    Home Video: 52 (+1)
    Computer: 8
     
  7. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    ^^
    I just bought that five pack, too. Definitely a good deal. What really impresses me about Memento -- and you should re-watch it to see if you agree -- is that it's a puzzle film that holds up, even after you've figured out the puzzle.

    1. Holy Rollers (B-)
    2. The Kids Are All Right (B)
    3. History of the World, Part 1 (C-)
    4. Blazing Saddles (A+)
    5. Scarface [1932] (B-)
    6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (A)
    7. Rampart (B+)
    8. We Need To Talk About Kevin (A+)
    9. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (B+)
    10. They Live (B-)
    11. Darling Companion (D)
    12. A Dangerous Method (B-)
    13. Haywire (C+)
    14. Mission: Impossible (B+)
    15. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (B+)
    16. Twixt (C+)
    17. Burn After Reading (B+)
    18. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (B-)
    19. Drive (A)
    20. Crazy Stupid Love (A)
    21. The Omega Man (D)
    22. The Adjustment Bureau (B+)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    25. Hugo (A-)
    26. The Secret World of Arrietty (B)
    27. Twelve Angry Men (A)
    28. Act of Valor (F)
    29. Walker (A)
    30. Lonely Are The Brave (A-)
    31. Executive Action (C)
    32. Three Colors: Blue (A)
    33. Bright Leaves (A)
    34. Photographic Memory (A)
    35. The People Vs. George Lucas (C-)
    36. Avatar (B-)
    37. The Life of Reilly (A-)
    38. Limitless (B-)
    39. Star Wars (A)
    40. The Empire Strikes Back (A)
    41. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (A)
    42. Machete (C+)
    43. Unmasking The Idol (D-)
    44. Alien (A+)
    45. The Raid: Redemption (B-)
    46. Attenberg (B)
    47. 21 Jump Street (C+)
    48. Piranha 3D (C+)
    49. The Hunger Games (C-)
    50. This Filthy World (B)
    51. Bad Fever (C-)
    52. The Conspirator (C)
    53. We The Party (C-)
    54. My Darling Clementine (C+)
    55. Freakonomics (C+)
    56 Sound of My Voice (A-)
    57. Tales from the Script (C-)
    58. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (B+)
    59. Me and Orson Welles (B)
    60. Everything Must Go (B+)
    61. The Avengers (C)
    62. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (B)
    63. One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (B)
    64. Starship Troopers (A)
    65. Alien (A+)
    66. Aliens (A)
    67. Into the Abyss (B)
    68. The Expendables (D)
    69. Dumbo (B+)
    70. Bullet in the Head (B-)
    71. City Streets (D)
    72. Hard Boiled (A)
    73. Burn After Reading (B+)
    74. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (B+)
    75. A Few Good Men (B)
    76. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (A)
    77. RoboCop (A-)
    78. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (A-)
    79. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (C-)
    80. Your Sister's Sister (A)
    81. The Gunfighter (B+)
    82. The Sting (A-)
    83. The Thin Blue Line (A)
    84. Rango (A)
    85. The Killing (B+)
    86. The Order of the Black Eagle (F)
    87. Jaws (A)
    88. Marley & Me (B-)
    89. Dominick Dunne: After The Party (B)
    90. Prometheus (B-)
    91. Collaborator (B-)
    92. The Island of Lost Souls (B)
    93. The Taking of Pelham 123 [1974] (B+)
    94. High Anxiety (C+)
    95. Carlos (A-)
    96. Stargate (B)
    97. Ben-Hur (B+)
    98. Bringing up Baby (A)
    99. The Trip (B+)
    100. Observe and Report (D-)

    Observe and Report -- At one point a character in the movie says, "I thought this was going to be funny, but actually, it's kind of sad," which is a rather good summation of my reaction. Seth Rogen's main character is irredeemable from beginning to end; I've heard him compared to Travis Bickle, but this film displays none of the intelligence of Taxi Driver, which at first engenders sympathy for Travis, only to slowly roll out how absolutely crazy he is. This wouldn't sink the movie if there were any consequences, but besides briefly losing his job after (a) assaulting mall employees, (b) rather brutally assaulting minors in the mall parking lot, (c) failing to prevent his best friend and co-worker from repeatedly stealing, (d) doing hard drugs on mall property, (e) deliberately damaging mall property, and (f) breaking into the mall property after he's been asked to leave and assaulting dozens of police officers resisting arrest -- it's only the last thing that seems to get him fired -- the movie has no consequences.

    Theatres: 40
    Home Video: 52 +1
    Computer: 8
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2012
  8. stj

    stj Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2006
    Location:
    the real world
    ^^^Comedy is about conflict. What exactly is your point? If it was supposed to be about what Rogen's character's choices meant, then it would have been a drama. It could have been a tragicomedy but tragedy (aka hero loses) is not a popular genre. It sounds like Observe and Report is a fairly normal character-driven piece: "We" get to vicariously identify with the hero as he acts out the conflicts we would (on one level) like to, then he is redeemed by suffering (briefly loses his job,) the happy end.

    Not identifying with Seth Rogen seems natural and proper. Indeed, what's a little disturbing is the number of people who do seem to identify with Rogen. Would the movie have been better if Rogen had been killed by the cops?
     
  9. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    The movie would have been acceptable if it had engendered more than a handful of laughs. From your determination that it is "a fairly normal character-driven piece," I presume you haven't seen it?

    Honestly, the character's irredeemable nature wouldn't be an issue if the film didn't continuously ask us to sympathize with him. When he loudly and publicly calls a girl in the mall (who he date-raped, among other supposedly comedic offenses) a slut for sleeping with someone else, I get the impression that we're supposed to cheer. When he nearly murders a flasher with little if any provocation, we're definitely supposed to cheer, as the crowd in the movie literally does. Better yet, his old boss throws him the keys to his go-cart, and he rides up to the police station triumphantly with his wounded victim. What do these police officers (which he previously assaulted for no reason) do when he deposits a bleeding man (this being a supposed comedy, blood can gush everywhere without effect) who he proudly announces he shot? Why, they cheer for him, of course. Understatement not being in this film's vocabulary, the final scene before the credits let's us know that he's being hailed as a hero on the local news, which has led to his re-hiring at the mall.

    A good review that expends more energy than I'm willing to invest in this garbage: http://www.reverseshot.com/article/observe_and_report
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2012
  10. stj

    stj Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2006
    Location:
    the real world
    If the crowd in the movie cheered when Rogen's character shot a flasher, then it seems to me that it was entertaining the larger part of the audience. Comedy=happy ending. For what it's worth, I don't think I would have been entertained either.

    The words "redeemable" and "consequences" are confusing me. Comedy is about conflict and the resolution of the comedy is about the happy ending to the conflict. If the mall cop was irredeemable then there should have been no happy ending. And killing the mall cop would have still have allowed the audience to enjoy all the shenanigans up til the formal concession that the protagonist was a prick.

    It is possible for a comedy's happy ending to be a just reconciliation of the parties, with redemption for all. In farces, the conflict is free from serious consequences; in tragicomedies, the conflicts end with realistic consequences. In other comedies, the plot carefully contrives to limit the consequences to the conflict, and devises a plausible reconciliation (including redemption as needed) if possible. Many comedies just end in a welter of absurdities and sentimentalities of course. It sounds to me that Observe and Report is just another comedy where we're supposed to identify with the lead doing the things "we" are supposed to want to do (on some level, not in cold blooded reality, of course.) It all hinges on whether we identify with the Rogen character. It seems unlikely I would.
     
  11. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Location:
    Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
    1. My Week With Marilyn (B-)
    2. Fantasia 2000 (B+)
    3. Blade Runner (B)
    4. The Hidden Fortress (A-)
    5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+)
    6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+)
    7. The Descendants (A-)
    8. Monsieur Lazhar (A)
    9. The Prestige (A+)
    10. Blood Simple (A-)
    11. The Big Lebowski (B+)
    12. West Side Story (A-)
    13. The Hours (A-)
    14. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    15. An Officer and a Gentleman (B)
    16. All Quiet On The Western Front (A)
    17. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (B-)
    18. Spellbound (B+)
    19. Seven Samurai (A+)
    20. X-Men: First Class (A)
    21. Do The Right Thing (N/A)
    22. Martha Marcy May Marlene (B)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. LA Confidential (A)
    25. Young Adult (B)
    26. Children of Men (B+)
    27. Gaslight (B+)
    28. North By Northwest (A+)
    29. American Beauty (A-)
    30. Revolutionary Road (A-)
    31. Being There (B)
    32. Coriolanus (C+)
    33. To Catch A Thief (B+)
    34. A Separation (A+)
    35. The Hunger Games (B+)
    36. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (A)
    37. Saturday Night Fever (A-)
    38. The Tree of Life (A-)
    39. Hero (B-)
    40. Boogie Nights (A+)
    41. Magnolia (A-)
    42. The Lives of Others (A)
    43. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (A-)
    44. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (A)
    45. A Streetcar Named Desire (A)
    46. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (A)
    47. Downfall (A+)
    48. In Darkness (B+)
    49. Cabaret (C+)
    50. The Avengers (A)
    51. The Incredible Hulk (B)
    52. The Last of the Mohicans (A-)
    53. Alien (A)
    54. Mystic River (A)
    55. Amadeus (A+)
    56. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B)
    57. Snow White and the Huntsman (C)
    58. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (B+)
    59. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (B)
    60. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (A-)
    61. Field of Dreams (A+)
    62. The Conversation (B)
    63. American Gangster (A)
    64. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (B+)
    65. Damsels in Distress (B+)
    66. 3 Days of the Condor (B+)
    67. Star Trek (A)
    68. Thelma & Louise (A)
    69. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (B)
    70. Brave (B+)
    71. The Grapes of Wrath (A-)
    72. Where Do We Go Now? (B)
    73. The Night of the Hunter (C)
    74. Dangerous Liasons (A)
    75. Amelie (A)
    76. Glory (A)
    77. Savages (B+)
    78. The Amazing Spider-Man (B+)
    79. There Will Be Blood (A)
    80. Memento (A)
    81. Nine (C)

    In further "$4.99 at Future Shop" adventures, there's this, what was to be the centrepiece of Miramax's 2009 Oscar campaign, but ended up being a dud. I didn't see it then, as a result; so is there anything worth seeing? Answer: you will believe that Daniel Day-Lewis can make a bad movie (well, he already kinda did with The Ballad of Jack and Rose, but that was a favour to his wife).

    The musical this is based on is an adaptation of Fellini's 8 1/2 ("8 1/2" + "music" = "9"), which I haven't seen, but, for starters, the movie fails the most basic litmus test for musicals: does watching it make me want to buy the soundtrack? (Rob Marshall's earlier Chicago, by comparison, has the highest score on that test of any of the live-action musicals I've seen to date) Only a couple of the musical sequences are memorable, the rest failing because of an uninteresting song (not the film's fault, of course; in fact, two of the most memorable ones are originals created for the film, so they improved on some things there), or because Marshall's default formula of intersplicing the song with dialogue falls down (when it worked so seamlessly in Chicago).

    And despite an extremely impressive ensemble cast, most of them have very little to do. Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, Fergie and Nicole Kidman are all virtually walk-ons or scenery (I'm also pretty sure the movie manages to fail the Bechdel Test despite having seven headlining actresses with five Oscars between them). Penelope Cruz has more, but kind of drops out of the movie in a way that doesn't feel very resolved; she got an Oscar nomination for this (memorably described by one of the At the Movies guys as a "punter nomination"), but while she's good, it's hard to see how anyone who actually watched the movie could nominate her over Marion Cotillard. Cotillard is, by far, the best thing about the movie, the only part that you can really connect to emotionally, and she has by far the best song, the climactic one (her first song is also one of the better ones).

    The movie basically feels like Marshall trying to recreate his first and biggest critical success, but the bag of tricks he used there just doesn't fit this story, and the story itself never clicks. But many of my issues probably relate to the original product, so one can't lay all the blame with him.

    Cinema: 19
    Home Video: 53 (+1)
    Computer: 8
     
  12. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    1. Holy Rollers (B-)
    2. The Kids Are All Right (B)
    3. History of the World, Part 1 (C-)
    4. Blazing Saddles (A+)
    5. Scarface [1932] (B-)
    6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (A)
    7. Rampart (B+)
    8. We Need To Talk About Kevin (A+)
    9. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (B+)
    10. They Live (B-)
    11. Darling Companion (D)
    12. A Dangerous Method (B-)
    13. Haywire (C+)
    14. Mission: Impossible (B+)
    15. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (B+)
    16. Twixt (C+)
    17. Burn After Reading (B+)
    18. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (B-)
    19. Drive (A)
    20. Crazy Stupid Love (A)
    21. The Omega Man (D)
    22. The Adjustment Bureau (B+)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    25. Hugo (A-)
    26. The Secret World of Arrietty (B)
    27. Twelve Angry Men (A)
    28. Act of Valor (F)
    29. Walker (A)
    30. Lonely Are The Brave (A-)
    31. Executive Action (C)
    32. Three Colors: Blue (A)
    33. Bright Leaves (A)
    34. Photographic Memory (A)
    35. The People Vs. George Lucas (C-)
    36. Avatar (B-)
    37. The Life of Reilly (A-)
    38. Limitless (B-)
    39. Star Wars (A)
    40. The Empire Strikes Back (A)
    41. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (A)
    42. Machete (C+)
    43. Unmasking The Idol (D-)
    44. Alien (A+)
    45. The Raid: Redemption (B-)
    46. Attenberg (B)
    47. 21 Jump Street (C+)
    48. Piranha 3D (C+)
    49. The Hunger Games (C-)
    50. This Filthy World (B)
    51. Bad Fever (C-)
    52. The Conspirator (C)
    53. We The Party (C-)
    54. My Darling Clementine (C+)
    55. Freakonomics (C+)
    56 Sound of My Voice (A-)
    57. Tales from the Script (C-)
    58. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (B+)
    59. Me and Orson Welles (B)
    60. Everything Must Go (B+)
    61. The Avengers (C)
    62. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (B)
    63. One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (B)
    64. Starship Troopers (A)
    65. Alien (A+)
    66. Aliens (A)
    67. Into the Abyss (B)
    68. The Expendables (D)
    69. Dumbo (B+)
    70. Bullet in the Head (B-)
    71. City Streets (D)
    72. Hard Boiled (A)
    73. Burn After Reading (B+)
    74. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (B+)
    75. A Few Good Men (B)
    76. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (A)
    77. RoboCop (A-)
    78. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (A-)
    79. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (C-)
    80. Your Sister's Sister (A)
    81. The Gunfighter (B+)
    82. The Sting (A-)
    83. The Thin Blue Line (A)
    84. Rango (A)
    85. The Killing (B+)
    86. The Order of the Black Eagle (F)
    87. Jaws (A)
    88. Marley & Me (B-)
    89. Dominick Dunne: After The Party (B)
    90. Prometheus (B-)
    91. Collaborator (B-)
    92. The Island of Lost Souls (B)
    93. The Taking of Pelham 123 [1974] (B+)
    94. High Anxiety (C+)
    95. Carlos (A-)
    96. Stargate (B)
    97. Ben-Hur (B+)
    98. Bringing up Baby (A)
    99. The Trip (B+)
    100. Observe and Report (D-)
    101. The Conversation (A)

    The Conversation -- I really like this film, although it takes enough time to establish the isolation of its main character that it might alienate some viewers. Hackman is brilliantly understated in the lead, a nice change of pace from his most famous roles. The music, essentially a solo piano score, is one of my favorites, and especially effective at conveying the emotional and mental state of the Hackman's character. It's been suggested that the final twist, which relies on a revised line reading of dialogue that has been replayed throughout the movie, is a bit of a cheat, but the film is so subjectively told that it doesn't bother me in the least.

    I know CaptainCanada was put off by an allegedly out-of-character decision to accelerate the plot, but I find nothing of the sort when I see the film. I'd be curious to discuss that a bit.

    Theatres: 40
    Home Video: 53 +1
    Computer: 8
     
  13. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Location:
    Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
    After spending so much time establishing how paranoid Hackman is, to the point that he seems barely able to open up to his longtime girlfriend/acquaintance, letting all those people into his office and then letting the other woman he barely knew stay there (allowing her to steal the tapes) just doesn't come across as plausible to me.
     
  14. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    Well, they had to go somewhere. It would have been less plausible if he took them to his apartment, even though that would seem a better place for a party. It's not as if he lets his competitor in on his trade secrets; he stops the tape when Stan begins to play it and keeps his best equipment behind a locked gate. He does explain his recent operation, but only to show up his competitor, who he doesn't seem to like at all.

    As for the hooker, Harry is paranoid, of course, but it seems to me that his overriding emotion in the film is guilt, not paranoia. To him, she's a surrogate for Amy; he feels guilty about never opening up to Amy now that she's vanished. He's also distracted by his guilt about causing another murder; in a strange way the hooker is also a surrogate for the women he thinks is going to be killed.

    Maybe these are just excuses, but it seems to me that as boastful as he is about not being personally involved ("I don't care what they're talking about -- I just want a big fat recording."), Harry Caul constantly feels guilty about what he does.
     
  15. nvek86

    nvek86 Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    May 25, 2005
    84. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

    I didn't like this as a Sherlock Holmes film, but as an adventure film set in the 19th century, this was quite fun and I especially liked the way the final fight was handled.
     
  16. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2001
    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    At the theater:
    The Amazing Spider-Man
    Men In Black III
    John Carter
    Prometheus
    The Artist
    Hugo
    War Horse
    Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
    The Avengers
    The Hunger Games
    The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1
    Titanic 3D

    At special screenings:
    Predator
    Predator 2
    Star Trek: The Motion Picture (at the La-La Land CD release party/screening)
    The Living Daylights
    Licence to Kill
    Perv: The Cat
    From Russia With Love
    Starship Troopers (At the 15th Anniversary screening)

    At marathons:
    Alien
    Aliens
    Predator
    Predator 2
    Alien 3
    Alien: Resurrection
    Alien vs. Predator
    Aliens vs. Predator 2: Requiem

    At home on video/DVD/Blu-Ray:
    Midnight in Paris
    The Descendants
    Good Will Hunting
    Local Hero
    American Dreams Do Come True
    Horrible Bosses
    Star Trek Generations
     
  17. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Location:
    Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
    1. My Week With Marilyn (B-)
    2. Fantasia 2000 (B+)
    3. Blade Runner (B)
    4. The Hidden Fortress (A-)
    5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+)
    6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+)
    7. The Descendants (A-)
    8. Monsieur Lazhar (A)
    9. The Prestige (A+)
    10. Blood Simple (A-)
    11. The Big Lebowski (B+)
    12. West Side Story (A-)
    13. The Hours (A-)
    14. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    15. An Officer and a Gentleman (B)
    16. All Quiet On The Western Front (A)
    17. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (B-)
    18. Spellbound (B+)
    19. Seven Samurai (A+)
    20. X-Men: First Class (A)
    21. Do The Right Thing (N/A)
    22. Martha Marcy May Marlene (B)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. LA Confidential (A)
    25. Young Adult (B)
    26. Children of Men (B+)
    27. Gaslight (B+)
    28. North By Northwest (A+)
    29. American Beauty (A-)
    30. Revolutionary Road (A-)
    31. Being There (B)
    32. Coriolanus (C+)
    33. To Catch A Thief (B+)
    34. A Separation (A+)
    35. The Hunger Games (B+)
    36. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (A)
    37. Saturday Night Fever (A-)
    38. The Tree of Life (A-)
    39. Hero (B-)
    40. Boogie Nights (A+)
    41. Magnolia (A-)
    42. The Lives of Others (A)
    43. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (A-)
    44. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (A)
    45. A Streetcar Named Desire (A)
    46. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (A)
    47. Downfall (A+)
    48. In Darkness (B+)
    49. Cabaret (C+)
    50. The Avengers (A)
    51. The Incredible Hulk (B)
    52. The Last of the Mohicans (A-)
    53. Alien (A)
    54. Mystic River (A)
    55. Amadeus (A+)
    56. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B)
    57. Snow White and the Huntsman (C)
    58. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (B+)
    59. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (B)
    60. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (A-)
    61. Field of Dreams (A+)
    62. The Conversation (B)
    63. American Gangster (A)
    64. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (B+)
    65. Damsels in Distress (B+)
    66. 3 Days of the Condor (B+)
    67. Star Trek (A)
    68. Thelma & Louise (A)
    69. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (B)
    70. Brave (B+)
    71. The Grapes of Wrath (A-)
    72. Where Do We Go Now? (B)
    73. The Night of the Hunter (C)
    74. Dangerous Liasons (A)
    75. Amelie (A)
    76. Glory (A)
    77. Savages (B+)
    78. The Amazing Spider-Man (B+)
    79. There Will Be Blood (A)
    80. Memento (A)
    81. Nine (C)
    82. Insomnia (B+)

    The other Nolan movie I haven't seen (well, apart from the first one). It's a pretty decent police thriller, with good performances from everybody (and Al Pacino looking reasonably engaged onscreen, which is a bit of a rarity in the last 10+ years). Robin Williams makes a good villain (he doesn't show up until halfway through so it's easy to forget he's even in the movie). The movie never quite becomes great, though, aided by a climax that involves the previously smart villain doing some rather stupid things.

    Cinema: 19
    Home Video: 54 (+1)
    Computer: 8
     
  18. Harbinger

    Harbinger Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2012
    I haven't made it to the theatres not even once this year. That's the fun of being broke. I would have at least liked to have seen The Avengers and Prometheus. :borg:
     
  19. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    Following is a micro-budget thriller, but it's a good one. Worth seeing if you stumble across it.

    Out of curiosity, have you seen the original Norwegian version of Insomnia? Another poster suggested it displays themes that would later be on display in The Dark Knight, but I wonder what is from Nolan's imagination and what is simply taken from the original.

    1. Holy Rollers (B-)
    2. The Kids Are All Right (B)
    3. History of the World, Part 1 (C-)
    4. Blazing Saddles (A+)
    5. Scarface [1932] (B-)
    6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (A)
    7. Rampart (B+)
    8. We Need To Talk About Kevin (A+)
    9. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (B+)
    10. They Live (B-)
    11. Darling Companion (D)
    12. A Dangerous Method (B-)
    13. Haywire (C+)
    14. Mission: Impossible (B+)
    15. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (B+)
    16. Twixt (C+)
    17. Burn After Reading (B+)
    18. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (B-)
    19. Drive (A)
    20. Crazy Stupid Love (A)
    21. The Omega Man (D)
    22. The Adjustment Bureau (B+)
    23. The Artist (A-)
    24. Lady and the Tramp (B)
    25. Hugo (A-)
    26. The Secret World of Arrietty (B)
    27. Twelve Angry Men (A)
    28. Act of Valor (F)
    29. Walker (A)
    30. Lonely Are The Brave (A-)
    31. Executive Action (C)
    32. Three Colors: Blue (A)
    33. Bright Leaves (A)
    34. Photographic Memory (A)
    35. The People Vs. George Lucas (C-)
    36. Avatar (B-)
    37. The Life of Reilly (A-)
    38. Limitless (B-)
    39. Star Wars (A)
    40. The Empire Strikes Back (A)
    41. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (A)
    42. Machete (C+)
    43. Unmasking The Idol (D-)
    44. Alien (A+)
    45. The Raid: Redemption (B-)
    46. Attenberg (B)
    47. 21 Jump Street (C+)
    48. Piranha 3D (C+)
    49. The Hunger Games (C-)
    50. This Filthy World (B)
    51. Bad Fever (C-)
    52. The Conspirator (C)
    53. We The Party (C-)
    54. My Darling Clementine (C+)
    55. Freakonomics (C+)
    56 Sound of My Voice (A-)
    57. Tales from the Script (C-)
    58. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (B+)
    59. Me and Orson Welles (B)
    60. Everything Must Go (B+)
    61. The Avengers (C)
    62. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (B)
    63. One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (B)
    64. Starship Troopers (A)
    65. Alien (A+)
    66. Aliens (A)
    67. Into the Abyss (B)
    68. The Expendables (D)
    69. Dumbo (B+)
    70. Bullet in the Head (B-)
    71. City Streets (D)
    72. Hard Boiled (A)
    73. Burn After Reading (B+)
    74. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (B+)
    75. A Few Good Men (B)
    76. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (A)
    77. RoboCop (A-)
    78. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (A-)
    79. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (C-)
    80. Your Sister's Sister (A)
    81. The Gunfighter (B+)
    82. The Sting (A-)
    83. The Thin Blue Line (A)
    84. Rango (A)
    85. The Killing (B+)
    86. The Order of the Black Eagle (F)
    87. Jaws (A)
    88. Marley & Me (B-)
    89. Dominick Dunne: After The Party (B)
    90. Prometheus (B-)
    91. Collaborator (B-)
    92. The Island of Lost Souls (B)
    93. The Taking of Pelham 123 [1974] (B+)
    94. High Anxiety (C+)
    95. Carlos (A-)
    96. Stargate (B)
    97. Ben-Hur (B+)
    98. Bringing up Baby (A)
    99. The Trip (B+)
    100. Observe and Report (D-)
    101. The Conversation (A)
    102. TRON (C)

    TRON -- The premise is an interesting exercise in fantasy (what if computer programs were really intelligent beings that lived in their own society?), but the execution mostly takes the form of a juvenile action-adventure, hardly doing the idea justice. Visually, I admire the idea of mixing traditional 2D animation with 3D computer animation, but it doesn't always work, and the computer animation looks utterly primitive today.

    The cast does a reasonable job -- David Warner is good as always as the villain, and Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner are good as the heroes of the piece -- but there are a few weaker links, including Cindy Morgan in the love interest role. The score, by Wendy Carlos, is at times superb, but more often than not demonstrates the limits of electronic scoring in 1982. It doesn't approach the craft of, say, Vangelis' score for Blade Runner.

    This is the second time I've seen this film, and my reaction was about the same. I bet if I had seen it when I was younger, though, nostalgia would go along way. I think I would have loved it when I was eight or nine.

    Theatres: 40
    Home Video: 54 +1
    Computer: 8
     
  20. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2004
    Location:
    Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
    No, I haven't seen it.