What Movies Are You Watching?

[Jazzooo]

I enjoyed Django Unchained--not as good as the Hitler re-imagining, but still entertaining if you enjoy QT.

We watched Shall We Dance, the Japanese original. A feel good movie, lots of great mugging by the actors.

[Blue Train]

Caught Monsters U Sunday. Pixar just continues to up the ante when it comes to animation.

The short for this one, The Blue Umbrella will have you asking "is it live, or is it Memorex?" throughout the entire thing.

True, but the movie itself wasn't that good.

While I am @ this.
Despicable Me 2 - lighting does not strike twice in the same place. Youngest siblings either fell asleep, or did the are we there yet? look. haha

The Lone Ranger - I am thinking of suing my friend. Between this and seeing the same White House film twice. I swear they're the same film but with different bad guys. They both even have the clusterfuck that is the F-22 in them. You have to know how close of a friend that I allowed him to talk me into seeing both White House films. haha

[sozamora]

I saw The Avengers the other day. It was fun. I enjoyed it, though I'm sure this is the kind of movie best experienced in a nice dark air-conditioned theater with a good sound system and preferably no teenagers or kids. In any case, it's certainly much better than that sad, nihilistic, and somewhat reactionary dark batman rising.

The action was entertaining, but what I liked most was the Whedonesque humor. Nice reminders that the writers and actors are fully aware this is a film adaptation of a comic book about superheroes.

[jaka]

I enjoyed Django Unchained--not as good as the Hitler re-imagining, but still entertaining if you enjoy QT.

It was a good honest ride.
Liked Inglorious Bastards better too.

[Blue Train]

Johnnie To's Breaking News. It opens with one of the best long tracking shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJlCYNt2z9k

[LennyH]

I enjoyed Django Unchained--not as good as the Hitler re-imagining, but still entertaining if you enjoy QT.

It was a good honest ride.
Liked Inglorious Bastards better too.

I did like Django (it's a 3 star movie to me). It was just disappointing when I was expecting it to be on the level of Inglorious Bastards. I thought Django was a lot more self-conscious and even hammy (yeah, all of QT's stuff is hammy, but...). I'll give it another shot when it hits cable, though.

[steve(thelil)]

I don't know how widely it's playing, but the documentary "Twenty Feet from Stardom" about background singers is inspirational.

Here's the trailer.


http://twentyfeetfromstardom.com

[tippy]

Haven't heard of that, thelil. I like the title and subject. Thanks for the heads up.

I agree with many about Django. I was expecting somehow quite a bit more based on what I had read about it.

[Ron Thorne]

You have to know how close of a friend that I allowed him to talk me into seeing both White House films. haha

What are you talking about? Please elaborate.

[LennyH]

I don't know how widely it's playing, but the documentary "Twenty Feet from Stardom" about background singers is inspirational.

Here's the trailer.


http://twentyfeetfromstardom.com

I'm looking forward to this too. I heard about it on Fresh Air. It's worth digging up that episode from a few weeks ago just to hear the story about the backup singer that did Gimme Shelter with The Stones.

[Blue Train]

You have to know how close of a friend that I allowed him to talk me into seeing both White House films. haha

What are you talking about? Please elaborate.

Ron:

It's one of those years they release two films on the exact same thing and usually within a few months of each other.

This year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwx1f0kyNwI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AXbiCdmXgw


Some others from the past:

Tombstone - Wyatt Earp
Deep Impact - Armageddon
Antz - A Bug's Life
Dante's Peak - Volcano
Tornado - Twister

[stonemonkts]

Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)

Russian film where two disparate Russian soldiers are ambushed and captured by a Chechnyan villager hoping to use them to trade for his imprisoned son. The setting is a remote Muslim village in the Caucasus mountains, and it is quite beautiful. Basically a powerful story about humane people struggling under impossible circumstances (war).

[stonemonkts]

Also saw Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere". Overall good to very good, especially if you are a fan of her sensibilities, which I am to a certain extent. I enjoy anyone who makes decent films out of Hollywood without following the typical formulaic bullshit. Her films are certainly hers.



As Charlie Rose would say, here is the trailer, for Somewhere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3cPbxCBGVo

[LennyH]

Also saw Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere". Overall good to very good, especially if you are a fan of her sensibilities, which I am to a certain extent. I enjoy anyone who makes decent films out of Hollywood without following the typical formulaic bullshit. Her films are certainly hers.

Stone, that's Elle Fanning in that clip, right? Haven't watched it yet. How was she in that? I liked her a lot in Super 8. That film might not be for everyone but I liked it a lot, especially when the kids were making the movie. A piss I thought. Anyway, I really thought she had it.

[stonemonkts]

Lenny - Yes, it's her. She was excellent, and the writing for her character was too. Without her, the film would've been a dopey exercise like some reality tv show following just another jerkoff around.

[jaka]

I remember enjoying Sofia Coppola's Somewhere much.

Yesterday, we watched Steven Soderbergh's Haywire.
Don't know what to do with this one. Enjoyed the whole low-key atmosphere and straight/realistic storytelling all along, but right after it and today, a sort of WTF sensation about it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmrMHPSJ8jQ

[Monte Smith]

I saw WORLD WAR Z. You know it's an action picture when there is a massive nuclear detonation which plays no significant role in the story. Three Montes for capably executing an above average example of the genre.

Also saw THE FLOWERS OF SAINT FRANCIS, a Rossellini picture. That's an odd one, but I found it delightful, comedic, and reminiscent of some Kurosawa films.

[john williams]

Fantastic. I wasn't a fan of Cache at all but The White Ribbon and Amour are two of the best films I've seen in recent years. The two leads were extraordinary whose performances went well beyond acting.

I also saw World War Z at the cinema and thoroughly enjoyed it at the time. I went in with low expectations due to much negative press but loved some of the set pieces, particularly the Jerusalem Wall sequence.

[mjb]

John, what caused you to not like Caché.

[john williams]

John, what caused you to not like Caché.

I was on side with the sentiments of the film, the performances and the way it was shot. However, I became more and more irritated by it as the film progressed. I think the absurd suicide scene was the turning point as for me it lost all credibility. I'm in a minority perhaps as the film was almost universally acclaimed. For me The White Ribbon and Amour were in another league altogether and both would be quite welcome in my top twenty favorite films list.

Anyone watched The Turin Horse? I have it on blu-ray but haven't managed to watch it yet.

[Monte Smith]

I'd have to ask what caused you to like WHITE RIBBON, which I thought was more like a long white ribbon with a brown streak down the middle. Argh! God save me from art films. I attempted to watch CACHE once but the DVD malfunctioned, perhaps it was for the best.

I watched two 950s classics THE BLOB and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN back to back. Thanks you to TCM channel for airing those. I shoed THE BLOB to my chits when they were younger, thinking "You can't be afraid of a slow protoplasmic blob," but they were. They were terrified for weeks. Good times! This time around they were more mature (9 and 7) and able to appreciate the nuances: "It's not scary."

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN has a very odd ending. Shocking, really. They just stop the film and get wordily philosophical about the situation. Are you shrinking too microscopic size? Be consoled, we are all infinitesimal on the cosmic scale. Way to be Boethiusian (sp?) on our asses. Giant tarantula: "It's not scary."

[Blue Train]

John, what caused you to not like Caché.

I was on side with the sentiments of the film, the performances and the way it was shot. However, I became more and more irritated by it as the film progressed. I think the absurd suicide scene was the turning point as for me it lost all credibility. I'm in a minority perhaps as the film was almost universally acclaimed. For me The White Ribbon and Amour were in another league altogether and both would be quite welcome in my top twenty favorite films list.

Anyone watched The Turin Horse? I have it on blu-ray but haven't managed to watch it yet.

If I had to rank them it would be Amour, The White Ribbon, Cache.

You're going to have to a die hard fan of Béla Tarr and enjoy a movie with next to no narrative and dialogue. It's typical Tarr with long takes. There is like 30-35 in total. Really haven't enjoyed either of Tarr's movies since Werckmeister Harmonies. This definitely is his most bleak film. You're either going to like it, or be bored to death.

[john williams]

If I had to rank them it would be Amour, The White Ribbon, Cache.

You're going to have to a die hard fan of Béla Tarr and enjoy a movie with next to no narrative and dialogue. It's typical Tarr with long takes. There is like 30-35 in total. Really haven't enjoyed either of Tarr's movies since Werckmeister Harmonies. This definitely is his most bleak film. You're either going to like it, or be bored to death.

Yeah, I'm a die hard Tarr fan. I got through Satantango unscathed. However, I've not seen The Man from London which is one of the weaker films from what I've heard.

[Blue Train]

The Act of Killing.....watched a directors cut. I highly recommend this.


A documentary like no other. About a completely unknown/forgotten genocide. In less than one year.....500,000 to 3 million people were murdered in Indonesia. Everyone has a number. The documentary states 1 million.

It started in Oct 1965 after a military coup and lasted into 1966. It was an anti-"communist" (they were killing anyone even accused of being communist), ethnic Chinese, farmers, intellectuals, atheists, Christians, other Muslims....all thrown under the "Communist" label. Even Western Govt helped. For example, the US Embassy in Indonesia handed over the names of 5000 "Communists".

It was done by gangsters working for the govt.

What makes this different than most every other genocide. Not only was no one prosecuted.....they're considered heroes by many. One was even one of the founding fathers of one of Indonesia largest Paramilitary Group, which has a membership of 3 million. He killed 1000 people by himself using just a wire. Even the VP of Indonesia is shown extorting the virtues of the gangsters then and now in a speech

The director allows the people that were involved to dramatize in anyway they want what happened/and how they did it. Some of the dramatizations are surreal. At times they're dancing and singing....costumes and making.

One scene shows one of them in current day shaking down ethnic Chinese in a market area....all the while making them know they better pay, or else.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQhIRBxbchU


P.S. In the translations it shows them saying gangster translates as "Free Man". The Bahasa word for gangster is premen. It derives from the Dutch word vrijman which means "free man"....premen originally meant someone who didn't work for the Dutch East India Company but had permission to be in the Indies and do "grey area" work for the company.

[jaka]

It's been a long time since I enjoyed that much a movie I watched with no real idea of what to expect.
If ever you'd want to give it a try, don't be mislead by the trailers available online, they don't carry the quality of this one.

EDIT: and sorry for the huuuge picture, it looked small on google images... :-\