Watched "The Salton Sea" last night. Apparently it was mostly panned by critics, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I liked that one. Totally byzantine plotline.
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
Tonight was "A Scanner Darkly" for me -- another good one. Seems my last two films involved informants who themselves get addicted to drugs... interesting. Both viewings were good deterrents to starting any new vices.
The animation in ASD was not gratuitous or experimental -- it was vital to the feel of the film. Not a whole lot to the plot, but I believe the point of the movie (and the original work by Phillip K. Dick) was to delve into the mind and mood of drug addiction. It succeeds there, I think.
I've read almost all of Dick's short story work and would love to see more of it translated to the big screen. Hope his daughters (who now own the rights) can find more filmmakers to do it justice.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
yea, i saw scanner darkly a few weeks ago, and it was a decent flick. I thought what was kinda boring about it is all the conversation that they had throughout the movie. I think they could have done without the majority of the drug induced conversations. One would get the point across to me. It reminded me a bit too much of Waking Life, which was not very good, IMO.
Went to see "Blood Diamond" last night. Good flick and I thought engagement rings were a crock of shit BEFORE I saw the movie. After seeing this, I hate them even more.
I know Leo was nominated for Best Actor for his role in this movie, but he was far better in The Departed IMO.
Went to see "Blood Diamond" last night. Good flick and I thought engagement rings were a crock of shit BEFORE I saw the movie. After seeing this, I hate them even more.
I know Leo was nominated for Best Actor for his role in this movie, but he was far better in The Departed IMO.
I was SURE you were going to see "Catch and Release" this weekend!
Went to see "Blood Diamond" last night. Good flick and I thought engagement rings were a crock of shit BEFORE I saw the movie. After seeing this, I hate them even more.
I know Leo was nominated for Best Actor for his role in this movie, but he was far better in The Departed IMO.
you actually went to the theatre to see this? sucker.
you actually went to the theatre to see this? sucker.
What better movie to take a date too?! In 90 minutes Tony would be able to tell if he would someday have to fork out 3 months of hard labor training overweight soccer moms for a chunk of metal and a stone.
__________________
Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
I saw The Painted Veil this weekend. Great movie. The on-location shots in the Chinese countryside were stunning. This is one of those lushly photographed, literary movies similar to the old Merchant-Ivory productions.
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
What better movie to take a date too?! In 90 minutes Tony would be able to tell if he would someday have to fork out 3 months of hard labor training overweight soccer moms for a chunk of metal and a stone.
All I have to say is that I really despised the idea of buying a $3000 engagement ring BEFORE I watched this movie.
And FYI: if you haven't gone to see Pan's Labyrinth yet, you suck.
Here's what I posted on another site about "Pan's Labyrinth".
Quote:
Well our little independently owned theater here in Corvallis finally got their hands on "Pan's Labyrinth". As soon as I read that they were going to start showing this gem, from the weekly e-newsletters, I literally ran down to their box office and bought tickets.
Good thing, too. As soon as Ko and I got in line for some popcorn, the announcement was made that the final 9PM showing was sold out!
From the moment the story unfolded up on the screen, I was entranced. Guillermo Del Torro has weaved fascism, a young girl's imagination, children's fairy tales, and the tough real world events all into one beautiful movie. Magical, dark and many times, very tough to watch; you do feel for these characters. Even with Captain Vidal, the man whom the girl's mother (pregnant, btw) has married; he's one evil sumbitch. Played with such precision by Sergi Lopez. What an amazing actor.
But little Ivana Baquero, who plays young Ofelia, carries this movie. An incredible talent. It's through her that you completely experience the story.
The cinematography, as usual with Del Toro movies, impeccable. Gorgeous. Full of life. Layers of colors, shadows and detail. Guillermo Navarro was the maestro behind the camera here, as he is normally with many of Del Toro's movies. I believe the only time Navarro hasn't worked on a Del Toro movie was "Mimic". I do have another gem with Navarro, not a Del Toro flick, but a Jon Favreau one - "Zathura".
Anywhoos, this is indeed, one of THE, if not THE, best movie of this last year. By far. What's so sweet is that I've now seen two of the best movies of this last year: "The Fountain" and now, "Pan's Labyrinth". Both of these movies display that the writer/directors, Darren Aronofsky and Guillermo Del Toro are head/shoulders high above the rest of the crowd. These guys are brilliant. Total visionaries who also appreciate a good story. So, their movies aren't empty-headed CG-fests, but well rounded, full bodied character driven and emotional films.
A note about "Pan's Labyrinth": yes, it's a foriegn film with subtitles. However, it's soooo goooooood that the message is easily understood without even having to bother to read the subtitles. This is a very visual movie where dialogue isn't often used or needed.
Didn't get out much, this weekend (kids). But, a good weekend of movies on tv. Planet of the Apes ("It's a madhouse! A madhouse!") and That Thing You Do.
I watched Planet of the Apes, too! My favorite line is from the end, after Charlton Heston shaves his beard: "Somehow... it makes you look less intelligent."
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
what do you expect from an "M" movie... almost all his movies are shittttt
and i say this only b/c i know you like him, but also b/c it's the truth. ha
I do like his movies, and I knew going in that this particular one wasn't going to be anything special given all the bad press I read on it. But holy shitballs, I didn't think it would be THAT bad.
I hope he comes back with something kickass. He DOES have talent and some original ideas. I just think he tries too hard.
Shamalamadingdong needs the same thing that George Lucas needs -- a strong, sane person to serve as a sanity check. His talent is unquestioned but everybody needs an editor.
I also think he'd be well served to get away from the "twist ending" formula for a while, and just have fun behind the camera. Like Sodeberg did with Oceans 11.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
Shamalamadingdong needs the same thing that George Lucas needs -- a strong, sane person to serve as a sanity check. His talent is unquestioned but everybody needs an editor.
I also think he'd be well served to get away from the "twist ending" formula for a while, and just have fun behind the camera. Like Sodeberg did with Oceans 11.
...or oceans 12...or oceans 13.
The cool thing about sodeberg is that he uses his big budget movies to fund his small independant films.
M isn't in this same category really b/c he cares about the moolah and not making films for making films. He only wants to do big budget movies with big named actors.
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