What Movie Did You Just Watch? ... And Robin

[UmbrellaFish]

Witness for the Prosecution

My mind is blown. Such a good, captivating film. Wow.

[jpanimation]

^Another person has discovered this excellent film. I love how Billy Wilder could go back and forth between making dramas and comedies, sometimes combining the two.

[littlefuzzy]

I've watched several more since my last post on the 1st or 2nd:

Mr. Nice Guy - More Jackie Chan, this time he's a chef!

Shakes the Clown - I guess this would be a pitch-black comedy, I didn't really care for it, although Shakes' car was interesting.

Ski Patrol - one of those ubiquitous "Battle for the Slopes" comedies from the 80s.

Repossessed - a parody film with Leslie Neilsen and Linda Blair. The funny thing is they had the same car that Shakes used - the car is also used in Weird Al's All About the Pentiums - a 1959? Nash Metropolitan... Here's a fun music video from Repossessed!
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rxMrZO59OIg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

School Spirit - A horny teenager gets in an accident on his way to score with his girlfriend, resulting in a ghostly state.

Drop Dead Fred - I haven't seen this for a while, I hadn't realized before just how messed up Elizabeth's character was!

Twins Effect - aka Vampire Effect, this one was silly fun!

My Science Project - I haven't seen this one in a long time

Invisible Maniac - Bad 80s T&A comedy turns into bad 80s Slasher.

Project S (aka Supercop 2) - This is coming up next, a spinoff from Jackie Chan's Police Story 3: Supercop, this has Michelle Yeoh kicking butt, and there is a cameo from Jackie Chan as well.

[Goliath]

Black Swan (2010)

We saw this one in the theater Saturday night and were completely blown away by it. After it had ended, we really needed some time to come to our senses. This is one engaging, exhausting film. It asks a lot from the audience, and that's because it asks so much from Nina, the main character, so magnificently played by Natalie Portman. She's a ballet dancer who wants to get the lead part in 'The Swan Princess', but her devotion ultimately gets the better of her, as she slips away into paranoia and schizophrenic experiences. Director Aronofsky combines gripping drama with exciting and disturbing horror elements; an unlikely but effective combination in a movie about a ballet performace. Natalie Portman carries the whole film. If she doesn't get the Oscar for 'Best Actress', I predict riots at the Academy Awards ceremony. Visually stunning, suberbly acted and solidly written, this is one of the best films to come out of Hollywood in a very, very long time.

If anybody can get their hands on a bootleg copy and put the lesbian scene with Portman and Kunis on YouTube: please, be my guest and make us happy.

[Lazario]

Repossessed - a parody film with Leslie Neilsen and Linda Blair. The funny thing is they had the same car that Shakes used - the car is also used in Weird Al's All About the Pentiums - a 1959? Nash Metropolitan... Here's a fun music video from Repossessed!
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rxMrZO59OIg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I remember that scene! I want to see that movie again so bad just for the scene with the family eating dinner that parodied the "pea soup" scene. Probably insanely gross but that's another moment I never forgot. I love her calling 911. With a blue phone (Nightmare on Elm Street much?). She really rode the hell out of that Exorcist fame- didn't she? Also doing a cameo in Scream and that wonderfully godawful rip-off, Witchery (with David Hasselhoff).






A lot more fun than the original. And truly better made. With a lot of great ideas: 1) The Hungry Heifer & theme song are hilarious, 2) the critters roll to the smell of hamburgers but stop to go after live humans but stop again... One of them says, "Hamburgers: No Bones." 3) The Critterball - you gotta love that thing; it even knocks people down as though they're bowling pins. 4) Gore. 5) Very unpredictable. 6) Cheap shots at vegetarians, penis envy, westerns, and New Line's own sacred cow: Freddy Krueger.







Easily better than Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film and 2002's Masters of Horror (this is pre-Showtime's 2005 series). Yet, falls short of 2000's essential The American Nightmare. All of these are, of course, documentaries about the horror genre. This one fails to put the modern films into a serious socio-political context. But from the 1910's to the late 1970's section, this film is ON FIRE! Bashes Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon beautifully. This movie seriously lacks Wes Craven but George Romero, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, and Mick Garris (all very intelligent left-leaning, politically knowledgable horror filmmakers) do their very best to make up for that. As does, I can't believe I'm sayin' it: Saw 2, 3, and 4's twirpy (but very smart, at least in matters of movies that influenced him) director Darren Lynn Bousman who works single-handedly in pointing out the brilliance of Craven's essential debut, the ultra-controversial Last House on the Left. Although, The American Nightmare had Craven first-hand and so, really did Last House justice in pointing out how it was influenced by real life events. American Nightmare also did a better job with Romero's Dawn of the Dead. This one almost forgets it completely, in favor of 1985's Day of the Dead which in my opinion is a failure of a film. Dawn is far more important. The doc is also funny in spots. Notably- their Friday the 13th montage and Romero's insights on the original 1950 version of The Thing. But, apart from their sloppy handling of the 1990's and 2000-2008 in horror, they also start the whole thing off with a horrible montage of clips from the new millennium edited in a very Saw-like manner. Proving that the genre's kinda been dead since 2002. Not to mention, it feels like they're pandering to people with ADHD. It's too fast and scattered. And shut the music off! Bad music throughout the intro.

[BelleGirl]

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whisle-Stop Cafe

This must be at least the third or fourth time I saw this movie. Touching story about friendship. Kathy Bates is great as Evelyn, a woman who tries to bring back the magic in her marriage, and befriends an old lady (Jessica Tandy) who tells her about the deep friendship between Idgie and Ruth. Acting all around is good. One of my mom's favourite movies, just bought it for her on dvd.

[jpanimation]

All About Eve (1950) 8.5/10 - My library just got the Blu-Ray and I had to snag this. It ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites and it was due for a re-watch. I love the dialogue here, excellently written and delivered and the acting is top notch (all except Hugh Marlowe, who's performance I can only equate to a block of wood). Nothing is quite as satisfying a seeing Addison DeWitt tear Eve apart.

My library just got The Godfather, Back to the Future, The African Queen, Dr. Strangelove, The Wild Bunch, The Third Man, and The Shawshank Redemption on Blu-Ray and lucky for me they were all due for a re-watch.

[Goliath]

Persepolis (2007)

Wonderful and engaging animated film about the Iranian Revolution of 1979, seen through the eyes of a little girl; her flight to Europe; and her return home to the authocratic and repressive Islamic Republic. Yeah, this may sound very heavy and totally depressing, but in fact this is a very light-hearted and often very funny movie, with more than a few instances of really black gallows-humor. The animation if minimalistic, yet fitting and comical and the black-and-white creates some beautiful effects. Oh, and it's all in English, so: enjoy!

Edit: Avaitor (below) reminded me I should have mentioned it's based on the graphic novel by the same name, by Marjane Saptrapi. I'm glad he liked the film as I did.

[Avaitor]

I love that movie. I read the graphic novels first and then bought the film.

I think I might prefer the movie overall, since it's usually better to see something in motion than read the panels. They cut a couple of things from the graphic novels, some I would have liked to see stay in, but I don't mind that as much since the author was the film's co-director, so it's still her vision.

I can't praise the film enough.

[jpanimation]

Oh, and it's all in English, so: enjoy!

I watched it on TV, so it was in French. It wasn't until later that I found out there was an English dub available on the DVD at my library. For animated films, I honestly prefer dub.

[Goliath]

The English dub of Persepolis was great! Especially the young Satrapi was wonderful. The strong voicecast was an important part of my appreciation for this film. So who knows how I had liked it had I seen it in French...?


Waking Sleeping Beauty (2007)

I finally had a chance to see it, after much anticipation and the building of high expectations, mostly based on UD reviews. It didn't meet those expectations, though. Now I didn't watch it expecting to learn anything new. The story of the transition from the 'dark age' to the 'renaissance' of the Eisner-Wells-Katzenberg years was well known by me. I wanted to see it because a lot of people on UD kept raving on about the never before seen behind the scenes footage, especially the Howard Ashman parts. Well, they were there, and it was a real treat to see them, but I felt it still was too little. I felt the documentary was too short and focused too much on the internal infighting at the top of the company, instead of the creative process. I also thought it ended too abrupt. They made it seem like Disney animation fell apart after The Lion King, which is far from the truth. I would've liked to see the documentary extend to the ouster of Eisner. And again, much more time dedicated to the creative process.


Reagan (2001)

BBC-HBO television documentary, avoiding cliches and partisan points of view, sets out to correct the mythical image of the former president, and seeks to find the 'real' Ronald Reagan. The first half is about Reagan's early life and career as an actor and salesman and how that formed his character; the second half is about his presidency and how his actions run contrary to the image most Americans seem to have of him. Factual and non-sensationalist, giving room to both supporters (mostly former administration offcials) and critics (mostly scholars), it gave me an appreciation of the man Reagan, but affirmed me in my deep-seethed hatred of the president Reagan, as it lays out how numerable of his actions were both punishable by law and worthy of impeachment --something, the documentary tells us, was recognized by Reagan himself in meetings behind closed doors. The tale of the most influential president since FDR, but not in a good way.

[jpanimation]

The English dub of Persepolis was great! Especially the young Satrapi was wonderful. The strong voicecast was an important part of my appreciation for this film. So who knows how I had liked it had I seen it in French...?

Makes me sad I missed the English dub

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2009) 7/10 - actually titled Luftslottet som sprängdes. I felt it was a fitting conclusion to the millennium trilogy. Less of a mystery and more of just watching everything started in the first two films wrap up.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Waking Sleeping Beauty (2007)

I finally had a chance to see it, after much anticipation and the building of high expectations, mostly based on UD reviews. It didn't meet those expectations, though. Now I didn't watch it expecting to learn anything new. The story of the transition from the 'dark age' to the 'renaissance' of the Eisner-Wells-Katzenberg years was well known by me. I wanted to see it because a lot of people on UD kept raving on about the never before seen behind the scenes footage, especially the Howard Ashman parts. Well, they were there, and it was a real treat to see them, but I felt it still was too little. I felt the documentary was too short and focused too much on the internal infighting at the top of the company, instead of the creative process. I also thought it ended too abrupt. They made it seem like Disney animation fell apart after The Lion King, which is far from the truth. I would've liked to see the documentary extend to the ouster of Eisner. And again, much more time dedicated to the creative process.

The creative process is covered in the "making-of" pieces for the inidvidual movies themselves so [in my opinion] it shouldn't have been given much focus within the documentary. The documentary allows us to see the outside factors of those productions both within and outside of the company and that's what made it interesting to me. I don't know if you've seen them yet, but there's a good 30+min of deleted scenes on the DVD that expand on topics/clips shown in the main documentary.

As for the post-Lion king years I didn't expect a Disney produced documentary to cover those years and effectively slam themselves so much. That's why there's Dream On Silly Dreamer, but even it doesn't cover the eventual leaving of Eisner.

[Goliath]

I don't know if you've seen them yet, but there's a good 30+min of deleted scenes on the DVD that expand on topics/clips shown in the main documentary.

I haven't seen those'I saw the film on tv. I don't know if this will ever turn up on DVD in my country. But, as far as the documentary goes, I'm glad I saw it on tv first, because I don't think it's worth buying on DVD.

[Persepolis]Makes me sad I missed the English dub

Didn't you like it in French?

[jpanimation]

[Persepolis]Makes me sad I missed the English dub

Didn't you like it in French?

I actually thought the movie was just alright. Its you stating the dub as one of the positive points of the movie that intrigues me.

[Goliath]

Addition to what I wrote to Flanger-Hanger about Walking Sleeping Beauty: I kept looking at the film from the perspective of somebody who's new to all the material presented in the documentary, and I couldn't help but feel that it would be a very boring and confusing experience. Seriously, there is so much crammed into such a short time, that you would really know about most of this stuff already to follow everything --while at the same time having time to appreciate all those wonderful caricatures and behind-the-scenes footage. All in all, most of the movie is about the internal conflicts at the top of a big corporation. I think that lacks in appeal. They should have given this film more much-needed 'air' by inserting much more behind-the-scenes footage and let that speak for itself.

Okay, those were my 2 cents.

[Duckburger]

Changeling (2008) - Universal

This was a really good movie, much better than I anticipated it to be, since I'm not the biggest Angelina Jolie fan - though I do like most of Clint Eastwood's films. But this was excellent. Based on a true story - more or less. They tweeked it a bit, but the message was clear. Set in Los Angeles in the 1920's/-30's. The story is about a woman who loses her child -Walter- while working an extra shift, leaving Walter alone at home. After contacting the police, they set out to find her child as soon as he was gone for 24 hours (standard procedures at that time). After finding the child, she claims that he's not Walter. Then we go on a rollercoaster of corruption, murder and insane assylums, uncovering what really happened with her son. A part near the end is brutal to watch (won't say it tho, since it basically spoils the story). But, again, this was an excellent film. Maybe a bit too many subplots, but still very good. Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and other such sites seem to be a bit mixed, which I really don't get. The general complaints seem to be that the story is too absurd and bland, and that it's not emotionally attachable. I thought the exact opposite of that, but I guess maybe I don't put my standards that high. I'm easily pleased, I'll admit that much.


Doubt (2008) - Miramax

Another very good movie. Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis in a really short but powerful scene, they're all excellent, and certainly deserved the Academy Award nominations. The story is set in the 1960's, at a catholic church and school. It starts with Father Flynn giving a sermon about the nature of doubt and it's similarities to faith, then following a few scenes and the set-up for the main characters, Amy Adams' character -who is a nun and a teacher- starts to suspect Father Flynn to having a relationship with one of her students, who is an alter boy, and also the only African-American student in the entire school. Following the nun's suspicions he then gets confronted by Amy Adams and Meryl Streep's characters. From here on the story unravels with Meryl Streep's character trying at all her might to prove that Father Flynn is guilty of having a relationship with the student - all the while Amy Adams' character is very naive and has doubts about whether he's guilty or not. The story for this film was really good, though it does help that the cast all deliver excellent performances. It's especially good, considering how much is actually happening on the screen. It's mostly dialogue-driven, yet it doesn't get boring at any part whatsoever. Excellent film, and comes highly recommended. It's also worth to note that it isn't anti-religious or anything, for those that care about such a thing.


Surrogates (2009) - Touchstone

This... was not that good. I expected more from this film. It felt like a mixture between The Blade Runner and I, Robot to be honest. I don't really feel like writing a mini-synopsis here, but anyway... it's basically about the world being perfect. (Almost) everybody has a surrogate, which is basically your own personal android, only then perfect in every aspect. So, no crimes, no murders, you know the drill. Everybody is beautiful and perfect. Surprise, surprise, two surrogates get destroyed by some sort of flashing device which also kills the operators (as in, the humans that control them at home). One of the killed surrogates/humans is the son of the creator of the surrogates. Then Bruce Willis' character, who's a cop (such an original role for him... a cop) is put on the case with his partner agent Jennifer Peters. First they link the murder to the leader of an anti-Surrogate group, named The Prophet. After that, the story unravels pretty quickly from what I can remember (I dozed off a few times). Maybe it isn't as bad as I'm claiming it to be, but it wasn't very good either. There's some character development for Bruce Willis' character and his wife, but that's it pretty much. Not very engaging. It's okay, but could've been better. There's a few twists tho -here and there- that I did not see coming, I'll give it that much.


Young Frankenstein - 20th Century Fox

The only classic movie for today. This was very funny, I hadn't seen this before, tho it was recommended to me several times. Finally got around to watching it. Blazing Saddles is one of the best classic comedy films I'd ever seen, but this might even be better. The mixing of classic horror movies and Mel Brooks is a match made in heaven. The story... uhm, well the story is bonkers, but that's why it's so great. After watching emotionally draining films like Doubt and Changeling, this was very pleasant. It's about Dr. Frederick <strike>Frankenstein</strike> Fronkensteen (Gene Wilder) who's a teacher at a medical university who inherits his family's estate in Transylvania. Once there he is welcomed by <strike>Igor</strike> Aigor and Inga (two servants) and Frau Blücher (played by Cloris Leachman), to whom the horses are very fond lol. Once there he tries to re-animate the dead which was his grandfather's work, even though his grandfather failed, he uses his journal to try and successfully re-animate the dead, which succeeds. After the creature comes to life all sorts of random things happen and he escapes to the town - resulting in a very funny scene with a blind guy (played by Gene Hackman). The ending is very funny too, and a perfect ending to this oddball film. Performances were all great. It isn't very dated at all if you ask me, despite the fact that it was filmed in black & white (purposely so, tho). If you like comedy films, you'll love this one, definitely recommended.

Never Let Me Go (2010) - 20th Century Fox

This was a very depressing movie to watch. Most of the critism it got came from people who had read the book and thought it left too much out, but seeing as I haven't read the book nor had I heard of it before the movie was being made, I'll review just based on the film itself, rather than compare the two which most people seem to do. The story is set in an -let's say- alternate 1950's, where scientists have found ways to completely cure people of their diseases, effectively expanding life expectancy rates to above 100. This comes with a price of course. Clones are being created and kept in supposed 'private schools', while being completely human. The film centers around three clones: Kathy H. (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley), they're in some form of a love triangle as they call it. Tommy is the awkward kid at school with no friends, Kathy H. is the nice girl who becomes friends with him, and Ruth is the 'mean' girl who later becomes his girlfriend after she -I assume- gets jealous at Kathy and Tommy's friendship. As soon as they become 18 every clone is sent out to the real world, where they are soon readied to become organ donors to 'real' people. Kathy H. becomes a 'carer' first (someone who takes care of the donors while they wait to be "completed" - which is usually three surgeries - "completion" meaning death), while the other two are directly donors. From here on out the story gets even sadder and sadder, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how the story unfolds. But it is interesting to see how the relationships between the main characters evolve. It failed at the box office, and reviews are pretty much mixed, but I thought it was perfect. It was depressing, engaging, and not boring at all. I can't believe it hasn't gotten any recognition by the Academy whatsoever. But anyway, this comes highly recommended, especially if you haven't read the book apparantly.


EDIT: Ugh, that's a lot of text. Sorry about that.

[Barbossa]

TRON Legacy IMAX - saw it twice already on the regular screen, but this... this is how the movie was meant to be seen. Saw it in Calgary last night. Fantastic! The 3D stood out better, and hearing Daft Punk blaring over those big IMAX speakers; pure heaven.

[Escapay]

Never Let Me Go (2010) - 20th Century Fox

This was a very depressing movie to watch. Most of the critism it got came from people who had read the book and thought it left too much out, but seeing as I haven't read the book nor had I heard of it before the movie was being made, I'll review just based on the film itself, rather than compare the two which most people seem to do.

The movie streamlines the book quite effectively. There were some things that were best left excluded from the movie. Much of the childhood gets condensed and what we see is all that's really necessary in the grand scheme of the whole story. There's a whole subplot about how Ruth has a secret gang that protects Miss Lucy from something never fully explained, but it's all really just a game for her that everyone else seems to take seriously. In addition, a few details get changed too. Kathy actually lost the Judy Bridgewater tape sometime in her youth (and it's Madame who sees her swaying with the pillow, not Ruth), and Tommy finds another one for her in Norfolk (bringing some truth to the story they told as children that if something gets lost, it ends up in Norfolk). I'm sure there are other changes/omissions, but those two (protecting Miss Lucy and the Judy Bridgewater tape) were the ones I remembered immediately from the book.

albert

[littlefuzzy]

Young Frankenstein - 20th Century Fox

The only classic movie for today. This was very funny, I hadn't seen this before, tho it was recommended to me several times. Finally got around to watching it. Blazing Saddles is one of the best classic comedy films I'd ever seen, but this might even be better.

Congrats on finally seeing one of the great classic horror-comedies! It's one of the very few films I've given a 10 to at IMDB (Blazing Saddles is another one, as is the Producers.)

Have you seen Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein? If you don't have anything against films from the 40s, I think you'll probably enjoy that one almost as much as Young Frankenstein.

--------

Since my last outing, I've started the Aces Go Places series (aka Mad Mission series), a group of wacky Hong Kong films dealing with a skilled gem thief who has to work with the police, with James Bond-style villains, gadgets, and so on. The third film even had a full on James Bond spoof, complete with Richard Kiel (who played Jaws), and the Oddjob character. I have been having a blast with these films!

Aces Go Places - King Kong (the jewel thief) steals some diamonds from crooks, and leaves a white glove as a calling card. Of course, the crooks want to get him, the real White Glove master thief wants to get him and the police want to get him (or to use him to recover the diamonds.)

Aces Go Places II - King Kong and his police friends are conned into being the patsies for some robberies, by a beautiful woman. At the same time, Black Glove (White Glove's brother) is trying to kill them, along with a Clint Eastwood clone (from the Man with No Name trilogy.) Mix in some robot killing machines, and you get lots of crazyness.

The Spy Next Door - Jackie Chan has to babysit his girlfriend's kids, while protecting them from Russian spies.

Aces Go Places III - King Kong and friends are trying to recover England's Crown Jewels, and deliver them to "that agent with the number."

Looking for Jackie - a Chinese kid who is doing poorly in school wants to become Jackie Chan's disciple, and travels to Peking to try to meet him. This is misleadingly billed as Jackie Chan: Kung Fu Master, or Jackie Chan and the Kung Fu Kid, trying to make it seem like it's a typical JC film.

Twins Effect II - Not really a sequel to Twins Effect, other than also starring the Cantopop duo "Twins", this is a fantasy where women rule (led by an evil queen), and men are treated as slaves.

High School Spirits - a pretty "blah" outing with bad acting, bad music, bad directing, bad writing, and so on. Neil LaBute had the only multi-dimensional character, and he kind of reminded me of Sheldon Cooper on Big Bang Theory (except substitute obsessing about miniature golf instead of whatever nerdlike obsessions Sheldon has.) I don't watch BBT, but I've seen an episode or two.

Aces Go Places IV - This one has King Kong trying to protect a prism that will give people superpowers.