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

[Scarred4life]

Water (2005)

That sounds very interesting. Definitely going to have to watch that. It reminds me of a book I read awhile ago (Keeping Corner, by Kashmira Sheth) that deals with much of what you mentioned. But if I remember correctly, the girl in the book was older.

[Goliath]

That sounds very interesting. Definitely going to have to watch that. [...]

It's a very sad story, because it offer so much hope (hope for change, for progress), but ultimately never delivers. All hope build up through the film turns out to have been in vain. That's because it doesn't go for satisfying the yearning of the audience for a happy end, but for portraying reality in India.

As the closing writings state, in 2001 (the last time the population of the country was counted until last year), the 34 million widows of India remain largely outside of society --63 years after the movie took place! And it is said the religious laws of 2000 years ago are still largely followed when it comes to treatment of widows. Only widows, of course, not widowers. Widowers don't get shut out of regular life. They are *men*, after all, and religions are always very kind to men. The fact that all religions were thought up and written down by men is merely a coïncidence...

There I go again, derailing my own post!

I was very impressed with this movie. At first, it didn't seem like anything I would enjoy. The first half hour was hard for me to sit through. I wanted to turn it off a few times, but I'm glad I didn't. It was definitly worth it seeing all of it. It just has a slow pace that you have to get used to. Like I said, it has a lot of hopeful and uplifting moments, something which I had not expected based on the first half hour, which gave it the 'air' it so much needed. But ultimately, all hope was in vain. I won't spoil what happens though. You'll have to see for yourself. I liked all the actors, who did a very convincing job; especially the young child-widow.

[Lazario]

Another useless action movie pretending to be a "fun" slasher horror movie. I would say I was bored out of my mind if there was actually any attempt at substance here to have failed. Though, I will give the movie a little credit: the 100-minute running time went by like barely half that. But the writing was dumb, the acting is far superior in the original film, the 15-minute ending sucks worse than the 5 minutes at the end of the original (why bother with a twist if the killer is just going to walk in front of the camera and then have the credits roll? completely anti-climatic), video game quality special effects and death scenes. And the plot consists of an angry sheriff's jealous crusade to make his wife's ex-boyfriend look as though he's the killer- one of the reasons the ending turns out to be as stupid as it is. I almost can't believe I complained that the original film snaked out a whodunit in the last few minutes, this movie and its' retarded red herrings are far more annoying.

But, hey, it's new-millennium "horror." How many times have I found myself here beating this dead horse? Hell, in the last 4 months, I've only had to suffer through 2 other heaps of new millennium fecal matter- the far inferior Trick 'r Treat and the slightly superior House of the Devil. American and French "horror" in the last 9 years (2003-2011) has clearly only been made for people with no intelligence. Don't let anyone tell you different, the original kicks the living CRAP out of this soiled diaper.

That's it- my next forray into new-millennium horror will be ASIAN and that's all there is to it. I've been putting off The Host and A Tale of Two Sisters for far too long now. And of course... Three Extremes. After the utter mediocrity that is this film, I'm on my knees for some Takashi Miike!! Oh, and it's also worth mentioning... Todd Farmer (the hunky husky skinhead screwing the blonde ho in the motel room- beautiful rear end shot, one of the only bright spots in this dim bulb) was the mastermind behind Jason X... That film is better than this.

Just for the fun of it, here's what Ebert & Roeper said about Three Extremes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ygbfIssLI

[Disney's Divinity]

The King’s Speech

Okay. Bit cliché. Plus, it feels like one of those movies that’s trying too hard to get awards. Colin Firth was very good though.

[Lazario]

I don't know how to describe my time with this movie. I can't exactly call it disappointing, because it's mostly beautiful and intelligent (only the baby chick scene misplaces the brains of this movie). But it did not deliver what I was hoping for, or along the way I started losing interest in the characters. In typical Asian-extreme fashion, it's really not a horror film. They like a lot of drama in their horror. And that's sort of the problem. This plotline involves a kind of natural voodoo process by which the character's body changes after eating food made from human parts (the specifics of that, you're going to have to discover for yourself by watching it- I didn't find the imagery to be all that grotesque however, so it should go down easier than a quick read of the plot might lead you to believe). And after they introduce the idea that the body of the eater rots after eating parts of a human body taken from a child of incest, the movie doesn't become more tense. It instead becomes more lowkey and poetically tragic. I wanted a much bigger ending. Not a sly kind of ironic twist. Not to mention the plot rests on the rich woman's desperation to make her cheating husband stop cheating by doing what other women wouldn't to become younger. She really sells her soul and bends over backwards for him, but... what makes him so important? Why do his needs come before hers? The movie's only moment of payback on him is when he injures his leg. Without any text explaining that the next scene takes place months into the future, just 5 minutes after we see him in a cast- he's back on both feet again. 2 people end up dead on account of him, not including the bodies sacrificed for the dumplings, and he loses nothing.

[dvdjunkie]

FastFive - IMAX (2011)

This is the fifth installment in the "Fast and Furious" franchise and I think this one is the best since the first one. Some great 'one-liners', and the fight between Vin Diesel and "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson, is worth the price of admission.

The surviving members of the original cast of the previous four films are all together as they plot to steal $100 million from a drug lord in Buenas Aires South America.

Great action film with a couple of 'romantic' moments. Wall to wall action marks this movie and it is loud, bold, brash, and just lots of fun!!!

Don't leave when the credits roll or you will miss a great setup for the next installment in the series.

[Scarred4life]

Precious Life

This documentary follows a Palestinian mother struggling to get treatment for her baby. It gave an incredible insight to what struggles the sick have to go through to get treatment. It didn't seem like the kind of film to end on a happier note, I was sure that it would be very bleak. The film seemed to be leading up to the mothers second baby dying, but it was very nice that she did not. But of course, this is a documentary, so in spite of the baby surviving, it did not have a 'happy' ending, or really an ending at all.

[Goliath]

@ Scarred4Life: interesting, I'll have to check that one out. That's a topic that really gets to me. And then people wonder why so many Palestinians are so fanatically turned against Israel...


Desert Flower (2009)

The incredible and fascinating true story of international top model Waris Dirie, who at age 13 fled her home, family and the 60 year old man she was supposed to marry in Somalia; was discovered in London; became succesful around the world and eventually became a spokeswoman in the struggle against female circumcision, which she also had to go through. I know this sounds all very heavy, but it actually has lots of very funny moments and lighter situations. It's a good thing they started the film with her in London and then told her lifestory through flashbacks interspersed throughout the picture. It was a very inspirational story! I enjoyed it very much!

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

World War II drama about an eight year old son of a high-placed Nazi officer who, when playing far away from his family's house in the countryside, discovers a concentration camp and befriends an eight-year old boy at the other side of the electric wires. The little boy doesn't know at all what's going on in there and he wonders why everybody is wearing 'pyjamas' with numbers on them. The film shows the gruesome reality of the jewish suffering through the eyes of a completely innocent and ignorant child. This one really got to me; it was so powerful.

Dogtooth (2009)

Absurd Greek arthouse hit, which got praised all around... but not by me. I'm all for 'different' kinds of movies and I don't think there's only one way to make an interesting one... but there are limits. It's one thing to make a movie about an eccentric older couple who keep their three adult children within the boundaries of their house and garden and forbid them to have any contact with the outside world, and who teach them all kinds of absurd things about the world, which make no sense at all... But it loses its appeal when you have the camera constantly in one place, cutting off the actors at the most unlogic places for no reason at all, and when you have them all act in the same robotic way. This film is pure bullshit, which film critics looked at and made up fancy theories about, afterward, to make it look like something important. I turned it off after a painful half hour.

[SillySymphony]

Last week's viewing:

Gnomeo and Juliet ✰✰✰
Jane Eyre (2011) ✰✰✰✰

[ajmrowland]

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

World War II drama about an eight year old son of a high-placed Nazi officer who, when playing far away from his family's house in the countryside, discovers a concentration camp and befriends an eight-year old boy at the other side of the electric wires. The little boy doesn't know at all what's going on in there and he wonders why everybody is wearing 'pyjamas' with numbers on them. The film shows the gruesome reality of the jewish suffering through the eyes of a completely innocent and ignorant child. This one really got to me; it was so powerful.

Agreed. Though it has it's flaws, that movie was very good.

[TheValentineBros]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Just watched it in my DVR since I recorded it last night on HBO. 'Twas awesome!

[dvdjunkie]

My three-year-old granddaughter and I watched Babe, on Blu-ray. It's the story of the little pig who became a member of the Hoggett family. My granddaughter was enthralled with the fact that the pig, dogs, sheep, duck, and other animals talked. She cried out "Oh, no" when Babe was in the house with the duck, trying to get the alarm clock and involved the cat and lot of paint and a bail of yarn. For 92 minutes this film was the perfect afternoon film fare for me.

[TheValentineBros]

Thor.

Not the best Marvel adaptation, I mean there are flaws, but it's still not bad. I actually liked it.

[SmartAleck25]

Tangeld (2010 film)- 10/10
Amazing, amazing movie. Beautiful animation, great songs, story, characters, a Disney classic worthy of its title. Keep making stuff like this Disney!

[Goliath]

Entre les murs (2008)

A heartfelt movie that really touched me. It's a very special project about a difficult class of underpriviliged teenagers in a poorer region of Paris. The children and teacher who act in this movie all play themselves, and the script is based on actual events. So it's not a real documentary, but it certainly has that feel, because all seems to be happening 'in the moment', as if the camera coincidentally captures these moments. The pupils are basically themselves, they don't 'act' much. It gives this movie an authenticity lots of Hollywood pictures with the same subject don't have.

It shows how a French teacher has to confront and 'battle' his pupils every day, if he doesn't want to get 'eaten' by them and want to teach them something. Almost everything he says or asks is a debate or discussion with the pupils. They don't accept much authority and are often out of control. Still, the teacher knows he can't control them with punishments alone, so he has to walk a very tight rope between rewarding and stimulating and not letting his pupils walk all over them. The film also shows what lies behind the big mouths and attitudes of the children. There are no stereotypes here, just real-life characters. And that's what makes it so hard to say goodbye to them at the end.

I cannot express how much I enjoyed this movie. Highly recommended.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Reservoir Dogs - I watched this for my film noir final. It was pretty decent. It wasn't anything spectacularly amazing, though. I don't really know; it was just okay. I'd think my dad would like it, though, so I'll suggest it to him. And the whole cutting off the ear thing was so Blue Velvet.

[littlefuzzy]

Precious Life

This documentary follows a Palestinian mother struggling to get treatment for her baby. It gave an incredible insight to what struggles the sick have to go through to get treatment. It didn't seem like the kind of film to end on a happier note, I was sure that it would be very bleak. The film seemed to be leading up to the mothers second baby dying, but it was very nice that she did not. But of course, this is a documentary, so in spite of the baby surviving, it did not have a 'happy' ending, or really an ending at all.

@ Scarred4Life: interesting, I'll have to check that one out. That's a topic that really gets to me. And then people wonder why so many Palestinians are so fanatically turned against Israel...

Goliath, where did Scarred4life say anything about "a Palestinian mother struggling to get treatment for her baby, but was DENIED TREATMENT/OPPRESSED/WHATEVER by the "Evil" Israelis?

The IMDB plot synopsis I see says:
"With the help of a prominent Israeli journalist, Precious Life chronicles the struggle of an Israeli pediatrician and a Palestinian mother to get treatment for her baby, who suffers from an incurable genetic disease. Each must face their most profound biases as they inch towards a possible friendship in an impossible reality."
That is all I know of the film, I haven't looked further, but assuming you haven't either, your statement shows about as much prejudice as a "good ole' boy" from the south (in America, obviously) who says "The country's going to hell because they elected one of them there dark fellas as president!" EDIT: I don't mean this to be a personal attack on you, I am just condemning the statement.

Edit... After reading further (on gasp, a FoxNews article I found from googling!), "Shlomi Eldar put out a plea for help on national television that prompted an Israeli Jew, who lost his own son in the Middle East conflict, to come forth and donate the $55,000 needed for the transplant."

Also, the same article http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... lomi-edar/
quotes the mother as saying on camera she hoped her son grows up to be a suicide bomber.
"“From the smallest infant, even smaller than Mohammed, (her son) to the oldest person, we will all sacrifice ourselves for the sake of Jerusalem,” she said. “We feel we have the right to it. You’re free to be angry, so be angry.”
Later, she changed, though...
“She changed her mind on the meaning of life, and said to me ‘why can’t we stick together to solve our problems? To find peace?’ It made me realize that both Palestinians and Israelis can change their minds about the future,” Eldar continued.

[Scarred4life]

@ Scarred4Life: interesting, I'll have to check that one out. That's a topic that really gets to me. And then people wonder why so many Palestinians are so fanatically turned against Israel...

Goliath, where did Scarred4life say anything about "a Palestinian mother struggling to get treatment for her baby, but was DENIED TREATMENT/OPPRESSED/WHATEVER by the "Evil" Israelis?

Well basically, the plot was that there were no hospitals in Gaza, and they put up this 'checkpoint' (barrier) that blocked the people from Gaza from entering into Israel, except for the ill who needed treatment. The barrier was put in place because the two were at war, and Israel is obviously much more developed that Gaza. A woman from Gaza was trying to get treatment for her baby, but couldn't because they did not have the funds. That the $55,000 donation was from an Israeli man, was not revealed until late in the movie, if I remember correctly. Even though the people at the hospital were helping out the ill from Gaza, that is not necessarily the rule, but the exception.

LittleFuzzy, the Palestinians certainly are turned against Israel. As the mother said, the Palestinians believe that Jerusalem should be theirs, and that the Israelis stole it from them. In the movie, there was some footage of parts of the war, and what weapons the Israelis were using to attack Gaza. While this movie was not focused primarily on the hostility between these two places, it was definitely a part of it.

[Goliath]

@ littlefuzzy: First of all: take a chill pill. Seriously. Second: I assumed this, because I've read countless accounts of Palestinians who couldn't get treatment for their diseases because the Israeli army didn't let them through. This is not an incidental case. It's a systematic tactic used by the occupiers to break the spirit of the Palestinians. I've read an account once of a Dutch journalist who, as opposed of all his other colleagues covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, actually lived in occupied territory among Palestinians for a year. His description of the occupation and what ot does to people was absolutely horrifying. People think they know, but they don't. To them, "occupation" is just a word. That story made it real, to me, with real-life examples of the humiliation and frustration. Including an example of Palestinians denied passage through to a hospital.

[dvdjunkie]

Watched a classic movie, just recently released on Blu-Ray. The movie is T*A*P*S (1981), which starred George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, and Tom Cruise and was directed by Harold Becker. The story of the resistance to the closing a military school by its cadets who find that the property is being sold to real estate developers. The cadets rise to the occasion blocking efforts to close the school and presenting their case to the officials concerned. I really like this movie when I saw it the first time in the theater, and now it has come to Blu-ray with a beautiful transfer and great lossless 5.1 sound. The Blu-ray features commentary by the director and several featurettes about the 'making of' T*A*P*S and exactly what the origins of playing "Taps" was for. Highly recommended for those who like these kind of movies, and those who want to see a young Tom Cruise and Sean Penn show us why they are some of today's best actors.