What is the last film you watched?

[Romão 2,274]

The Middle passage is master film making in every department.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

I say again....huh? What's wrong with most of the African stuff? The American stuff is way too obvious and over the top. The African stuff in general works very well in the film, save the overblown 'Give us Free' scene.

I actually enjoy the CD. I just don't think it does the film any favours, and (especially) vice versa. You're right about the African music being the best both in the film and on the CD.

I've been on a big Spielberg kick lately, buying his entire back catalogue (I'm almost done). Amistad is the only one that promises so much and delivers so little. It could have been a great film. If Spielberg hadn't squeezed it in between JP2 and SPR I can't help feeling it might have had a little more care and attention given to it, especially during the editing stage. I really can't fault the first 30 minutes of the film. Brilliant cinema. Shame the rest becomes so flabby and overindulgent.

[Morlock 11]

Well, I think there is enough good in it for it not to be dismissed. A significant Spielberg film it is not.

Oh, last night me and some friends had a good old Lebowski fest. Six people in bathrobes and sunglasses drinking White Russians and eating pizza, watching THE movie. Nothing like it.

[indy4 155]

The Bourne Ultimatum: I wasn't bored but that is the only positive thing I can say about this overrated third part.

I agree with every word.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Well, I think there is enough good in it for it not to be dismissed. A significant Spielberg film it is not.

Oh, last night me and some friends had a good old Lebowski fest. Six people in bathrobes and sunglasses drinking White Russians and eating pizza, watching THE movie. Nothing like it.

At the end of the movie I hope you ceremoniously peed on the rug in unison.

[Quintus 5,399]

30 Days Of Night. The best vampire movie since The Lost Boys, though they are in fact polar opposites with 30 Days Of Night being a genuinely scary movie about proper bloodsucking creatures of the night. There is no crucifix wielding here, indeed the vampires (whom speak in their own uncouth and subtitled tongues) in this movie would gladly tear your head from your body before you took the cross from around your neck. It's a gory beast of a film, strictly for over eighteens only - it features probably the most graphic killing in recent movie memory, its not a pretty sight. The setup is fairly original and actually quite clever, the actors earn their keep with Josh Hartnett converting me to his side and although the story is an entirely two dimentional affair, the film delivers what it set out to do - scare grownups. A no nonsense adult horror movie. I say "adult" since there seems to have been a spat of so-called 'horror' movies lately which have targeted the teen crowd; stuff like Final Destination and Jeepers Creepers. Theres nothing wrong with the motives of those movies, but I prefer my horror movies to be deadly serious. 30 Days Of Night certainly is and its destined to become a cult classic 4/5.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The best vampire movie since The Lost Boys,

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

At the end of the movie I hope you ceremoniously peed on the rug in unison.

Thanks to Marc's word filter, we can never do any quotes from this movie again!

[Quintus 5,399]

The best vampire movie since The Lost Boys,

The Lost Boys is to 80s' kids what The Goonies is to 80s' adventure - Sheer cult filmic genius!

[Morlock 11]

Brazil. Far better than I remembered. It does not work as a story or as a narrative, but it fantastic in it's details. A lot of scenes that don't make sense, but I love all those concepts and jokes running around there. I think that seeing Lost in La Mancha made me far more sympathetic towards Gilliam. He's not a very good filmmaker, but there is an indelible sense of immense creativity, and ideas up the wazoo.

The Criterion set is fantastic. Nice bits of behind the scenes videos, and a terrific documentry on the battle over the film's final version and release. Gilliam comes off rather well, I must say. The commentary is like the film...little coherency or consistancy, but full of great details. He's full of praise for Kamen and the score, even to the point of gently bashing JW (Saying Star Wars was a simple score compared to Kamen's work). It was surprising how often he refered to Lucas and Spielberg (Great praise for Duel, saying his truck was inspired by that one 'the first great truck).

The love for Gilliam still baffles me to a certain extent, but there's certainly a lot of charm to some of his stuff.

**1/2/****.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

Watched Zodiac: Director's Cut yesterday, and it was even better than I remembered. This film deserves a lot of the Academy's attention, but I doubt it'll get past cinematography. I found it amazing how David Fincher made everything perfect down to the last detail. That's why David Shire composed the score and not Howard Shore, cause Shire is a 70's composer. Hell, he even took the 70's reels of the opening logos of WB and stuck in front of the movie. All the songs are excellent and well used, have been listening to Hurdy Gurdy Man all week. All the acting is superb, even from the secondary and side characters. Don't forget how incredible Fincher is with digital, this movie was shot basically all on green-screen, and it looks live-action. The entire taxi cab scene from the bird's eye view and the entire building construction scene were both 100% digital. Nothing was real. Simply amazing.

Wow, I didn't realize the film put CG to good use so much. Why, though, was the bird's eye view of the taxi shooting computer-generated? Would that be hard to create actually? (I was also wowed by the shot of the building being built, a great way to pass time in a movie, haha.)

I recently watched Amistad in a government class as part of a look at the supreme court. I think the score in the "Give Us Free" scene is wonderfully empowering, and it works very well, and I like how everyone is simply dumbstruck by Cinque's words. I actually like this movie very much, aside from the depressing (if historically accurate) ending; it breaks up the triumph rather jarringly.

~Sturgis . . . sock it to me.

[Quintus 5,399]

The best vampire movie since The Lost Boys,

In fact I'm actually slightly intrigued by your (ignorant?) smilie.

The Lost Boys is absolutely brilliant and easily the best vampire movie of the 80s'. This is common knowledge everywhere, accept it seems in certain inhospitable regions of Europe.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's a Joel Shumacher film.

.......

[Quintus 5,399]

Ah, now I understand.

Thankfully the director isn't an issue for a great many people, in this particular instance.

The Lost Boys is untouchable in that regard, like it or not.

"People are strange, when you're a stranger..."

[A24 4,326]

Casino. Best film I've seen this year. Stunning performances by De Niro and Pesci. The scenes with them playing together are truly outstanding (as always).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Isn't this one Goodfellas II?

[Quintus 5,399]

Casino. Best film I've seen this year. Stunning performances by De Niro and Pesci. The scenes with them playing together are truly outstanding (as always).

Entertaining but ultimately empty. To (fashionably) call it Goodfellas II is almost an insult to Goodfellas proper.

Casino is not without its merits (Sharon Stone is very good actually), but like Cape Fear - its Scorcese on autopilot. Not a necessarily a bad thing, but hardly worthy of any sort of fine acclaim either.

[A24 4,326]

I'm curious. I'm going to have to ask you why you think Casino is empty.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I really like Cape Fear!

[Quintus 5,399]

I'm curious. I'm going to have to ask you why you think Casino is empty.

I like Casino, but I've always felt it to be extremely contrived, almost as if Scorcese was attempting to appeal directly to his target audience, at the detriment of what makes his films so good - originality. Not in the literal sense, but in narrative sense. Casino follows a very similar narrative to that of the superior Goodfellas and for that reason alone it feels second best. The fact that Casino appears to have Joe Pesci playing the exact same character he portrayed in Goodfellas only furthers any argument against Casino - its easy option writing and lazy casting, albeit fun nonetheless. Casino tells a good story, but its style is the sort that tries far too hard to be clever and cool. Goodfellas felt natural, Casino felt manufactured.

Oh and Cape Fear is freaking ace, in an OTT kind of way. Nick Nolte has never looked so downright frightened and De Niro plays dumbstruck drowning like the best of 'em. I have it on dvd.

[Morlock 11]

Casino. Best film I've seen this year. Stunning performances by De Niro and Pesci. The scenes with them playing together are truly outstanding (as always).

Stunning performances? They both felt like they were on auto-pilot for most of the time. The entire movie felt like it was missing some kind spark. I didn't feel like anyone cared about the film in particular, aside from maybe Stone (who I just don't like). It has good stuff, certainly. Gotta love those montages of how crime-stuff works. And there are some fantastic vignettes. But it drags on, and feels very thin by the end of it. It feels like Scorsese going back to his home turf after venturing way out there with Age of Innocence (One of his very best, incidentally).

More like Goodfellas light than Goodfellas II. It has the only real flaw Goodfellas has (feels long), but all too few of it's pluses.

Like Once Upon a Time in America), it's another film where DeNiro plays it mostly hollow, trying to give a not terribly well-written character "depth".

[Quintus 5,399]

Gotta love those montages of how crime-stuff works.

Let's face it, when was the last time you saw a Vegas movie which didn't feature a cool edited inner-workings/heist montage? Way before Casino, that's when.

[Romão 2,274]

The Birdcage, maybe for the 15th time.

I still rank as one of the funniest movies ever made.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Wow, I didn't realize the film put CG to good use so much. Why, though, was the bird's eye view of the taxi shooting computer-generated? Would that be hard to create actually? (I was also wowed by the shot of the building being built, a great way to pass time in a movie, haha.)

Fincher is a master of digital and CG. Panic Room was his first use of it I believe, and it worked great. I think the over-head view of the taxi cab drive would be difficult to actually shoot. The way the camera follows the car, i.e. it turns as the car turns, making that quite difficult to get a perfect shot from a helicopter or from wherever you would be filming.

The shot of the building being built was indeed a great way to show the transition in time-pass. Also the minute of black with all the clips of news reel and classic songs being heard was well-placed and used.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

I think that seeing Lost in La Mancha made me far more sympathetic towards Gilliam. He's not a very good filmmaker, but there is an indelible sense of immense creativity, and ideas up the wazoo.

Of course I have to take exception to that remark. I think the essence of being a good filmmaker is having the desire and ability to put images on the screen that haven't been seen before, or telling a story in a way that hasn't been done before. Gilliam does that. His "creativity and ideas" are precisely what make him a good filmmaker. He's definitely not for everyone, and I'll be the first to admit that Brothers Grimm wasn't particularly good. BUT the excitement I feel whenever I sit in a darkened theatre to watch the latest Gilliam film is more I feel for any other film director. It's a feeling of anticipation that I'm about to see something the like of which I've never seen before. I wish there were more filmmakers out there with his dedication to vision.

Brazil is one of my favourite films by the way.

[QMM 4]

The Birdcage, maybe for the 15th time.

I still rank as one of the funniest movies ever made.

Quite right

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Nathan Lane is really funny in that.

[A24 4,326]

I like Casino, but I've always felt it to be extremely contrived, almost as if Scorcese was attempting to appeal directly to his target audience, at the detriment of what makes his films so good - originality. Not in the literal sense, but in narrative sense. Casino follows a very similar narrative to that of the superior Goodfellas and for that reason alone it feels second best. The fact that Casino appears to have Joe Pesci playing the exact same character he portrayed in Goodfellas only furthers any argument against Casino - its easy option writing and lazy casting, albeit fun nonetheless. Casino tells a good story, but its style is the sort that tries far too hard to be clever and cool. Goodfellas felt natural, Casino felt manufactured.

Narratively speaking, I think Casino goes further than Goodfellas because of its use of two narrative angles whereas Goodfellas uses only one. I loved the interplay between the two voiceovers, each one describing the facts through their eyes: De Niro as the control freak who controls his wife the way he controls his casino and Pesci as the Mob muscle man who thinks he can get away with everything. Yes, Pesci plays a similar role and if that makes the film second best to Goodfellas then it's still a good film in my book. And opting for an average actress like Sharon Stone (it's most probably her best acting yet, but alas, still poor in the company of De Niro and Pesci) is quite ballsy casting. Furthermore, Scorsese just likes to work with certain actors. Look at the terrible Leo Dicaprio, he's already in three Scorsese films and scheduled for two or three more! Finally, I don't think Casino wants to tell a good story (it's not really a plot film), it just shows us how a couple of folks, who had it all, screwed it up terribly.

Alex

[Morlock 11]

DiCaprio is a good actor, and has had a chance to show it in two of his Scorsese films.

[A24 4,326]

Quite frankly, even though I agree, to me, Leo is as empty as you can get.

No, that's not true, Keanu is worse but at least he doesn't try.

That being said, I think Leo's anima was well taken advantage of by Spielberg in Catch Me If You Can. And I like Keanu in The Matrix. This shows you that casting is everything.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Wow, I didn't realize the film put CG to good use so much. Why, though, was the bird's eye view of the taxi shooting computer-generated? Would that be hard to create actually? (I was also wowed by the shot of the building being built, a great way to pass time in a movie, haha.)

Fincher is a master of digital and CG. Panic Room was his first use of it I believe, and it worked great. I think the over-head view of the taxi cab drive would be difficult to actually shoot. The way the camera follows the car, i.e. it turns as the car turns, making that quite difficult to get a perfect shot from a helicopter or from wherever you would be filming.

There's several eloborate CG camera tricks in Fight Club.

Not sure about Alien³.

[Morlock 11]

Quite frankly, even though I agree, to me, Leo is as empty as you can get.

He's been good in everything I've seen him in, save for The Man in the Iron Mask and Gangs of New York (he wasn't so much bad, as he was blown out of the by all the British thespians).

[SturgisPodmore 0]

Wow, I didn't realize the film put CG to good use so much. Why, though, was the bird's eye view of the taxi shooting computer-generated? Would that be hard to create actually? (I was also wowed by the shot of the building being built, a great way to pass time in a movie, haha.)

Fincher is a master of digital and CG. Panic Room was his first use of it I believe, and it worked great. I think the over-head view of the taxi cab drive would be difficult to actually shoot. The way the camera follows the car, i.e. it turns as the car turns, making that quite difficult to get a perfect shot from a helicopter or from wherever you would be filming.

Oh I see, I thought you meant the shot in which Zodiac actually shoots the cab driver, seen from a second-story window. Apparently I'm a little fuzzy on the definition of "bird-eye," haha.

~Sturgis

[tpigeon 3]

Quite frankly, even though I agree, to me, Leo is as empty as you can get.

He's been good in everything I've seen him in, save for The Man in the Iron Mask and Gangs of New York (he wasn't so much bad, as he was blown out of the by all the British thespians).

I think he's one of the stronger A-list actors out there. He runs circles around Tom Cruise, no doubt. He's actually improved his craft quite a bit over the years.

Ted

[Morlock 11]

But he's been good for a long time.

[A24 4,326]

... but empty.

[robthehand 3]

Dr. Strangelove: Love it. Never gets old, no matter how many times I watch it. Peter Sellers is great, but George C. Scott is just as good, often even funnier. I love Sterling Hayden here, as well.

Gladiator: Not a great film by any means, and certainly not a masterpiece as some have claimed, but decent entertainment. I can watch it once every couple of years. The script is messy, but the cast is what makes it work, and they really are great (particularly Reed and Harris). Phoenix seems a bit out of his depth, and isn't really that convincing. I really don't like the score at all.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: One of my favourite movies. I mean "favourite" as opposed to "best" - it's flawed, but the good bits are so good that for me they completely cancel out the all too frequent moments where it gets a bit too preachy. Nicholson and Fletcher are great (though for my money Jack should have won the Oscar the previous year for Chinatown, and the 1975 award should have gone to Pacino for Dog Day Afternoon), but the supporting cast - William Redfield, Sydney Lassick, Will Sampson and particualrly Brad Dourif - are even more impressive.

Oliver Twist (1948): Wonderful! I'd never seen it before. Marvellous performances, especially from Robert Newton and Kay Walsh, and of course Alec Guinness (though whoever did the makeup was a bit overzealous with Guinness' nose). John Howard Davies was good in the title role, as was Anthony Newley as the Artful Dodger. All the cast were good, actually. Francis L. Sullivan was hilarious as Mr. Bumble. Interesting that a lot of the sets and costumes were almost identical in the later musical version - I wonder whether Dickens described them very specifically in the book, or whether Reed's film borrowed a lot from Lean's? Nancy's death was extremely well-handled and genuinely scary. Excellent film, I'll almost certainly buy the Criterion Collection DVD (the R2 DVD I rented has a rather poor transfer).

Gosford Park: One of my favourite films of this decade. I wasn't mad keen on it the first time (mostly because I was expecting a straight-foward murder mystery), but second time around when I knew what was going on I liked it a lot more. Now, probably my fifth or sixth time, I can't really find any fault in it at all.

[Morlock 11]

... but empty.

Nope. Sorry.

Gosford Park: One of my favourite films of this decade. I wasn't mad keen on it the first time (mostly because I was expecting a straight-foward murder mystery), but second time around when I knew what was going on I liked it a lot more. Now, probably my fifth or sixth time, I can't really find any fault in it at all.

One of my favorites as well. Love the score, too (and the songs).

[A24 4,326]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: One of my favourite movies. I mean "favourite" as opposed to "best" - it's flawed, but the good bits are so good that for me they completely cancel out the all too frequent moments where it gets a bit too preachy. Nicholson and Fletcher are great (though for my money Jack should have won the Oscar the previous year for Chinatown, and the 1975 award should have gone to Pacino for Dog Day Afternoon), but the supporting cast - William Redfield, Sydney Lassick, Will Sampson and particualrly Brad Dourif - are even more impressive.

I wish the "gang" never left the institution for that boat trip. To me that's the film's weakest moment.

[Morlock 11]

Indeed. Fun, yet entirely unconvincing.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

It works better in the book, as I recall.

[Morlock 11]

Cukoo's Nest always struck me as another movie overrated because of it's anti-establishment theme. The Graduate is a similar case. Both good movies, but inflated into cultural landmarks when they really are just expressing angst. Not nearly as deep or important movies as they're made out to be (well, I guess they are important...but as causes, not as films).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I wish the "gang" never left the institution for that boat trip. To me that's the film's weakest moment.

Even in the 70's people needed a crowdpleaser.

Loise Fletcher is just amazing in this, the only women I ever hated or feared more on film/TV is Livia.

[A24 4,326]

The Graduate is a similar case. Both good movies, but inflated into cultural landmarks when they really are just expressing angst. Not nearly as deep or important movies as they're made out to be (well, I guess they are important...but as causes, not as films).

I wonder what the Morlock considers important. I mean, in my book, a film that changed film is an important film.

[Morlock 11]

It touched a nerve. The best part of The Graduate is the very last image, of the two young "lovers" sobering up after the ecstatic joy of sticking it to the man. They haven't a clue what they are fighting for. The whole concept of the film as being positive is one that I just don't get.

So I guess I meant to say that, yes, it is important. But not because of it being particularly great.

[A24 4,326]

, eh, right.

[Morlock 11]

Is that the best you can do?

[Red 75]

It touched a nerve. The best part of The Graduate is the very last image, of the two young "lovers" sobering up after the ecstatic joy of sticking it to the man. They haven't a clue what they are fighting for. The whole concept of the film as being positive is one that I just don't get.

So I guess I meant to say that, yes, it is important. But not because of it being particularly great.

Funny, as that was actually unintentional (by the actors).

[Morlock 11]

I know. One of the most happy accidents in movie history. It saves that film, only thinkg that makes it still real and relevalt today, and not just as the ultimate document of that era. That look, and "We blew it", from Easy Rider, are what make those movies.

[Quintus 5,399]

Just saw No Country For Old Men. Excellent film I'm sure you will all agree when you see it and easily my favourite Coen Brothers film to date. As is the norm in their movies, don't expect standard hollywood convention - this story is superbly unpredictable to the very last shot and shockingly so at times. It's nice to Josh Brolin continuing his comeback - here he plays a cool but tough loner of sorts who slowly gains the audiences trust, would like to see him continue his flurry of good choices in the near future, he's a likable lead. The Coens have also been kind enough to bless us with a brand new anti-hero in the film's chief villain; the unrelenting hitman on a mission who is every bit as terryfying as he is methodical. See it asap 5/5.