What is the last film you watched?

[Hitch 57]

The straight answer to that is NO. I hear Barbra Streisand is in talks to play Norma Desmond in the big screen remake of SUNSET BOULEVARD. Someone just shoot me now.

[A24 4,345]

Really? It looked entirely missable. Shia LeBeuf is no James Stewart. Did we need a Rear Window for the 2000's?

I wasn't talking about the movie.

[Hitch 57]

Shia LeBeouf is no Matthew McConaughey

[Morlock 11]

Really? It looked entirely missable. Shia LeBeuf is no James Stewart. Did we need a Rear Window for the 2000's?

I wasn't talking about the movie.

In that case, your point was probably in the picture, which appears as a red X.

[A24 4,345]

Fixed!

[tpigeon 3]

Disturbia wasn't too bad of a movie at all. In fact, the first hour or so was quite good. Lebouf's chemistry with his female counterpoint was palpable, and the suburban adventuring was very enjoyable. Say what you will about Lebouf, but his presence can be magnetic.

Ted

[John Crichton 4]

Totally random question here. It's been forever since I've seen Cast Away and Marc's sig shot got me curious:

That's a Texas Farm Road sign. Anyone know where that was filmed?

[QMM 4]

Watched the writers commentary for Panic Room with David Koepp and Bill Goldman again. Great track to listen to for aspiring screenwriters. Movie's not too bad either.

[Hitch 57]

Great opening credits to that one.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Saw No Country for Old Men last night. Picture was a little fuzzy but otherwise some of the most amazing performances I've ever seen in a film.

Hope to see There Will Be Blood and possibly Juno fairly soon, depends what my brother's up to.

[Morlock 11]

Saw No Country for Old Men last night. Picture was a little fuzzy but otherwise some of the most amazing performances I've ever seen in a film.

Fuzzy? How so?

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

That's a Texas Farm Road sign. Anyone know where that was filmed?

It does look like something straight out of North by Northwest.

[Morlock 11]

Nah, it's too dark. And there was no truck.

Morlock- finally checking out Deadwood.

[QMM 4]

Morlock- finally checking out Deadwood.

Oh man

[Morlock 11]

First couple of episodes are good, but not exactly the knock-out I was hoping for.

[Maglorfin 196]

Ronin. Great action, especially car chase stuff, really eye-popping. Also fine score by Elia Cmiral, fits the film perfectly.

[A24 4,345]

First couple of episodes are good, but not exactly the knock-out I was hoping for.

Skip the series, it's not for you.

[Morlock 11]

Third episode picks up. Was that Powers Boothe?

[Elmo Lewis 6]

finally checking out Deadwood.

Your series-watching is taken? How am I going to force you to watch Dexter now?

[tpigeon 3]

And whyyyyy isn't it for Morlock? Please tell.

Ted

[Maglorfin 196]

I also started watching Keeping Up Appearances again. Terrific stuff.

[QMM 4]

Third episode picks up. Was that Powers Boothe?

Yes, along with Ricky Jay.

[Morlock 11]

Yeah, that was only based on a glimpse of him.

There it is....'Iguazo'. Nice use. I would have liked more of Carradine, I've liked the few performances I've seen of his.

[A24 4,345]

Gouttes D'eau sur Pierres Brulantes: Homosexuality, bisexuality, group sex, suicide, extreme manipulation: anything goes in this François Ozon film based on a Fassbinder play.

[Quintus 5,399]

Sounds crap.

[A24 4,345]

Crap? No. It's more like ... WTF!!!

[Henry B 50]

Casino Royale. For a film that tossed aside cheesy conventions in favor of a gritty and realistic approach, this film sure does indulge in some dubious logic. But that's okay. It's awesome.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Watched several films the last few days, of which there was only one I hadn't seen yet:

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

A mess of a movie if I've ever seen one. Characters come and go randomly, there's a billion things crammed into it and it tries to rewrite events from the first film, something I'm not a particular fan of (I don't know if this is from the comic books or not). The sandman effects were without a doubt very impressive, but I couldn't particularly care for this cliché character. The action sequences were already over the top in the second film, but here it's just ridiculous. These too seem to stop and start randomly and they feel like they are designed for a video game. A would be shooting a strand of web, B would be firing the web balls, and if you get far enough in the game you get to play two characters at once. Whoop dee doo.

Score's alright though, and I enjoyed Bruce Campbell as I did in the second one. Poor movie.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Watched several films the last few days, of which there was only one I hadn't seen yet:

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

A mess of a movie if I've ever seen one. Characters come and go randomly, there's a billion things crammed into it and it tries to rewrite events from the first film, something I'm not a particular fan of (I don't know if this is from the comic books or not). The sandman effects were without a doubt very impressive, but I couldn't particularly care for this cliché character. The action sequences were already over the top in the second film, but here it's just ridiculous. These too seem to stop and start randomly and they feel like they are designed for a video game. A would be shooting a strand of web, B would be firing the web balls, and if you get far enough in the game you get to play two characters at once. Whoop dee doo.

Score's alright though, and I enjoyed Bruce Campbell as I did in the second one. Poor movie.

you must have seen a different version because the effects I saw of sandman were anything but impressive.

The word BAD comes to mind. But your final analysis of the film is the same as mine.

[Henry B 50]

The effects don't bother me as much as the ridiculously written characters do.

[Morlock 11]

The Sandman effects were fine, his first scene was quite a beautiful scene of VFX. Coming in with low expectation, I kind of enjoyed the flick. I did like the early fight scene between Harry and Spidy. And Bruce Campbell is always great....though I think his cameo in the second film is my favorite (and, Campbell has noted, as Spiderman did not get into the theater, that usher was in fact the only person to actually defeat Spiderman).

[Elmo Lewis 6]

What about the lady who refuses to pay for the pizzas at the beginning of Spider-Man 2?

[Morlock 11]

Well, the Pizza store lost the money, really, not Spidy.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

I see.

Masked Menace for small businesses indeed.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Saw No Country for Old Men last night. Picture was a little fuzzy but otherwise some of the most amazing performances I've ever seen in a film.

Fuzzy? How so?

It just looked like how a DVD does if you have to blow the image up a lot to view it fullscreen - never really very sharp, which is a pity because the wide shots at the start were beautiful.

[Morlock 11]

I think you've got a problem with your projectionist than....because it was razor sharp both times I saw it.

[tpigeon 3]

Yes, same for me. Taking in the still, quiet beauty of that movie was quite an experience. That opening montage with Jones' voiceover narration still blows my mind just thinking about it.

Ted

[Morlock 11]

Yes! When hearing it, I had a feeling it was one of those things that I'd remember forever, exactly the way it was delivered.

[Morlock 11]

Although I do not believe there will be any spoilers to ruin the movie, just in case....

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!

There Will Be Blood. Although it's not necessarily a bad sign, I don't quite know what to make of it at the moment. Or, I don't know what to make of the ending. And despite the fact, even if the ending is unsatisfying as it was initially, I still love much of the movie.

It's a movie that seems to defy my often crass vocabulary when it comes to discussing movies. It is an experience. A deeply involving and most visceral experience. It really struck me as a real examination of a character, and not only the fashionable, yet ultimately a bit too holier-than-thou attitude, of supposedly being brave by having a despicable main character. Somehow, this felt honest. In fact, that honesty is probably what made me dubious about the ending. It felt so accurate, character-wise, that it felt to me like it was simply an extension of the character's action throughout the movie, as opposed to ascending to the more lofty allegorical levels I'd expected. The character felt so complete, I felt almost no room for the allegory (A term I use for lack of a better term.....something along the lines of 'deeper meaning' or 'layers'), I was expecting, and I guess hoping for.

This most probably makes no sense in the above paragraph, for which I apologize.

And, as I explained, I could only take the movie literally, my only comments would be about what was being said or done or seen or heard. And while I would like to avoid it in this case...there are certain elements that I feel the need to say out loud (I was too busy arguing with the person I went to see it with to actually get to specific things that grabbed me).

Cinematography. Brilliant. Too many breathtaking shots, both huge and intimate (often both) to list. Although I will mention the introduction shot of Cieran Hinds, which was thrilling to see...I thought I could spot an introduction shot a mile away, but this one sprang up on me (although it really is pure showmanship, his introduction has little substance in it's method).

Sound. Equally brilliant. This and No Country for Old Men really show you what the use of sound is, not the big loud sound that often gets mention.

Costumes and sets both felt very authentic. Costumes really impressed me, actually. Many period films are filled with clothes obviously tailored days before and looking brand new. These clothes felt lived in.

Music. If nothing else, it was exciting to hear a score that I did not know where it was going in relation to the film. At times, it clashed, yes. But the overall effect of it in the movie is one of main thing that elevates this film to an 'experience'. The tracks used for the opening of the well also worked very well. Although it seemed a bit too 'witty' an ending to the film.

Acting. Daniel Day-Lewis struck me as real, which tells you how much I liked his performance. Paul Dano struck me as good....but I have too many problems with his character. I think it's because I see him much as Plainview saw him, I'm not sure what the character really was at this point. The actor playing the son was very powerful. I always love Cieran Hinds, but he had rather less to do here than I had hoped. And the actor playing Plainview's brother was excellent.

And the sequence of the well exploding is one of the best sequences I have seen on film. Ever. And the music for it was terrific.

As you can tell, this is not an experience that can be summed up. I must mull it over. At the moment, I am inclined to love the film even though I do not believe it's ending was right.

Either way, it is most probably the last new film from 2007 that I will be seeing in a movie theater. I've had a number of great theatrical experiences this year, and this last one is one the best. Now I'll be spending forever catching up on all the other 2007 films I've missed that come recommended.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Just watched Michael Clayton. Good movie, outstanding performances here, but just a couple of things;

My brother thinks I'm being very dense, but due to the very realistic dialogue style, and a lot of scenes with Clooney's son etc that seemed to have nothing at all to do with the main lawsuit plot, I completely failed to pick up possibly the two most important plot points, namely that

the girl Arthur kept talking to was affected by the chemical thing, and that the main lawsuit being mentioned was actually about the chemical, not Arthur's medicinal problems.

I admit I'm not good with intricate plots, but there just seemed to be a hell of a lot of character developing padding that masked everything important. I'm sure a second viewing will be great though.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Vantage Point (**1/2)

I fell in love with the trailer the first time I saw it, but about after the 20th viewing the film started to not interest me as much. I saw it on Friday and it was entertaining and enjoyable, but not very good. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the entire movie basically. But, I expected that, it is called Vantage Point and you see the entirety of 1 event through several perspectives. The style of the movie were rewinds, you would see the event from 1 person, and it would stop, rewind, and start over from another person. The audience seemed to hate this, for after each rewind everyone started to whine and groan, which I found extremely annoying. Some of the dialogue and acting was bad and laughable, especially with Dennis Quaid. William Hurt was very good, as always, and I enjoyed his part of the film. Everything else was acceptable and it finished off with a very entertaining car chase. Atli Orvarrson's score was decent, pretty good for it being his first major picture. The overall sound was very Powell-ish and he tried to make some themes, which were O.K.

I watched Michael Clayton on blu-ray, excellent film. I never really appreciated how well the script is written and Gilroy's directing is perfect. Outstanding acting from the entire cast, especially Tom Wilkinson, who's opening speech was magnificent. I'll stick by my comment that I said after I saw it in theaters: "The last 10 minutes is worth the admission price alone."

Also watched the Director's Cut of American Gangster. I didn't notice the extra 20 minutes as much as I thought I would. There is still a scene missing that was shown in the trailer and in the commercial for the extended edition. Possible it could be in the deleted scenes, will have to check later. Overall, it was enjoyable. Great acting from Crowe and Washington, I think Denzel should have received a nomination instead of Tommy Lee Jones or Viggo Mortensen. The new ending wasn't very good, and overall it was just a slightly more than decent film.

[Morlock 11]

Both Crowe and Washington were phoning it in. Nothing we haven't seen before from either of them. Nobody seemed to care about the film aside from Ruby Dee and Josh Brolin, and everyone's accoutant.

[QMM 4]

I felt the same as you about the ending for TWBB at first, Morlock. Having had time to think about it though, I've come to embrace it. I really can't imagine it ending any other way.

[Morlock 11]

Would you mind, either here or by PM, sharing your specific POV on the matter? I really can't get my head around it, and I don't think the answer will come to me, as it did with No Country.

The Proposition is a really good movie.

Personally, I thought it was one of that year's worst movies, so Morlock can look forward to another masterpiece.

Apparently, miracles can happen. I did not like the film. At all. As a matter of fact, I thought it was quite a terrible movie. In just about every respect. I frankly do not fathom the good reviews. They saw a very different movie than I did. I saw a badly written, badly directed, badly edited (whether the editor or the director's fault), with cinematography that was never particularly impressive (with some glaring lighting issues), and with acting that seemed like it could have been good, if it were not applied to such badly drawn characters with such uninteresting dialogue.

Except for a couple of cues of the score (including a gypsy sounding motif that sounded nice, yet entirely out of place), I did not like it at all. And I generally love anything with Ray Winstone or John Hurt, and like Danny Huston quite a bit (I used to like Guy Pierce.....until, for whatever reason, he stopped being in good movies after Memento).

Quite a dissapointing haul.

[indy4 155]

Saw Revenge of the Sith for the umpteenth time. I, as always, really enjoyed it. I did notice some of its flaws, however. The SFX. While parts of it looks very very realistic, other parts seemed like a video game. And I agree that they were used a bit too much, but that didn't take away from the movie experiance too much. And some of the dialouge was corny. Examples: "Noooooooooooooooooo!" Some of it didn't make sense: "From my point of view, the jedi are evil!" I mean, so much for "a sith deals in absolutes." But at the same time, there was a great deal of fabulous quotes: "You were the chosen one!" "The Republic will be reorganized into the FIRST---GALACTIC---EMPIRE!" "At an end, your rule is!" and more. And the acting wasn't excactly top notch, but I don't think it was that bad. I've seen worse. But the main reasons I see a film is for story, the way the story is told, music, and maybe a couple other things. And the story and the storytelling were fantastic in RotS. So maybe it's not as light hearted as the originals, it's still a great film. ****1/2/*****

The score was, of course, amazing. Seeing it this time really opened my eyes to how much we need complete releases of the scores, no matter how Ultimate Editionish they may be. JW really did great here.

[A24 4,345]

There Will Be Blood.

There will be oscars.

The Proposition.

Apparently, miracles can happen. I did not like the film. At all. As a matter of fact, I thought it was quite a terrible movie. In just about every respect. I frankly do not fathom the good reviews. They saw a very different movie than I did. I saw a badly written, badly directed, badly edited (whether the editor or the director's fault), with cinematography that was never particularly impressive (with some glaring lighting issues), and with acting that seemed like it could have been good, if it were not applied to such badly drawn characters with such uninteresting dialogue.

Except for a couple of cues of the score (including a gypsy sounding motif that sounded nice, yet entirely out of place), I did not like it at all. And I generally love anything with Ray Winstone or John Hurt, and like Danny Huston quite a bit (I used to like Guy Pierce.....until, for whatever reason, he stopped being in good movies after Memento).

Quite a dissapointing hawl.

Thanks for your temporary sanity.

Alex

[AI 0]

The last film that The AI watched is, The Apostle.

They don't make films like this much anymore. There are no superlatives to describe how awesome this film is..

Well wait, if there are no words to describe it, how can you write a review AI?

Well lets just say this film is awesome.

The AI gives this film ***1/2/ 4

Good Cats made this one.

[A24 4,345]

I'm glad there are people who actually watch this film. More gripping than all The Golden Compasses in the world.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Did Joe not establish that The Apostle was a horrible film?

[Jeshopk 8]

Space Camp. It really is a better score than most give it credit for. It's actually a close cousin to not only ET, but Temple of Doom. So many stars in this movie, before they were stars. Not really anything wrong with the movie, for what it intended.