Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
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Post by Dr Handsome on Aug 22, 2010 17:34:58 GMT -5
The Double Life of VeroniqueI’m not all too familiar with Krzysztof Kieslowski’s work and I’m not quite sure how the movie ended up on the top of my Netflix queue this week but I’m extremely glad it did. I honestly might have watched it once more if I hadn’t already put it in the mailbox. I can’t say I use the word “beautiful” all too much but there’s no better way to describe this movie. I’m hoping someone here shares my thoughts on Double Life. In short: oh my god, it’s so beautiful, what does it mean.I am beyond excited to watch the three colors trilogy. Why doesn't mail come on Sundays!
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Post by gtboozer on Aug 24, 2010 9:44:49 GMT -5
I finally got back to some movies after a weekend of watching TV series...
First of the night was Monsoon Wedding. I wasn't really interested in this one for a long time, but when I saw that the Criterion Cast had done an episode on it I thought I would give it a go. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it. For the longest time I thought it was just a typical romantic chick flick, and it really wasn't. More about family with multiple generations and a culture that I think is beautiful and rich and not well known in the west. By the end I couldn't help but wish that I could have been a part of that wedding. I don't want to get into specifics about the plot and stuff, but several of the characters ended up changing my perception of them by the end. I've also seen some other comments about a minor spoiler issue... just a heads up to those who may be sensitive to the subject of child sexual abuse, nothing too heavy or graphic, but it is involved in the story.
Next was Revanche. A pretty slow paced low key German film about... revenge. Albeit a bit misguided and unjustified plight for revenge, I think it ties that up pretty well. Even though it was a pretty slow moving film, and there is a large section where nothing really happens, there was a sense of tension and pent up rage just under the surface of the main character. I just kept thinking he was going to flip out at any moment. I really enjoyed it and again, don't want to get into details of the plot if you guys haven't seen it yet. Good flick.
I'll hopefully be checking out more movies this week. I mean... Old Dogs and Gigli are now on Netflix watch instant just in case I'm in the mood to watch a train wreck.
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Post by gtboozer on Aug 25, 2010 11:32:46 GMT -5
So I watched a couple movies last night, but the one that I wanted to mention here is Hunger. This was my next Criterion film and yet another one that I really liked. I don't know much about the conflicts involving the IRA or this specific situation, but this is one of those films that made me want to learn more about it. This film managed to show disgusting and cruel acts of torture and abuse in such a beautiful way that you almost look past the fact that the walls have been smeared with shit. Maybe that's not the correct way to put it, you are always aware of the shit covered walls and maggots, it's just filmed beautifully. It is a very one sided point of view in this film, but it just makes you want to smack both sides and scream STOP THIS. I thought it was a bit strange that so many comments I've seen online complain about not being able to hear the very little dialogue in the film. I don't know if they just couldn't make out the accents, but I didn't have much trouble at all. No matter what side of this conflict you may be on, this is a beautiful film and I can't wait to see more from it's director Steve McQueen.
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Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
Posts: 240
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Post by Dr Handsome on Aug 27, 2010 0:47:34 GMT -5
MonsoonWedding sounds good, might have to check that one out.
Hunger sounds so interesting but I'm not sure if I'll ever be in the mood to watch poo smeared walls, I don't care how gorgeously they're photographed. It's just not the sort of thing I personally enjoy. I mean, that fact alone but then you add in maggots? If I do get around to watching this one it won't be over dinner, thank you very much.
Blue was fantastic. I thought I was setting myself to be disappointed but just like Double Life of Veronique this movie drew me in. Part of this has to do with the photography. I just checked IMDb and a man named Slawomir Idziak served as DP on the two of them, they're both incredibly well shot. In the end Krzystov Kieslowski is just extremely good at making you want to see more. Not a lot of action, a seemingly insular character, but still very engaging.
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Post by siege121 on Aug 27, 2010 21:44:23 GMT -5
I just watched the movie Hausu (House in English) and boy was it fantastic. It has to be one of the most fun movies I have ever seen. I found myself wanting to clap and just cheer when stuff happened because they were just so weird and crazy. I of coarse did not do this because I was alone and to do so would make me as insane as this film was. I literally don't even know how to describe it. I watched this because I saw it was being released by Criterion in October and can say that it will be an immediate purchase. It it surely not for everyone and I would even say its not for most people but I loved it so much. The movie really makes little sense but it is so strangely made and shot that I just couldn't help but get caught up in it.
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Post by johnson27546 on Aug 31, 2010 23:05:58 GMT -5
The last movie I saw was Vampires Suck in the theater. It was my brother's birthday, and he wanted to see it, so I went along with him. I have seen Twilight and New Moon and I would consider this movie to be their superior because it condensed these two mindless and pointless movies into only an hour and a half. To tell the truth, I've laughed more at the original films than this parody.
The last DVD I saw was the MST3K version of Pod People (another request of my brother's birthday). Any fan of B movies or MST3K needs to see this one.
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Dr Handsome
Full Member
...but you can call me Eric.
Posts: 240
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 1, 2010 13:07:23 GMT -5
I haven't been on here for the past few days but once I get around to watching White and Red I promise to join in the conversation again. There were a few really amazing topics made in the past couple of days that I've put off responding to because I haven't had the time to write everything I wanted to say about them.
Hausu I'm not sure where I've heard that name but I have. It might have been playing in New York? Your description made me want to watch it though.
Vampires Suck I was telling a friend (who was looking to laugh at and not with) that a showing of this movie would something like a Celebrity Roast where the ones being skewered are more than happy to laugh at themselves and that he'd probably just end up watching a terrible movie with a bunch of Twilight fans. Am I right?
Your brother also watches MST3K which leads me to believe your brother just enjoys watching awful movies. Am I right?
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Post by siege121 on Sept 2, 2010 14:19:56 GMT -5
I re-watched Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs last night and it reaffirmed my love for this film. It is really rare to re-watch an animated movie and catch jokes you missed the first time around.
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Dr Handsome
Full Member
...but you can call me Eric.
Posts: 240
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 4, 2010 1:41:41 GMT -5
The AmericanI’m okay with a quiet movie with an introverted character but quiet shouldn’t mean dull and introverted shouldn’t mean uninteresting. There’s certainly a great deal of subtext but it’s hard to pay attention when the story is as uninteresting as it is in this movie. It makes sense to bring up Blue which features its own (more fascinating) introvert. In his review of that film Roger Ebert says: There is a kind of movie in which the characters are not thinking about anything. They are simply the instruments of the plot.
And another kind of movie in which we lean forward in our seats, trying to penetrate the mystery of characters who are obviously thinking a great deal.
No matter how hard I tried I wasn’t leaning forward in my seat. Though there is one admittedly fantastic scene- it’s directed by Sergio Leone and it’s playing on a television behind George Clooney. I rarely go to see movies on a whim and was honestly hoping I'd find something unexpectedly wonderful. I actually managed to avoid any plot spoilers but I'd highly recommend seeing the Three Colors trilogy and The Double Life of Veronique without reading the following paragraphs. If you're already aware of what these movies have to offer go ahead but if you're as clueless about 'em as I was than I'd say watch before reading.WhiteI was absolutely not expecting the “anti-comedy” of this movie. It’s certainly not my favorite of the trilogy but it’s still a great film, extremely well crafted too. It’s interesting (and fun) to see the talents of Krzystov “I’m probably not spelling his last name right” Kieslowski serve a somewhat different script than the other three I watched. RedIt’s been less than an hour since I watched this movie. Yes, I’m that eager to write about it. Honestly, I might have more to say about it in a couple of days but I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, so here I go: just like The Double Life of Veronique this movie deals with an indefinable sort of mysticism and Krzystov “here I go butchering his name again" Kieslowsky handles that sort of thing perfectly. In both movies he illustrates an unanswerable question and knows exactly when to stop and let the audience weigh in. If he had chosen to take it any further I don’t think it would have worked nearly as well as it does here. Krzystov is really good at sustaining long stretches of film that don't immediately add up. Whether it's scene construction, an unusual attention to detail, terrific acting, he never seems to be relying one particular trick. Maybe it's this variation that makes his movies so incredibly seductive. Irene Jacob is fantastic, Jean Louis Trintignant is different-word-for-fantastic, and it’s definitely worth noting Zbigniew “I don’t even know how to pronounce that one” Preisner’s music in all these films. I’m hoping I can easily find copies of all three soundtracks because they're inredible. I’ll stop here. It's almost 3 am. Hopefully someone here’s seen these. Wow that's a long forum post.
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Post by johnson27546 on Sept 7, 2010 15:12:19 GMT -5
I just got done watching Eraserhead. How many cliches did David Lynch cram into this film? It's the most predictable thing I've seen since Un Chien Andalou.
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Post by maarow on Sept 9, 2010 16:21:17 GMT -5
Interesting double feature two nights ago: Scorsese's Shutter Island and Mario Bava's Lisa and the Devil. The timing was coincidental, since I didn't know much about either, but they wound up being good companion pieces about insanity and personal hells. I have nothing but praise for Shutter Island, while Lisa and the Devil has more or less evaporated from my mind. I'm a big fan of Bava's dreamlike imagery that usually resonates with me far after the film is over, but this one wound up being pretty forgettable.
And last night I watched a Finnish horror film called The White Reindeer from 1952. I'd sum it up as "Val Lewton meets German Expressionism with a were-reindeer." Not quite a classic, but very artfully done.
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Post by gtboozer on Sept 10, 2010 9:40:36 GMT -5
I had a double feature of my own last night. I need to give a little disclaimer first though... I have a guilty please of enjoying "bad" movies. I can enjoy watching (and laughing at) a terrible Uwe Boll movie as much as watching one of my favorite "good" movies.
So now that that's out of the way... I starting the evening with Crank 2: High voltage. This was so fun. Ridiculous, cartoonish violence, and laugh out loud moments for a very dense hour and a half. I liked the first one okay, but I don't know if I was just in the right mood last night, but I like the sequel a little more. So what was I going to be able to watch after that high energy flick... I browsed through my instant queue and found Bitch Slap. Basically a modern day exploitation B-flick, think modern day Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill. Surprisingly lacking in nudity for that kind of movie, but sexy as hell none the less. Ultimate fem-power modern B-movie. I laughed my ass off throughout this one. The over-the-top acting, the out of nowhere slo-mo stripper/pose dancing, the random chick water fight and insane one-liners had me grinning ear to ear all the way through it. There were corny special effects and a crazy nonsensical story line, but that's not the point. If you don't know what the point of a movie like this is, then just skip it because you won't enjoy it anyway. I have been trying very hard not to use the term "over the top" in describing either of these, but it is the best way to describe them. It was the ultimate modern day B-movie double feature. They were both on Netflix watch instant, so I didn't even have to get up and change discs. The only thing that was missing from my experience with those two last night was an intoxicant of some sort.
It's good for me from time to time to get away from what I call my film snob picks. I highly recommend.
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Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
Posts: 240
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 13, 2010 12:30:45 GMT -5
I just got done watching Eraserhead. How many cliches did David Lynch cram into this film? It's the most predictable I've seen since Un Chien Andalou. You’re, of course, talking about Michael Bay’s 'Eraserhead'. Every year I say I’m going to watch a handful of horror movies throughout the month of October and only get around to re-watching Dawn of the Dead for the third or fourth time. This year I’m doing it- for reals this time. When I grew up I wasn’t even allowed to read Goosebumps so my experience with Carpenter and Romero up to this point has been limited. If I wanted to treat it like a sort of master class in horror cinema how would I go about structuring it? I can’t say I adored Shutter Island but at the same time I wouldn’t call it outright bad. You know, I’m pretty sure I liked it more than I disliked it. I’m actually looking forward to seeing it one more time, now that I know that the ending isn’t quite as awful as some people made it out to be. MacGruberI’ve yet to see Crank. My friends had watched it early on- said I had to see it- and then it turned into the b-phenomenon it is now. I watched Macgruber thinking it might be absurd and enjoyable (not so bad it’s good but actually fun) and it just missed the mark. Will Forte and Kristen Wiig can be awfully funny but 98 percent of the time the material’s just not there. It’s also got far too many sex and poo jokes- and not the fun Sarah Silverman kind either. How about this thing? This is kind of cool, right?
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Post by gtboozer on Sept 14, 2010 9:49:21 GMT -5
I have watched quite a lot of horror films, it's one of my favorite genres. It's tough to suggest a handful of horror flicks without knowing what you have seen, Doc.
I can make some generalities though. I would suggest one or two from a few of the sub genres of horror, for example one or two slashers from the 80's preferably... a vampire movie... zombie movie... some kind of monster/creature feature maybe... satanic/possession/witch movies often have a lot of overlapping themes.
The trickier ones come with the more modern horror flicks. American ones are pretty sparse, but Rob Zombie has done some decent stuff, along with Slither, Hatchet, and Behind the Mask. I would suggest seeing the older stuff first though because a lot of the modern stuff is very referential to the stuff in the 70's and 80's. Other modern suggestions would come from Korea, Japan and France, they are all doing far more interesting stuff in the genre than we are in the states right now. The Host, Ringu, Inside, Audition, Thirst, Frontier(s), Them, and maybe Tokyo Gore Police or Machine Girl.. just some off the top of my head.
That's a lot of jibba jabba I know, but I could help out narrowing all that down if u want. It will help knowing what you have and haven't seen, or some of your movie tendencies like how well you handle violence and gore. I can tell you that the FX from the 80's don't seem as disturbing but almost fun violence, but the modern foreign stuff can get pretty fucked up.
I'm getting excited about watching a horror flick just talking about it. To me, this is the most fun and enjoyable film genre. Often extremely cliche, but can also be very socially relevant, and always a good time.
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Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 14, 2010 14:48:33 GMT -5
Thanks for that breakdown! I'm trying to be both practical and ambitious here. I'm probably also going to work around my Netflix shipping schedule. I've seen an odd assortment of horror but there are too many that I've been meaning to watch but just haven't gotten around to. I'm going to try and throw together some sort of calendar of films and then get back to you. Here's some things I watched: RififiWhere do I start? This is one meticulous and clever and cool and downright enjoyable movie. The heist scene is, well, perfect. La Femme NikitaNot so perfect. I remembered really liking this movie back in middle school and revisited for the obvious reason. It's not nearly as awful as I expected it to be; in fact, I wouldn't even call it bad. Anne Parrilaud's version of the girl-turned-spy is unique but as a whole I found the movie to be somewhat generic. MoonNot so generic. I really glad that I managed to avoid reading about this films twists and turns because the surprises are really enjoyable. For all it's nods to 2001, this is one original movie. Also: Son of Bowie.
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Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
Posts: 240
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 15, 2010 16:53:53 GMT -5
I now sympathize with the curators at all the repertory theaters in New York; this job (of putting together a horror marathon) is painful (I was going to say horrifying but I stopped myself). It'd be all good and well if I could just list some movies and categorize them but I've got to deal with availability as well.
I'm not sure I want to endure another headache shifting everything around but what are some good horror movies from, like, the new guard? I watched House of the Devil and while it's not a perfect movie, I'd love to throw in some new films that are as well crafted as that one. I've got a pair from Rob Zombie on there but the only other modern ones are from the foreign market.
Is there a better remake than the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie? And that's a legitimate question, not a rhetorical one. I'm not even sure that remakes any good.
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Post by gtboozer on Sept 16, 2010 9:36:55 GMT -5
Hey Doc, I totally understand your difficulty putting together a horror marathon. Especially with the availability and ordering your Netflix queue to get everything in. With that in mind, I'll make a few suggestions that are on the watch instantly section. That may help with some of your time management....
The Signal - It's a pretty recent flick that is one of those stripped down smaller films that has a lot of impact.
The Girl Next Door - Not the one with Elisha Cuthbert. This one is in the torture sub-genre, but unlike movies like hostel or saw, this one actually makes you feel something for the characters.
Them - Recent, but Foreign, I recently rewatched this one a few days ago and even on a second viewing it is creepy as hell. Not really violent at all, and pretty short, but paced perfectly.
Session 9 - Atmospheric and creepy modern american flick
Hatchet - Okay, this one isn't on watch instant any more, it was, but it's a must see. Very reminiscent of Friday 13th, and very awesome.
Not sure how many you are piling together, I'm sure I could come up with more. Honestly the more recent stuff isn't so great coming from the states. I personally liked the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake with Jessica Biel, but many didn't. Well, I liked it better than many of the other recent remakes, Halloween being the exception.
Just as a side note: Almost all the Friday 13th movies are now on watch instant. Could be a fun little weekend submarathon or something.
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Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 16, 2010 13:01:53 GMT -5
I'm not all too familiar with the horror genre so it's pretty broad strokes. Let's see if you guys can guess the theme of each double feature, shouldn't be all too difficult. Click here, I posted the whole list on Google Docs so it wouldn't crowd the thread.On that list I've seen: Let the Right One In - Looking forward to re-watching it with a friend. The Exorcist - The Last time I saw this was in high school. Like, literally in a classroom in high school. Dawn of the Dead - One of the best horror movie I've watched so far. Drag Me to Hell - Surprisingly fun, well made too. Evil Dead II - The only great movie in the Evil Dead series.
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Post by gtboozer on Sept 17, 2010 8:30:26 GMT -5
Looks like a lot of fun, Doc. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them.
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Dr Handsome
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...but you can call me Eric.
Posts: 240
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Post by Dr Handsome on Sept 17, 2010 12:54:29 GMT -5
The one thing that's missing is the (relatively) recent wave of ultra-violence (I've never watched Saw!) but I'll curb that burning curiosity for the month. You know, as much as I say I don't care for horror there's nothing on that list that I'm not legitimately looking forward to watching. I was expecting to have a handful of 'homework' movies but I think the way I paired them up has made the required-watching (I'm looking at you Freddy) seem more than bearable.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about this movie as everyone else seems to be. Lisbeth, yes, is an intriguing character but I'm not sure there enough in there that would actually make me describe her as 'interesting.' In place of any serious character exploration is a serviceable mystery whose thematic relevance is all too brief. Would it be too much to hope that an American remake could sharper than this?
The General Such a fantastic movie! It's wild that a movie could age this well but it's great- clever and fun and super entertaining. I'm really eager to watch me some more Buster Keaton movies.
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