Better late than never, but.. thank you!
I see you watched Brick and reviewed it Sexy, awesome! I still highly recommend watching/reviewing Garden State, The Fall and The Lovely Bones if you haven't already.
Article ITT I attempt to review every movie I've seen.
- Thread starter Sexy Beast
- Start date
Better late than never, but.. thank you!
I see you watched Brick and reviewed it Sexy, awesome! I still highly recommend watching/reviewing Garden State, The Fall and The Lovely Bones if you haven't already.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Better late than never, but.. thank you!
I see you watched Brick and reviewed it Sexy, awesome! I still highly recommend watching/reviewing Garden State, The Fall and The Lovely Bones if you haven't already.
I still need to get around to seeing Garden State and The Lovely Bones. I'll drop a review for The Fall soon.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: Man with a Movie Camera
Year: 1929
Country of Origin: Soviet Union
Director: Dziga Vertov
Plot: A day in the life of a Russian City
Review: Man with a Movie Camera seems like it would be more at home as an installation at an art gallery or or a museum. Its an experimental film, a piece of rebellious cinema from a man who believed that film should be used as a tool for making documentaries and derided and movie that borrowed from Theater and Literature. The film is made up of thousands of shots of a wide variety of people going about their lives. There is no story and there aren't any actors, other than the film maker himself. Its an impressive project, one that is filled with a plethora of film making techniques, most of which were either invented with this film or further developed. Its also like watch paint dry. Yeah, I'm usually not one to call early cinema boring...but this really a drag to sit through. So I'm not going to score this one, I'm sure there are some cinephiles who could watch this one and be captivated through the whole run time...but I'm not one of them.
[Not Scored]
Last edited:
You're the best!
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2008
- Messages
- 1,159
I understand and to some extent agree with your sentiments towards this film. However it is an excellent example of the Soviet cin?ma v?rit? style. I've always been fascinated by the juxtaposition of styles between this and the German expressionist films of the same era. It is interesting to see how two completely different sociopolitical environments shaped the development of a new artistic medium in differing ways.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
My experience with early cinema has always been a little shaky, probably because I've never taken a film course. Man with a Movie Camera is actually my first foray into early Cin?ma v?rit?. On an academic level I appreciated the film both as a person who is interested in cinema and from a historical context. I found myself more fascinated in reading up on Dziga Vertov's philosophy of film making than actually watching the film.
I find reviewing early cinema is pretty difficult since this thread isn't really about film on an academic level. Actually I don't really know what I've been striving for in this thread. On one end I'll say "Die Hard is great, go watch Die Hard" and on the other end of spectrum I recommend Stalker...even though a good number of people who pass through this thread would absolutely hate Stalker. Like I've been meaning to review Nosferatu for a while now, but I honestly don't know what to say about the film. For me Nosferatu is a piece of cinematic history...like I need to share my opinion on 90 year old film? Anyway I'm done rambling.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: Stingray Sam
Year: 2009
Country of Origin: US
Director: Cory McAbee
Plot: Liberty Chew Chewing Tobacco Presents...
Review: Stingray Sam is Cory McAbee's follow up to the weird but entertaining The American Astronaut. This film is done in much the same vein, its a Sci-fi musical shot with next to no budget. Except this film is done in an episodic format, there are six episodes in total, each with their own opening and closing credits. Its a little weird watching it this way, seeing that a good 10 minutes...out of a 60 minute run time, is spent on just credits. Still the film is as fun as it is weird, all the musical numbers are entertaining with more than a few catchy songs. This one might not be up everyone's alley, but its worth a watch for the adventurous.
[7/10]
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: The Fall
Year: 2006
Country of Origin: US/India
Director: Tarsem Singh
Plot: A crippled stuntman tells a young girl fantastical tales in order to coax her into getting him morphine.
Review: Here we are...The Fall. Visually, the film is second to none. Tarsem Singh has packed this film with some of the most breathtaking locations on earth...well mostly in India, but still none the less breathtaking. That being said, the actual plot isn't all that great. The film reminds me a lot of Pan's Labyrinth in that its an adult fantasy, but the underlying plot is kind of dull. Even the fantasy part of it sort of runs out of steam around half way through the film. In the end this is an exercise in style over substance, an exercise that is somewhat worth the effort.
[7/10]
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2012
- Messages
- 1,814
You should review Wreck-It-Ralph.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Haven't seen it.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: Get the Gringo
Year: 2012
Country of Origin: US
Director: Adrian Grunberg
Plot: A robbery goes bad when Mel Gibson crashes just south of the border, gets all the money he stole taken by corrupt cops and is sent to prison.
Review: Get the Gringo is a surprisingly effective and entertaining action flick. Mel Gibson puts out a fun performance showing that when he can keep his mouth shut he more than capable of actually entertaining people. The film is a little silly, especially near the end...and well the production is a little rough around the edges. We're still talking about an entertaining 90 minutes that most action fans will enjoy.
[7.5/10]
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Sorry man, the Die Hard series is just one of those things that I need to review...I haven't seen the new one yet. Mostly because of the terrible things I've heard about it from some friends who have seen the film. I'll be seeing it soon enough though,
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: Oz the Great and Powerful
Year: 2013
Country of Origin: US
Director: Sam Raimi
Plot: Some where over the...
Review: Its good, but not great. I guess the right description for this film is that it is entertaining. The plot is alright, it follows James Franco as he navigates the internal politics of Oz. Overall its nothing special, but I found it at least entertaining. The acting is decent enough...except for Mila Kunis, who was horribly miscast in her role. I don't think it was her fault, she does her best...but its bad...really bad. Raimi does a very good job with the material, the film is well shot and well paced. The film, at times, does feel like a mishmash of Sam Raimi's ideas and Disney's demands. At times the film feels like classic Raimi with is kinetic camera work...and even a now obligatory cameo for Bruce Campbell. Though these are few and for the most part the film feels pretty "reigned in" in comparison to some of Raimi's other works. Anyway, this is a film that will entertain pretty much all ages and seeing that we are in somewhat of a dry spell right now...you might as well.
[7/10]
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: The Imposter
Year: 2012
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Bart Layton
Plot: The odd story of a black haired, brown eyed french man of 23 who successfully impersonated a blond hair, blue eyed American teenager who had been missing for three years.
Review: There are a lot of adjective that I can through at this movie; amazing, unbelievable, unsettling, engrossing, depressing, fascinating, compelling, and true. Its a documentary that incites a good deal of emotions, mostly due to the odd and depressing nature of the story. Thankfully, its an incredibly well made documentary and one that is able to tell this strange tale perfectly. All the major players are interviewed and they are the ones leading the narrative and not some voice over. The dramatizations are intrusiveness, well produced, and help the narrative flow and breath. Its one of the best documentaries I've seen and one that you need to experience.
[9.5/10]
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Title: Battleship
Year: 2012
Country of Origin: US
Director: Peter Berg
Plot: You sunk my movie.
Review: I've had beef with Battleship even before it was released. One of my favorite directors Guillermo del Toro partnered up with James "Avatar" Cameron to adapt At the Mountains of Madness, which is a horror novella by HP Lovecraft. Its pretty much a movie that I would have loved to have seen made. The film has essentially been put on hold partially because Universal sunk an ungodly amount of money into Battleship which barely made it into the black and because Prometheus came out and the plot is sort of similar. Anyway, I hate it when good projects get dumped for mediocre action films. So yeah, I was annoyed by Battleship's existence.
Battleship is...well...mediocre. Its about as mediocre as one can get, it doesn't do anything other than attempt to ape Michael Bay's style of big budget action movies. Everything about the film is just blah. Sure it looks pretty, with a $200 million budget it better look pretty. Meh.
On a side note, Tadanobu Asano is in the film, who played Kakihara in Ichi the Killer...so I guess that's interesting.
[4.5/10]
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2012
- Messages
- 1,814
Your link is broken, Sexy.
I agree, though, I'd rather have seen an adaption of At the Mountains of Madness (or Call of Cthulhu, for that matter).
It would be weird to see the penguins, though.
I agree, though, I'd rather have seen an adaption of At the Mountains of Madness (or Call of Cthulhu, for that matter).
It would be weird to see the penguins, though.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2008
- Messages
- 2,641
Thanks for letting me know.
Yeah, there is a depressing lack of H.P. Lovecraft films being done by Hollywood. The Shadow Over Innsmouth would make a great film.
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2012
- Messages
- 1,814
To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of Shadow Over Innsmouth. The storyline was interesting, but the way he wrote it... it dragged in places.
Not to mention that CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth is technically based on the Shadow Over Innsmouth.
It'd be interesting to see a short on the Statement of Randolph Carter, though. They could show both Randolph's PoV along with the Professor's. I think it could work, potentially.
Not to mention that CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth is technically based on the Shadow Over Innsmouth.
It'd be interesting to see a short on the Statement of Randolph Carter, though. They could show both Randolph's PoV along with the Professor's. I think it could work, potentially.
