What have you watched recently?

BopNiblets

The Devils Double
Story of Latif Yahia, allegedly Uday Saddam Husseins body double, who was forced to act and look like the psychopathic son of Saddam until he escaped (to Offaly apparently!) and wrote the book.
A few reporters have questioned Yahias claims but the movie itself is still good, Dominic Cooper plays both roles and is excellent.

Mindkiller

V for Vendetta. I don't know what it is about Nathalie Portman. She has to be the most overrated actress of our generation

johnny_ultimate

Mindkiller wrote: »

I don't know what it is about Nathalie Portman. She has to be the most overrated actress of our generation

A stupidly attractive woman who has serious acting skills to boot?

Excuse me while I disagree strongly.

Mindkiller

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A stupidly attractive woman who has serious acting skills to boot?

Excuse me while I disagree strongly.

She's wooden as hell in everything I've seen her in bar Leon. All she seems capable of is acting hysterical and/or frigid.

She was particularly appalling in this movie. The whole thing was a bloated mess.

Fishooks12

Mindkiller wrote: »

She's wooden as hell in everything I've seen her in bar Leon. All she seems capable of is acting hysterical and/or frigid.

She was particularly appalling in this movie. The whole thing was a bloated mess.

Couldn't disagree more

Have you seen Black Swan?

Mindkiller

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Couldn't disagree more

Have you seen Black Swan?

Yes, I have.

I could go into a tirade about Aronofsky and his pseudo-intellectual BS but I might save that one for the 'unpopular opinions' thread

tunguska

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Couldn't disagree more

Have you seen Black Swan?

I agree about V for vendetta, I think its a great film. Have to disagree about the natalie portman thing, It kills me to say it because I've always liked her but shes so wooden shes sheds in autumn. She wasnt wooden in black swan, she just cried for 2 hours, thats it.

Fishooks12

tunguska wrote: »

I agree about V for vendetta, I think its a great film. Have to disagree about the natalie portman thing, It kills me to say it because I've always liked her but shes so wooden shes sheds in autumn. She wasnt wooden in black swan, she just cried for 2 hours, thats it.

That's a very simplistic way of putting her performance. The way she conveyed her characters descent into madness and paranoia was masterful

I wasn't even the biggest fan of the film, although I did enjoy it but Portmans performance was brilliant. Noot a case of "crying for 2 hours"

johnny_ultimate

Mindkiller wrote: »

I could go into a tirade about Aronofsky and his pseudo-intellectual BS but I might save that one for the 'unpopular opinions' thread

I'm not sure how purposefully melodramatic can be interpreted as pseudo-intellectual, but hey, whatevs.

Mindkiller

Also, I notice someone mentioned Winter's Bone up above. While I found the film dull, I really liked Jennifer Lawrence's understated performance. The exact antithesis of Portman's melodramatic fretting and wrist wringing.

Fishooks12

Mindkiller wrote: »

Yes, I have.

I could go into a tirade about Aronofsky and his pseudo-intellectual BS but I might save that one for the 'unpopular opinions' thread

Why is it that any-time a film-maker tries something different, people are quick to brand it as psuedo Intellectual and pretentious?

Same thing with the TOL. It seems to be an easy way of bashing a film without explaining or analysing what you didn't like about it

johnny_ultimate

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Why is it that any-time a film-maker tries something different, people are quick to brand it as psuedo Intellectual and pretentious?

Because it's easier and smugger than actual criticism.

Fishooks12

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Because it's easier and smugger than actual criticism.

In a way it's actually very pretentious branding a film as such without any insight as to why it is!

johnny_ultimate

Fishooks12 wrote: »

In a way it's actually very pretentious branding a film as such without any insight as to why it is!

'Pretentious' and 'boring' are the two words that make film discussion on the Internet frequent cause for headaches, alas.

Mindkiller

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I'm not sure how purposefully melodramatic can be interpreted as pseudo-intellectual, but hey, whatevs.

The pseudo-intellectual part is where Portman begins conjuring up phantoms and imagined sexual scenarios designed to represent her fragmenting mind or subconscious or whatever. Fight Club for chicks.


I've never heard of TOL. What acronym is that?

Fishooks12

Mindkiller wrote: »

The pseudo-intellectual part is where Portman begins conjuring up phantoms and imagined sexual scenarios designed to represent her fragmenting mind or subconscious or whatever. Fight Club for chicks.


I've never heard of TOL. What acronym is that?

So just because the film portrays Portman's sub-concious it's fight club for girls? Granted the themes somewhat overlap but apart from that the films are vastly different. Still don't see how that would make it pretentious though? How many books examine the sub-concious? Does that automatically make them pretentious?

TOL is The Tree of Life, fantastic film.

tunguska

I dont think black swan is pretentious, its just not a very good film. Its similiar to the machinist with christian bale, only that film is classier than black swan.

Mindkiller

Fishooks12 wrote: »

So just because the film portrays Portman's sub-concious it's fight club for girls? Granted the themes somewhat overlap but apart from that the films are vastly different. Still don't see how that would make it pretentious though? How many books examine the sub-concious? Does that automatically make them pretentious?

TOL is The Tree of Life, fantastic film.

Setting a film or book on the stage of the subconscious doesn't automatically make it 'pretentious' as such, but I just think that Aronoksy is very obvious with his imagery. There's not much to be challenged by in Black Swan. It's more than just melodramatic. It aspires to be more than that. But it doesn't match up at the end. The closest link I can think of other than Fight Club would probably be the inexplicably popular Mulholland Dr.

I don't think that BS is a particularly bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. It's ok. I just think it and a lot of the director's other movies are horribly overrated (Yes, there's that word again.) And Portman is a broken record.


Yeah, Tree of Life is a one I want to see. Looks very Space Odyssey-ey, which I enjoyed.

edit: I should add that of his films I've only seen Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler. I have an unopened DVD of Pi lying around somewhere

johnny_ultimate

Mindkiller wrote: »

The closest link I can think of other than Fight Club would probably be the inexplicably popular Mulholland Dr.

Inexplicably popular? Mulholland Drive is easily the most successful and accessible David Lynch films (I don't think it's his best, but it's damn close) because it actually has far more going on in it then mere surrealism. It's a wonderfully abstract examination of Hollywood and genre cinema, and a critique of seeking fame amongst many other things (gender identity, the nature of 'acting' etc...). Of course, the oddness and beautiful imagery help, but lumping it in with a vaguely defined group of 'pseudo-intellectual' films is doing a profound disservice to one of the most intelligent films of the last decade or so. If we decide to call every film with something to say 'pseudo-intellectual' then suddenly the debate becomes a painful noise. As much as I appreciate Black Swan, Mulholland Drive is in another league altogether.

Both Fight Club and Mulholland Drive, interestingly (to me anyway), would not exist without Persona (both contain very distinct visual and thematic nods to it). And Persona is probably amongst the deepest, most complex films ever made. Is that pseudo-intellectual?

irishh_bob

watched half of deep impact last nite but had to turn it off , what a wimpy wet blanket of a movie , best description ive ever heard of it is , the democrats armagedon

Mickeroo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Inexplicably popular? Mulholland Drive is easily the most successful and accessible David Lynch films

Not disagreeing with your post as a whole but have to call you up on that bit; The Straight Story deserves that accolade, at least in terms of accessibility imho.

johnny_ultimate

Mickeroo wrote: »

Not disagreeing with your post as a whole but have to call you up on that bit; The Straight Story deserves that accolade, at least in terms of accessibility imho.

Well, that and the Elephant Man are certainly more accessible, I agree. I'm thinking more in terms of the more characteristic works of Lynch, though, the stuff he'll always be associated with! Although I guess Blue Velvet deserves that accolade, too....

OK, disregard that comment, but the rest still stands :P I still think it's the most effective representation of the surreal Lynchian, style!

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Both Fight Club and Mulholland Drive, interestingly (to me anyway), would not exist without Persona (both contain very distinct visual and thematic nods to it). And Persona is probably amongst the deepest, most complex films ever made.

Agreed. But in addition to Persona, I think Mulholland Drive owes a lot to Vertigo as well, as do all Lynch's film. Black Swan probably owes a lot to Persona also. Very influential film.

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

Agreed. But in addition to Persona, I think Mulholland Drive owes a lot to Vertigo as well, as do all Lynch's film. Black Swan probably owes a lot to Persona also. Very influential film.

Yeah you're into full on dissertation territory when you start trying to explore Persona's influence on later cinema.

I think Fincher has been the only one so bold to copy the almost subliminal penis flash though :P

Mickeroo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Well, that and the Elephant Man are certainly more accessible, I agree. I'm thinking more in terms of the more characteristic works of Lynch, though, the stuff he'll always be associated with! Although I guess Blue Velvet deserves that accolade, too....

OK, disregard that comment, but the rest still stands :P I still think it's the most effective representation of the surreal Lynchian, style!

Won't argue with you there

Mindkiller

I was going to make a reply to that last post but I figured I'd only dig a hole for myself seeing as I haven't seen persona. So I've procured myself a copy and will watch later.

In hindsight, Inland Empire is the movie I should have mentioned. The thematic similarities with that and BS are more obvious. Not a fun movie to watch, though. Lost Highway is his best 'abstract' film.

Fishooks12

The Believer


It's a poor man's American History X really

The concept of a Jew turned Neo Nazi makes the premise hard to swallow on top of a dull second half and a terrible soundtrack

However, a good opening half hour and a solid performance from Ryan Gosling save it from total failure

6/10

Mickeroo

Blitz:Not what I was expecting, but not great either. Pady Considine was wasted, there wasn't really any chemistry between him and statham so I don't think it really works as a buddy cop movie. The plots pretty disjointed and doesn't really grab you as it should. It was watchable but I wouldn't really recommend it.

Our Idiot Brother: I found this very enjoyable. It's got a great cast and is reasonably funny. It's fairly uneven and there's not mch in the way of plot but Paul Rudd is just so damn likeable in the title role that I couldn't help but really like it.

bradolf pittler

Watched "our idiot brother" aswell the other day,1 or 2 laughs but that was about it,agree about paul rudd tho.you just cant help liking the guy in eveything he's been in.

Mickeroo

bradolf pittler wrote: »

Watched "our idiot brother" aswell the other day,1 or 2 laughs but that was about it,agree about paul rudd tho.you just cant help liking the guy in eveything he's been in.

Yea, I just found the character's stupidity/niceness/naivety/obliviousness whatever you want to call it hilarious.

When he told his parole officer he'd smoked a doob

for example