Recently viewed films

[Otis Westinghouse]

That opening shot swooping through the station! People have been coming out with 'but it's two films and they don't mesh properly;' stuff. Tosh! I actually found the meshing of the orphaned boy story with the lesson in French cinema history to be sublime. The moment, without giving too much away, where the line 'I understand' is uttered brought tears to my eyes.

I received a truly fantastic DVD this week:


If you're at least halfways a Wilco fan, BUY IT NOW! It's just fantastic. On the two times I've seen them, and particularly the last one, Oct last year at the lovely Roundhouse, I just thought 'ah, now I see why they have the live reputation they do', and on this DVD it's captured there. It's from the Sky Blue Sky tour, which means, yes, 'Impossible Germany' is on it, and the camera stays on Nels for the entire solo, which is just perfect. The whole thing demonstrates how their current 6-man line-up is just perfect, each one playing his part and contributing something unique, and how well gelled together they sound (which the Whole Love captures perfectly too. And of course I just can't take my eyes off Glenn Kotche throughout, the most physical, involved, full-on and mesmerising drummer I know. the scene of him practising on the tour bus is perfect.

Amazing that Wilco had one of the best ever 'making an album' films made about them, and then followed it with one of the best 'on tour' films.

[noiseradio]

Agree all around.

[ice nine]

The Artist is a great movie. Bérénice Bejo will be a big star.

[noiseradio]

Finally saw girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Well acted, well directed, great mystery.

However, I already agreed that rape was really bad before going to the movie. Did not need that much new evidence.

[pophead2k]

I loved Hugo. It was the best thing I've seen in ages. Scorsese's best since Goodfellas.

Just got back from (finally) seeing it and I thought it was fantastic. It was the first 3D film I've seen (excepting a couple of '3D added later' films) and I thought it was amazing technology in the hands of a master. Don't know if I'll go as far as NR (I think Gangs of New York deserves some love here) but it was a beautiful love letter to film and film preservation and the performances were fantastic. Agree with some others that it was a little plodding here and there, but the overall payoff more than compensated.

[scielle]

The Grey.
Beautiful film. Absolutely nothing like the trailers - thankfully. Not a Liam Neeson vs. wolf bloodbath at all, but rather a visceral and honest character drama about survival. Neeson delivers a stellar, haunting performance, though you've got to wonder how much of it is really 'performance', and how much is reacting to what happened to Natasha. It's perfectly cast, not just in terms of the lead, but the supporting cast as well. Beautiful cinematography, too, and very effective sound design. And northern British Columbia looks stunning, as always. Too bad about the over-the-top wolves.

[mood swung]

I watched Tree of Life over 2 evenings. I want my 2 1/2 hours back.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Didn't it grow on you?

[Jack of All Parades]

It lost me with the Dinosaurs- but I did enjoy watching Jessica Chastain- if tabulating, I will ask for about an hour back!

[mood swung]

Otis: not one iota.

The best part was the 'creation' stuff (IF that's what it was!), all those pretty pictures. So, that's about 10 minutes? I read somewhere that Sean Penn said HE didn't even know what the hell he was doing.

It shows.

[Poor Deportee]

The Artist is a great movie. Bérénice Bejo will be a big star.

'Great movie,' in the sense of Citizen Kane, might be pushing it, but there's no question this is an outstanding film. Saw it last night with the missus - it manages to be an homage to silent film that nevertheless avoid that tiresome post-modern irony and, somehow, gets you fully, emotionally involved in the characters. Really something to see. Do yourself a favour and catch it in theatres, the way it was meant to be seen.

[Jackson Monk]

'Come and See'

Holy Shit!!!!

[Jackson Monk]

Ps.Hugo was exceptional.

[Jack of All Parades]

The Grey.
Beautiful film. Absolutely nothing like the trailers - thankfully. Not a Liam Neeson vs. wolf bloodbath at all, but rather a visceral and honest character drama about survival. Neeson delivers a stellar, haunting performance, though you've got to wonder how much of it is really 'performance', and how much is reacting to what happened to Natasha. It's perfectly cast, not just in terms of the lead, but the supporting cast as well. Beautiful cinematography, too, and very effective sound design. And northern British Columbia looks stunning, as always. Too bad about the over-the-top wolves.

This one got me into the theatre this past weekend to view this movie. Thank you. A job well done all around- tight direction, strong cinematography, viable acting and a story that is not cartoonish or over the edge. Neeson certainly is the focal point and his performance is quite subtle-shaded with doubt, pain and dissolusionment. Most telling was the way he is able to provide a softer side to his character when he assists a gravely injured passenger to pass into death with dignity. Loved how the human group mirrors at so many points the activities of the wolf pack harrassing them. The story is never mawkish or gory for gory's sake. It is built on the elements and the terror that nature can fill us with in its natural state. I admire how the chills are earned and are often off the screen as the fear is generated by sounds and vague shapes just off the periphery of the fire light. Nothing is scarrier than the view of those eyes just beyond the fire light.

The ending is earned and I like its ambiguity. Perhaps the biggest scare from this film is the silence that accompanies Neeson's character's pleadings to the cloud filled sky at the end. I always knew we were alone.

[Otis Westinghouse]

'Come and See'

Holy Shit!!!!

Agreed. Saw it the year it was released and was pretty much speechless afterwards. An incredible film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_See

[Jack of All Parades]

Finally have seen something that makes an intelligent attempt to voice my anger and frustration over the pain and suffering that came from the near financial collapse of late 2008 in my country. The movie is "Margin Call", and though far from perfect, it still manages to clearly view the moral and financial deficiencies that have so damaged so many people. And I do not care at all that the 'masters of the universe' have been demonized and caricatured although not so much in this film where they are clearly shown to be at the mercy of forces they barely understand, just like the rest of us.

At its heart is greed and the allure of power with seemingly little consequences for the parties involved- the sheer hubris with the constant refrain in the script "we have no choice". Bull!!! I have a friend who constantly defends these people, calling them hard working and upright. Bull!!!! They are consumed by the allure of the easy money for the taking and for the chance to use their strong math skills to push formulas on screens and make something out of basically nothing while they are so isolated from you and I in their chauffeured cars and their workplaces high in the sky perched over the public like birds of prey. The saddest truism is that the higher the job level in these firms the less they really understand what they are doing- the refrain is "I do not understand what is on that screen, just give it to me in plain English like you were talking to your child." That is scary. Their actions are so isolated from any real consequences- when they are let go they are cut loose with extensive golden parachutes.

The film does not grandstand- it lets a time span of some 24 hours unwind with all its implications allowed to play out- the real players are not hurt terribly- the real pain is down on the ground many floors below and outside the sealed windows of their offices. I think that is what angers me most- these bankers were never made accountable; never punished and they still operate today as if they never learned from their past hubris. And we allow them to continue to operate with little over site. I want to scream but I am too busy scrambling to keep my world together. Yet another consequence of 2008.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Polanski's Carnage, one of the best bits of black humour I've seen in a while. Very much a filmed play (filmed in Paris, with the Manhattan shots filmed as if through the windows as backdrop). Would be interesting to know how the original presumably French play has been adapted for a NY context. You can't help but feel that the attack on middle class hypocrisy is in part a vengeful attack on the way Polanski has been treated in the US. Great performances from all concerned, especially Jodie Foster, so tense you want to throw up (and one of the most alarming throwing up scenes ever too). Totally recommended. Not quite the most appropriate Valentine's day fodder, but seeing as our dating years often involved a film and something nice to meet after, this was very appropriate from our middle aged middle class persepctive!

[Jackson Monk]

Saw 'Woman in Black' tonight. Great spooky fun. Bring the kids!

[redsfan720]

I just saw Woody Allen's first written- and directed-by film last night. "Take the Money and Run." I understand it's the first widely released film to use the mockumentary format. It was truly hilarious. It was made 42 years ago and all of the comedy still holds up. It's pure slapstick, and it's brilliantly done. Allen hadn't quite figured out how to make films yet from a visual standpoint (and it was his first time behind the camera, and he did so reluctantly, so there's nothing wrong with that), so each gag has to be that much better without much visual support. That's not to say the physical comedy doesn't work, either; there are some tremendous physical gags in there.

Perhaps that the film didn't have that visual support means the jokes were that much better, that they were able to carry the film on their own merits.

You can get the disc on Netflix, or maybe your local indie movie rental shop has it. But if you haven't seen it, it's 85 minutes of wonderful laughter.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

Take the Money and Run is a classic. Bananas is pretty good too.

[redsfan720]

Take the Money and Run is a classic. Bananas is pretty good too.

Bananas is on the queue for tonight, as a matter of fact. I've decided I'm going to watch each Allen film in its order of release. It'll take a while, and I'll see more than a few movies I'd already seen before, but I think it'll be worth it.

[Jack of All Parades]

Watched "50/50" last night with my wife and daughter up from the City for the holiday. A real surprise- gentle- well earned humor about a daunting subject. Not sitcom in any way. Cancer is hardly funny but this film makes you laugh and take enjoyment from the humanity it can bring out in people. The friendship between Adam and Kyle-Joseph Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogan is palpable on the screen. The ending is earned and not mawkish in the least- you laugh as you watch these two but your laughter is with them and not at them. My favorite part might be Phillip Baker Hall as a fellow cancer patient with his hard earned 'wisdom'. That and the portrayal of the attending oncologist with his deadening bedside manner- a telling indictment of many in that profession with their lack of any empathy. As one reviewer said- would it have hurt him to say 60/40 or 70/30 as odds? Like last year's "Cedar Rapids", a little comedy that is quite powerful.

[Jack of All Parades]

Caught "Dark Shadows" today with my wife at the urging of my three daughters who think Tim Burton is a movie wizard. Got what I expected-high camp with a diverting enough Johnny Depp, who has a good old time with his 'fish out of water' character and a cast that seems to be having fun in their roles. Not much for plot but the design and atmosphere on the screen is worth spending two hours within the theater. Burton can build a scene just not necessarily move it along in a coherent plot line. Particularly enjoyed the comically vivacious Eva Green as Angelique and Chloe Grace Moretz, the young co star of "Hugo", as the young and sullen daughter to Michelle Pfeiffer- a world away from her character in "Hugo". I liked the visual pictures with their attention to detail- just found the plot very pedestrian.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Caught "Dark Shadows" today with my wife at the urging of my three daughters who think Tim Burton is a movie wizard. Got what I expected-high camp with a diverting enough Johnny Depp, who has a good old time with his 'fish out of water' character and a cast that seems to be having fun in their roles. Not much for plot but the design and atmosphere on the screen is worth spending two hours within the theater. Burton can build a scene just not necessarily move it along in a coherent plot line. Particularly enjoyed the comically vivacious Eva Green as Angelique and Chloe Grace Moretz, the young co star of "Hugo", as the young and sullen daughter to Michelle Pfeiffer- a world away from her character in "Hugo". I liked the visual pictures with their attention to detail- just found the plot very pedestrian.

Totally agree. Saw it two weeks ago. About the best they could do with paper thin material. It is starting to annoy me that Depp and Bonham-Carter appear in every single Tim Burton picture.

I also saw Men in Black III which was surprisingly very very good. Better than the second movie in the series for sure and rivaling the first for best. Lots of really clever bits and funny moments. My kids loved it. Then I went to see The Avengers today. It's quite long, but I never felt that it dragged and the dialogue was excellent. Robert Downey Jr. really does have fun with his Tony Stark character, and the movie really takes off when he arrives onscreen. There's a lot of destruction and battle scenes, but it's all pretty fresh and I never felt exhausted by all of it like I did with Transformers, for example.

[ice nine]

Saw a nice, sweet French film called The Intouchables. It is about the relationship between an elderly aristocratic male parapalegic and his black, male from the ghetto caregiver. The would be caregiver just wanted to get a signature so he could show that he applied for a job, but he got the job. The film has the same heart as The Artist had. According to imdb it is the second most successful French film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1675434/