Recently viewed films

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Who Shot Sam?
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

Saw "Little Miss Sunshine" this afternoon and would agree with everything Blue said. Terrific performances and a very funny script. Alan Arkin is the man. Loved the soundtrack too, with music by Devotchka and Sufjan Stevens.
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Post by Mr. Average »

"Little Miss Sunshine" is immensely enjoyable. Seemingly uneventful set-ups for the most dramatic scenes slap predictability right upside the head. Perfect character development. Where Napoleon Dynamite used real people as cartoon characters, this film uses real people as really, really real people, whatever that means.

Filled with ironies and great lines. I cannot remember when I laughed outloud as often in a film.

Steve Carell is tragically comical without losing audience empathy for his condition/situation. Usually one gives in to the other. Not here.
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Post by ReadyToHearTheWorst »

Barefoot Gen I

Bloody hell! I've just been dragged through the mangle, by a cartoon! I cried, I raged. All human emotions are laid bare, yet in the end there's hope.

Surely, Barefoot Gen II can't possibly be as emotional?
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miss buenos aires
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Post by miss buenos aires »

Little Miss Sunshine is great. Also saw Half Nelson, in which the underrated (and hot) Ryan Gosling plays an idealistic high school teacher in Brooklyn who develops a friendship with a student...after she catches him smoking crack in the bathroom. Goes some pretty unexpected places, really well done.
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

Anyone seen that new Edward Norton film "The Illusionist"? Looks interesting.
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Post by El Vez »

Little Miss Sunshine. Very entertaining and extremely well acted movie. I particularly liked how Greg Kinnear walked the fine line with his character between complete tool and well meaning dad. And any movie that lets Alan Arkin drop the f-bomb at will is ok by me. Only Sam Jackson does it any better. I was pleasantly suprised by how strong the turnout was here in Tuscaloosa but I suspect everyone here is as tired of dreary blockbusters and this was a nice, tart antidote to that.
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Post by LessThanZero »

El Vez wrote:Only Sam Jackson does it any better.
Jason Lee's F-Bombs are always on target as well.
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Post by LessThanZero »

Oh yeah,

I just saw Little Miss Sunshine as well. Probably the best movie I've seen in the theater since Lost In Translation....
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

We recorded Mr and Mrs Smith which was on cable and watched it on Monday evening. It was a choice between that or Lost In Translation. We chose wrongly (but at least we still have Lost In Translation to watch). Mr and Mrs Smith is, ahem, slightly far fetched :lol:

I also watched Clerks again. I'd forgotten just how funny this film was. It's hard to pinpoint a funniest moment. Great stuff.
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Post by ReadyToHearTheWorst »

Volver

The latest from Pedro Almodavar, featuring the ever gorgeous Penelope Cruz. A seeming ghost story, with strong female leads (the main male character doesn't last long!). A joyous black comedy.
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

Saw "Barnyard" with the kids today (ugh). Male cows with udders - WTF?
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Finally got to see Walk The Line today, on DVD. What a great film! Loved it as much as I'd hoped. Reese W is splendid, and broody Joaquin too. Didn't know much about their story, so this was a great way to learn. Did he really get her to finally agree to his proposal on stage in Ontario?
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Post by BlueChair »

Attended the North American premiere of Paris Je T'aime at the Toronto International Film Festival this afternoon.

Quite the tour de force. Basically 20 directors from around the world (including Walter Salles, Wes Craven, Alexander Payne, Joel & Ethan Coen, Gurinder Chadha, Gus Van Sant, Richard LaGravenese, etc.) directed short films set in Paris that were all strung together in a very effective way. Despite the fact that there were so many different vignettes the film was not spotty at all, which is rare for this sort of project.

While many of the films featured relative unknowns, the occasional famous face such as Steve Buscemi (who was hilarious in the Coen Bros. film), Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nick Nolte, Bob Hoskins, Willem Defoe, Elijah Wood and Marianne Faithful would pop up here and there.
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Post by BlueChair »

Another memorable film experience today at a noon screening of For Your Consideration, the new film by Christopher Guest.

Unlike Waiting for Guffman, Best In Show or A Mighty Wind this film is not a mockumentary, though it's just as improvised and ridiculously funny. Along with the usual cast of characters, Ricky Gervais was hillarious as a studio executive. Definitely seek this one out when it comes out in November.

I think the coolest part of seeing this in a festival setting though was that the film was followed by a Q&A with star/director Christopher Guest, along with Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge and Catherine O'Hara. Lots of fun for us in the audience.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Sounds like two good recommendations. HOping to see Little Miss Sunshine soon, though am also dead keen to see Helen Mirren as the Queen! ('The queen is dead, boys, and it's so lonely on a limb.') Peter Bradshaw in Guardian v sniffy about LMS, though he quite often does this about films that get praised by most people elsewhere, which seems to be the case with this film:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/C ... 17,00.html
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Post by martinfoyle »

Just in from seeing Zidane and I'm exhausted. I feel like I've been running around a pitch for 90 minutes as well. Like me, you dont have to be a sports fan to aprreciate this amazing work. Incredibly tense all round, it's utterly compelling. Fascinating individual, I must track down a biography. Great score by Mogwai as well, who also were an essential part of Miami Vice as well, I've got to see them live soon.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Now I've seen it too, and agree it's marvellous. I clicked the IMDB link you used and was amused by the put-down on that page ('pale remake of '71 Costard George Best film without the charm). Don't know that one (very unfortunately!), but your comments are an indication of howw wide of the mark that commentator seems to be. I've been watching footie avidly for some 35 years, but never before have I had such an insight into what it's like down there on the pitch. On one level it's repetitive, but you really need that full hypnotic 90 mins, and in fact it really passed very quickly, cleverly broken up by the occasional reverting to long distance regular football on the telly + commentary. The sound is amazing, both in terms of Mogwai soundtrack (yes - excellent, reminiscent of Kevin Shields and Lost in Trans, and in fact he was credited with being a 'sound adviser' or the like), and especially in terms of the close up sound. I was convinced this was all overdubbed, but I couldn't see it reflected in the credits, and my son insisted modern mics can be trained on a spot far away like a laser beam. It seemed unreal - his boots knocking together, the repeated pawing of his godgiven feet on the turf, his panting, his minimal language. Interesteing how this was released shortly after he made the world's headlines in July, and this April '05 game seems to tie-in with that in a way the makers could never have dreamed of. I likd the subtitles too, subtle and not off-putting, and the fabulous details such as his one and only smile, the boy in the Iraq newsclip with a Zidane shirt, and especially the way the sound at one point shifted to kids playing in the street, with a dark barking, brilliantly making the point with no unsubtle exposition in the subtitles that the way he famously played around the clock with his fellow poor immigrant lads in the streets of Marseille is in essence no different to him there at the Bernabeu. He's the same person, it's the same passion. Great film. In a way I'm surprised that any non-footie fans can get much out of it, but you did, and my 10 year old has zilch interest in the sport, but liked the film. I hope I dream of being Zidane tonight.
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Post by miss buenos aires »

Did anyone else see "The Science of Sleep"? LOVED IT!
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

miss buenos aires wrote:Did anyone else see "The Science of Sleep"? LOVED IT!
Is that the Michel Gondry picture? Am intrigued.

Hope to see "The Last King of Scotland" this weekend or next.
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

I went to see The Devil Wears Prada with Mrs VG this weekend.

It was enjoyable throwaway stuff. Bit predictable but that's chick flicks for you! :lol:

I also found myself laughing on my own in places. I would like to think this is because I understood some of the subtle/in jokes rather than just being a laughing idiot who was 5 minutes behind everyone else.

I do not require anybody to comment upon this. :lol:
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Post by Mike Boom »

WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS

The Departed is fuckin awesome. De Caprio is outstanding - Oscar for best actor please. I wanted him to get out so bad I actually shouted out FUCK! when his character got gunned down.
And Vera Farmiga phwooararrrr hotsie totsie ooh la la hubba hubba etc...
Brilliant film.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Great. Am dying to see it. Marty really believes in Leo. he talked of howw he was still a kid in Gangs of Ny and how he grew up in The Aviator, the transformation being during the filming of the nude and mad scene, which they retook endlessly till it was right. I thought he was great in that film, which I loved as a whole, so am happy they've continued, as with R de N in a bygone age.
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Post by miss buenos aires »

Infernal Affairs is coming to my house tomorrow, and somehow I don't care at all about The Departed. All those actors kind of bore me. At least they've all bored me for the last ten years.
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

I hate Leonardo DiCaprio - there I've said it. Haven't been convinced by a single one of his performances since "Gilbert Grape".
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Post by BlueChair »

I agree, including The Aviator. I still hope to see The Departed at some point, even though I guess we now all know how it ends!
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