Thursday, December 15, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
IMDB No. One Hundred and Thirty
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Notorious (1946)
Notorious is about a government agent who falls in love with the woman he's meant to get to spy on some German friends of her recently deceased father. The Notorious of the title references Ingrid Bergman's Alicia Huberman who by today's standards would be a drunken slut, quite possibly a ladette. But none of that happens in this film, it's not even talked about only slightly referenced at. But it is the crunch of the story because she then has to get close to her mark by any way she deems fit. She deems it fit to marry him. Cary Grant's Devlin does not.
Once all the cards have been revealed by both sides the ending is quite intense. Not by today's standards either. Where today there would be a shoot-out and much death. There is only a possible gun in a pocket and a walk down the stairs. And yes I did say it was intense.
Also this was my second tasting of Cary Grant, my first being North By Northwest in which he plays a pansy mumma's boy. I thought that was just him. But no he can actually act as this film testifies as it does to Alfred Hitchcock's ability as director. There are some great shots in this film as well as one of film's greatest kisses.
7/10
IMDB No. One Hundred and Twenty-Nine
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Yojimbo (1961)
Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo was ripped off by Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars which is sad to see. Seeing A Fistful of Dollars first really ruins the viewing experience of Yojimbo because you know what to expect and how everything plays out. The character of Sanjuro (meaning thirty-something quite frankly the man with no name) is a greater anti-hero than Dollars 'Joe' (The Man With No Name). This is played up with the introduction of a pistol. In a film with swords and knives a single pistol tips the scales in favour of the bad guys. But because of Sanjuro's awesomeness he wins but not before having the pistol pointed at him by a dying man and just waits it out to see if the other guy will succumb to his wounds before he fires a shot. In that bad ass move Sanjuro is summed up. In a world where honour bound samurai are no more and people can win battles not with skills but with guns, where does Sanjuro fit in?
8/10
IMDB No. Seventy-One
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Imdb No. 71
L.A. Confidential (1997)
From this post it has now been a while since I've seen this film. It was good for one of those 1940's noir detective stories except as the viewer you already know they are barking up the wrong tree.
7/10
IMDB No. Sixty Three
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind (2004)
This film is wondrous in its depiction of memory and how it is used to illicit feelings about one's past.
If you haven't seen it, you should. Even if it is just to prove that Jim Carrey can act without his elastic face.
8/10
Monday, July 4, 2011
IMDB No. One Hundred and Six
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Gladiator (2000)
I've only seen this film twice and upon seeing it the second time I realised why I waited eleven years to see it again. This film seems to be the best part of Spartacus, just overly drawn out. The difference is I cared for Spartacus's cause. Here we meet Maximus a general who decimates everyone. He gets screwed over. Then decimates some more. There is no struggle for him. He seems to cope well from going from a respected general to an enslaved gladiator. So while the film may look pretty and be an all-encompassing epic the lack of care dealt with the characters really lets the film down. Considering the film isn't plot heavy Maximus just groans through nearly 3 hours of slaughtering which really affcets the vieewing pleasure. Maximus isn't the type of guy I would deem a hero and I doubt any other person would think of him when compiling a list of films greatest heroes. But he does try to restore Rome and I guess he should get props to that.
Any other complaints?
Sure, in any exterior shot of the Colosseum, in which its granduer is paraded there is always a plethora of birds flying away. But not like a few here and there. BUt what seems to be hundreds and thousands, enough to notice and be like 'That's a shit load of birds.'
6/10
Friday, July 1, 2011
IMDB No. One Hundred and Fifty-Two
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The Big Lebowski
Everyones favourite movie. What I love about this film is the characters. They are just so complete and exist fully inside of this film that it is such a joy to watch them do anything. ANd I guess that's the point. The film isn't really about anything, The same way Seinfeld isn't about anything. These characters don't have any growth, no arc and yet we want more from them. The Dude especially.
The dialogue is quick, witty and funny. The best you can expect from the Cohen brothers. The costumes are so well designed for the characters that you know exactly what kind of person you are dealing with the moment you meet them. This is one of the great assets the Cohen brothers have with their storytelling. I would love to see an animated film by the duo just to see the designs of the characters.
9/10
IMDB No. Two Hundred and Twenty-Four
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Good Will Hunting
I really enjoyed GWH but I found it all to be a little too pretentious. WHat I mean to say that here is Will this sad little fella with a couple of friends but by the end of the film everyone wants to help him. No-one goes 'Fine if you want to be a little bitch, be one.' It feels like everyone is in love with him and I can't see why. Other than that it was really good. Especially how Robin Williams character teases issues and information from Will by giving stuff up about himself. That whole dynamic is played off the emotions of essentially two lost little boys trying to cope with life. Minnie Driver as Will's love interest just seemed too good to be true. She wasn't like all the other college students coasting through on their parents money, she like Will was finding her own way. But I can't help but feel that her character was just too good. And the way Will just leaves his friends, like Community points out it just seems a little off that his best friend's part of the day is when he goes to pick Will up and Will isn't there. I get that he means well and he wants him to fulfill his potential but the way its made out and how Will frives into the sunset it just seems like he will never see those guys again. One of the reasons why i found the film a little pomous because that part could have easily been left out but it is in there just to have that quote, just to be like 'yeah that seems deep'. It isn't. It's odd and slightly self-deprecating.
8/10
Pretty Sure She Dealt It
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To be honest it wasn't great. They didn't come out until 10.30pm and only played an hour set. Meanwhile in the shitty crowd we were in (shitty because 95% of the people there were douches that only knew Slow Motion and Rock It. Not even my favourites. They just stood there for the rest of the songs having no clue what they were) someone kept farting. THE WHOLE NIGHT. Now I assumed these farts were permeating from this blonde "lady" in white.
How did I come to this conclusion?
Well for one thing the farts smelt like girl farts. Not as brutish and in your face as guy face but more sneaky and attacks most of the senses. it was pretty horrendous.
Why did I think it was her?
Well she was in front of us and she looked pretty filthy and I'm sure she was drinking beer which would have added to her uncontrollable bowel issues. Plus her drunk friend was really small. Like really small. Not midget but you could be excused for thinking so.
Plus she looked like she's had kids, probably a single mother, so I bet her parts are pretty loose.
That's not even the end of the story.
After the concert we were walking to the car and we passed some of the band about to have a smoke.
I went up to one of them coz here I was thinking it would be pretty cool.
I'm like 'Hey how you going?'
'Hey man, I'm fucking trashed yeah?' (drops joint) 'Don't have a lighter do you?'
'No I don't. SO how was the show?'
'Oh t was so shit yeah. Not even the best we've played.'
And this goes on for a little while after I become too tired to deal with incoherent drunk talk. But it made me upset that an actual member of the band thought it was a crap gig. Hows about don't get über smashed when performing. Ruined my birthday week.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Review: Megamind
I was very reluctant to see Megamind as my brother claimed that it was crapper than Monsters vs Aliens. And as a friend once said 'You wouldn't go to a restaurant KNOWING that the food will be shit.'
Alas that was not the case with Megamind. I could see how it could be shit but I think it comes off as one of Dreamworks little gems.
I could go on about the plot but its been done before and fairly unexciting.
Hero. Villian. Villian kills Hero. Villian bored because he killed Hero. Villian makes new Hero. Hero becomes Villian. Villian becomes Hero.
Thats it.
But I distinctly remember laughing out loud in this film which means I enjoyed it. I think that Will Ferrell and whoever else had to bring Megamind to life did a great job. He wasn't a pansy villian with the capacity for good. He was a villian but shit at it in comparison to the heroics of MetroMan.
Enjoyable but nothing awesomely new.
5 out of 10
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