The Film Lovers Thread!

[Tushka_BeLLa]

I wonder if someone can help me, I am freaking out, I have to do TWO movie reviews for school, can anybody recommend some great movies that will really impress my teacher?

 

[susie_bubble]

^Can it be ANY movie?

 

[boho_babe]

^Couldn't agree with you more Poppy (read my slating review of this movie earlier in this thread).

Gonna be seeing Shopgirl, Breakfast on Pluto and Memoirs of a Geisha this week so will be inundating this thread with my overly-long whiny reviews.

I've never seen a Woody Allen film before, infact I've never even seen him in anything. If the reviews are anything to go by I wont bother.
And I love reading everyones reviews in this thread, don't stop. . . !

Watched the Pianist yesterday after finally getting round to it. It was quite a difficult film to watch, very emotional.
Polanski commanded fantastic performances all round and worthy of the Oscars they won imo.
The bit that got to me the most was where the German Captain began to fetch him the food, the relationship that they had was heart breaking.

 

[oolie coco]

The acting was horrible (esp. Scarlett). You can just tell they did the scenes hundreds of times but still could not get it right- so stilted and self- aware. but the actors playing the family did well (esp. Emily Mortimer).

I haven't yet seen the movie but I could not agree more about Scarlett's acting style. Not only does her stiff, NON-acting drive me crazy, but the fact that so many people rave about her supposed talent makes me insane too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's got nice lips, breasts and hair, YES - but this a good ACTOR does not make!!!!!!

She just acts blank...... sullen.... silent.... stiff....

I'm so happy to see someone actually criticize her.

 

[boho_babe]

I haven't yet seen the movie but I could not agree more about Scarlett's acting style. Not only does her stiff, NON-acting drive me crazy, but the fact that so many people rave about her supposed talent makes me insane too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's got nice lips, breasts and hair, YES - but this a good ACTOR does not make!!!!!!

She just acts blank...... sullen.... silent.... stiff....

I'm so happy to see someone actually criticize her.

I don't like her that much either, there's just something about her

 

[oolie coco]

Woody Allen is in the habit of hiring young blondes who aren't actually talented and then singing their praises. Makes me nuts.

 

[adorefaith]

what did everyone think of crash?......

it had a lot of 'hype' to live up to.....
but i think it was a very well done film...... i can understand the overwhelmingly positive reviews.....
the performances were incredible, i thought.... real and vulnerable....

the most intense, beautiful scene for me was the rather arrogant police officer in the destroyed vehicle with thandie newton..... convincing her to let him help her.... her fear.... his realization of his own self.... the trust they establish for one another..... you can see those 'aha' moments in both of them.....
that we all discriminate, in one way or another.... but that we really are no different.... we can be both the sinner or the sinned against, as one great review pointed out... its all a matter of perspective and perception.... and that ultimately it doesnt matter.... what matters is the empathy and understanding we are provoked to cultivate once we realize that we really are the same, no matter how monstrous our differences may appear at times....

i thought the message was wonderful..... the highlight of the film really....

 

[fashionologie]

I've never seen a Woody Allen film before, infact I've never even seen him in anything. If the reviews are anything to go by I wont bother.

I haven't seen any of his more recent films yet, but I've seen a couple of his older ones -- Annie Hall and Mighty Aphrodite. Annie Hall was okay, but if you want to try out a Woody Allen movie, go for Mighty Aphrodite -- it's really funny and really struck a chord with me.

 

[fashionologie]

what did everyone think of crash?......

it had a lot of 'hype' to live up to.....

I was kind of reluctant about crash because of all the hype as well -- and usually there's a reason that a movie needs a lot of hype (people wouldn't see it otherwise). Crash surpassed all my expectations, and was a thoroughily enjoyable movie, in my opinion.

 

[Kalista]

I saw Memoirs of a Geisha on friday! It was v. good, much better than I expected it to be

 

[fashionologie]

Speaking of City of God from a few pages back (which is an amazing movie and I've never spoken to anyone who's seen it and didn't like it), I just watched the director's (Fernando Meirelles) second movie, The Constant Gardener.

I know some of the other people I was watching it with found it weird, but I found the movie to be a gripping thriller, with beautiful shots and cinematography. Rachel Weisz just won the Golden Globe for her performance in it, and the movie has an interesting social message, as Meirelles' movies tend to. Basically, I fully recommend this movie -- it's got romance, politics, and suspense all rolled up into one.

 

[fashionologie]

I saw Memoirs of a Geisha on friday! It was v. good, much better than I expected it to be

I know this is so cliche, but the book is soooo much better than the movie. The cinematography was gorgeous, but that was to be expected since Rob Marshall also did Chicago, which was beautifully shot. I just felt like when compared to the book, the characters in the movie were very underdeveloped. I still liked the movie because it was so beautiful, but I recommend reading the book to get the full enjoyment out of that story.

 

[oolie coco]

I didn't like Crash

While I thought Thandie Newton and Terence Howard were amazing, the usually incredible Don Cheadle was dull, Matt Dillon's acclaimed performance did nothing for me, and the story didn't appeal to me at all.

I actually love movies/shows that discuss racism intelligently, and this movie didn't do that for me at all. It was basically a movie with a bunch of people who were shockingly racist with one another. If this really portrays L.A., I'm glad I live where I do. The slurs against Asians especially really pissed me off. The audience I was sitting with laughed out loud at a few, and it just made me even angrier.

 

[fashionologie]

The slurs against Asians especially really pissed me off. The audience I was sitting with laughed out loud at a few, and it just made me even angrier.

I saw Crash a long time ago, and now that you say that, I remember that the audience laughing at all the slurs really bothered me too...

 

[oolie coco]

If you remember, at one point, Ludacris says "Dumb f*cking Chinaman." People around me laughed, and I actually said out loud, "Why are you laughing?" I couldn't believe it.

I don't understand at all why that slur was necessary for the movie, nor why people found it funny. It was NOT funny to me.

 

[fashionologie]

I want to rent Igby Goes Down since I've heard it's kind of based on Catcher in the Rye? Indirectly. 'Inspired by', more like. Anybody seen it?

I just saw it, and I can definitely see the Catcher in the Rye inspiration...
I believe Amanda Peet's character is inspired by Edie Sedgwick (not so much her personality but more her clothing)...

Igby gets a little whiny sometime (but then I thought Holden Caulfield did too), and Ryan Phillippe plays an amazing stuck-up Ivy-Leaguer (which is, of course, annoying), but these things don't detract from the movie itself, it's just how their characters are. You should definitely see it.

 

[fashionologie]

If you remember, Ludacris says "Dumb f*cking Chinaman." People around me laughed, and I actually said out loud, "Why are you laughing?" I couldn't believe it.

Yeah, there were a lot of moments like that, which should have been very powerful, and awe-inspiring (i.e. I can't believe people talk like this, even though you know some people still do), and people took it as comedic. That itself made me dumbstruck.

But it's kind of interesting, I don't know if the director did it on purpose (probably not), but just sitting in the audience, listening to people laugh at things like that, it gives some people in the audience a hightened awareness that there still are a lot of problems with racism. I mean, we all know on some level that there is, but sitting in the theater, and actually listening to people laugh at that makes us realize how far away racism really is from being eradicated. And that could be partially the reason why the slurs were necessary.

 

[twilight fairy]

I'm glad there's some anti-Scarlett people here. I like her in some editorial work but she's so bland in every movie I've seen her in!

I want to see Breakfast on Pluto pretty bad but it's not out here and I can't find it anywhere yet. There's nothing worthwhile to watch here right now. Started watching Domino but walked out because my friend and I found Keira Knightley's character really obnoxious and the whole film was strange, watched Lord of War instead which was decent and all but a bit biased towards Russia/Ukraine. Nicolas Cage is a good actor though.
Got home and watched Matchstick Men since I love Alison Lohman in that film loads. And then afterwards I watched Arizona Dream - didn't like it at first but it's starting to get round my head a bit more now.
Movie overload day today.

 

[LoveMyBoots]

Love this thread!

I saw Match Point yesterday. I'm clueless as to why everyone thinks this is Woody Allen's "return to form" The movie was horribly paced and terribly stilted. I wont go into the plot much but tennis pro Chris (jonathan rhys-Meyers) meets rich kids, married one of the rich kids, and has an affair with Nola (scarlett Jo). Chris does something desperate so he can maintain his new wealthy life style.

The acting was horrible (esp. Scarlett). You can just tell they did the scenes hundreds of times but still could not get it right- so stilted and self- aware. but the actors playing the family did well (esp. Emily Mortimer).

But the movie just didnt make sense and was too long. You could tell that maybe Woody wanted to explore class, fate, and luck but he didnt spend much time on the class part which would of been interesting. Possibly the script was too "american"

I concur!!! Allen is passed his prime, nowadays he keeps churning out movies every single year. None worth while. I still don't have the faintest idea while Scarlett even got a GG nom.

 

[oolie coco]

Fashionologie - that's exactly why I was so shocked when I saw Lost in Tranlsation. The audience was 50% of why I hated the entire movie experience. The way they laughed whenever Bill Murray mocked a Japanese character or whenever a Japanese character pronounced something wrong, I was LIVID. I wanted to scream.... I was so shocked.

LoveMyBoots..... the Hollywood Foreign Press is basically stupid.... I mean I think Jessica Alba is the hottest thing ever but we all know she is a terrible actor... SHE WAS NOMINATED FOR "DARK ANGEL".... enough said!!!!! They nominate whatever hot It Girl there is of the moment..... it's the way they think they can keep hip/fresh.