Add “Cache” to the list of horrible recent films.
“because movies today are shit”
there are great masterpieces in the 2000’s if you care to look around…..
“but there is nearly nobody out there like a John Huston or Ford, or Hawks kind of director who can direct a half intelligent plus superbly technically crafted film.”
there are plenty, oh…there are also neglected masters from countries beyond U.S.A., France, Italy, Germany and Japan…
p.s.: Blue K, Myra and others on YouTube have uploaded spectacular films which compete the Fords and Kurosawas of this world. plus, contemporary masterpieces too.
Was Gomorrah not a missed opportunity by the director?
ps. what are the names of some of these spectacular films.
pps. Germany hasn’t made a great film since Fritz Lang fled the Nazis.
Jason, what did you think of 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days
“Germany hasn’t made a great film since Fritz Lang fled the Nazis”
have you ever heard of Syberberg from the 70’s or from the recent bulk Hans-Christian Schmid? Germany was, is and will always be flourishing as when it started. please don’t sound like those “nostalgic critics”, it makes me lose my faith to open-mindedness from people.
Werner Herzog?
Also, I have not seen it yet, but was The White Ribbon not good in your opinion. Its pretty bold and blatant to say not a single good film has been made in the last decade
I haven’t seen it, but after reading this description: "Winner of last years Palme d’Or this Romanian film set in the eighties and is a cross between Richard Linklater’s 2001 film ‘Tape’, in that the majority of the action takes place in one room between three central characters and Mike Leigh’s 2004 film ‘Vera Drake’ in that its central theme is illegal abortion. It is a film about the human condition, trust, betrayal, the extremes people have to go to sometimes and the consequences that follow certain actions. "
I don’t think it is something that I would be interested in at all. If my local blockbuster has it, I might give it a try; but any movie that takes place mostly in one room is usually going to suck.
Herzog is a more popular choice but he hasn’t made a masterful feature film since the early 90’s.
I hate it when people complain about recent films. If you keep looking for great films in the theater on Saturdays, then this will always seem like a bad decade.
Nothing is more tiresome than the arrogance of fans of the golden age of Hollywood.
Coens ;)
No, but Herzog has made masterful feature films since Fritz Lang fled the Nazis
“and is a cross between Richard Linklater’s 2001 film ‘Tape’
who wrote that stupid introduction of Mungiu’s film????
“but any movie that takes place mostly in one room is usually going to suck.”
i don’t think you’ll like theatre either…
The golden age of Hollywood was a great period of filmmaking, just as was the golden age of the Japanese studio system that produced masterpieces from Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa and others. Today the Japanese film industry produces nothing but garbage.
To say 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days takes place in one room is very inaccurate. There is one very important room in the film, yes, but it is shot in many different locations. That description you quoted is a bit extreme in my opinion.
If I can find the film to rent, I will check it out, but I have very little faith in filmmakers today.
a few questions:
Do they use an unsteady camera?
Do they shoot with a ton of close ups?
Is there a resolution to the story of some kind?
@Jason: I’m not attacking the films of that time and place, which personally do absolutely nothing for me, merely observing that they seem to attract hubris in a way that no other film movement does.
Look, give us your top 10 of the decade right now. It just sounds to me like you haven’t seen anything and you think you’ve seen everything.
Film hipsterism at its most reactionary. This might be the most insufferable post I’ve read here.
This past decade wasn’t really good enough to warrant a top 10.
1. The New World
2. Alexander Revisited
3. Amores Perros
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Non-american films that I have seen include several of Zimou’s films, his best work was done in the 90s. I’ve seen Motor Cycle Diaries, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Bad Education, Pan’s Labrynth, Cache, The Valet, The Return, 2046, Millennium Mambo, Amelie, I saw the Red, White and Blue trilogy from the 90s. I can’t remember all of the movies that I have seen, but I’ve seen enough like Ulysses’ Gaze and the Three colors trilogy, and Gommorah to know that I am fed up with it.
if you’re fed up with Ulysses’s Gaze and The Return and you’re admiring Brokeback Fountain and Crouching Wagon more, then i wash my hands…
Alexander Revisited??seriously dude??over Kieslowski, Angelopoulos, Almodovar and Hou??
Have you seen a single Weerasethakul film? Tsai Ming-Liang? Hong Sang-Soo? Have you seen Werckmeister Harmonies? Elephant? Irreversible? Mulholland Drive? Yi Yi? A Serious Man? The Royal Tenenbaums? The White Ribbon? Synecdoche, New York? 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days? Munyurangabo? Love Exposure? A Prophet? Fish Tank? In the Mood for Love? 35 Shots of Rum? Not to mention all the stuff I haven’t seen like Lav Diaz, Lisandro Alonso, Pedro Almodovar, Theo Angelopoulos, Wang Bing etc. etc.? It sounds to me like you haven’t seen a damn thing from this decade.
It’s one of his many Adam C. Interesting that someone recommended a movie dealing directly with abortion to someone that’s worn their staunch republican values on their sleeve in most of their posts on this site.
12 Angry Men took place mostly in one room and it’s a great film. It’s unfair to already corner a movie before you’ve seen it based on how many settings it has. Someone that’s already close minded enough to dismiss a film on this basis, will probably dismiss other films you recommend for other ridiculous reasons I’m sure.
you can find a lot of good movies in 2000s this topic give me 2 points:1-you are uninformed about 2000s movies
2- you just make this topic to talk
I don’t like Bela Tarr. Irreversible was pointless. Mulholland was bad but not as bas as Inland Empire. Tenebaums was not as good as his previous movie, and Wes is not as good as P.T. I have not yet seen A Serious Man, but the Coens are usually pretty good, so I will give it a go. I have Yi Yi, and I have not been able to finish it yet-I have too many good Melville films sitting around waiting for me to watch them.
Robley, I can watch a trailer and know if I think something will be worth devoting two hours to. Some of those I have not heard of, and I am always hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but I am usually, and almost always, not.
“This past decade wasn’t really good enough to warrant a top 10.”
“I can watch a trailer and know if I think something will be worth devoting two hours to. Some of those I have not heard of, and I am always hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but I am usually, and almost always, not.”
close-minded AND prejudiced, sheesh…
OK well I just named a ton of films and filmmakers that are literally necessary to see before you can judge this decade, and there is without a doubt plenty that I didn’t mention. You’ve made it clear that you are woefully uninformed on this past decade.
And I second what Dim and Vahid said.
you don’t like bela Tarr it doesn’t show that Bela Tarr is not good
you’re judging directors and movies from your feelings. everybody has a different taste but it doesn’t mean that to ignore what they’ve done you have to criticize them more realistic
Jason Trochesset
After recently watching a few recent ‘highly acclaimed’ films in The Hurt Locker and Gomorrah, and adding that to the other crap that I have seen produced in the last 5-10 years, I can see clearly that the commercial film industry is dying for lack of talent. There are some talented people who almost exclusively make blockbuster movies, but there is nearly nobody out there like a John Huston or Ford, or Hawks kind of director who can direct a half intelligent plus superbly technically crafted film.
The so-called art house directors are so lacking in ability to bring a well shot, paced, or structured film to the screen that efforts like The Hurt Locker and Gommorah, which received quality contributions from their actors fail to achieve greatness because the writers and directors know nothing of putting together a plot that would actually interest an audience and shooting a film with skill-or hiring somebody with the ability to do such.
The end result is a mess, not a work of art. The directors, in their efforts to achieve a documentary feel, miss the fact that even documentaries have plots to elicit interest from the audience, and that even documentarians can shoot a scene while holding the camera still and composing a good looking shot.
The idiots in Hollywood, and other major film studios around the world, have completely abandoned the kind of filmmaking that can both make them money and earn them prestige, in favor of one or the other-the trash blockbusters and slasher movies(at least the blockbusters still have some talented technicians working on them, though), and these pseudo art films that do not challenge the mind, nor please the senses.
So, I have decided that if nobody else will do it, I must become a filmmaker and save the industry from itself, otherwise all that we have left to look forward to are slashers, comic book movies, shallow big budget titles, and low budget movies on youtube. Something must be done.