dp
Peabody I could not agree more, one of the worst films of the 2000s
Bass Ackwards 2010
DIR Linas Phillips
SCR Davie-Blue , Jim Fletcher, Linas Phillips
85 Min
ROAD MOVIE: must take one out of their comfort zone
8.5/10
Down to the Bone – co-written and directed by Debra Granik
http://rorydean.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/down-to-the-bone-2005/
I don’t generally followed the ratings game, two stars or three, five out of eight and all that. I think this is a strong character study with deep emotional and psychological themes that will appeal some and push others to more simple subjects.
I’d say watch it if you’ve seen or are interested in Granik’s latest film, Winter’s Bone (to which I reviewed here http://rorydean.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/winters-bone-2010-cuts-deep/)
Or I’d say stick to comic book and video game adaptations.
cheers→>
METROPOLIS ( big screen )
Year: 1927
Country: Germany
Director: Fritz Lang
Notes: Silent, B&W. Missing 25 minutes of film was recently found in Argentina, completing the masterpiece.
Rating: 10
Comment: The source for both James Bond’s ‘Dr. No’ and Mike Myers’ ‘Dr. Evil’ and his sidekick ‘Mini-Me’.
…………………………………………..
The GOLD RUSH
Year: 1925 & 1942
Country: USA
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Notes: Silent, B&W
Rating: 10
Comment: The 1942 version apparently has slight on-screen differences. The primary difference, though, is that the inter-titles have been removed, a score has been added, and Charlie Chaplin (YES! CHARLIE CHAPLIN!) acts as narrator.
……………………………………….
TRAINSPOTTING
Year: 1996
Country: Scotland
Director: Danny Boyle
Notes: Boyle also directed the widely acclaimed ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
Rating: 10
Comment: A ‘how to’ and a ‘why not to’ consume hard drugs. Never a dull moment in this film.
……………………………………….
The LAST LAUGH
Year: 1924
Country: Germany
Director: F.W. Murnau
Notes: Sur-titles were almost unnecessary in this superbly presented film.
Rating: 10
Comment: An epilogue is added to the film for those viewers who can’t stomach the flavour of reality.
…………………………………….
WITNESS for the PROSECUTION
Year: 1957
Country: USA
Director: Billy Wilder
Notes: B&W
Rating: 10
Comment: Austrian-born Wilder left Hitler’s Germany when the latter came into power, going to the U.S. via Paris. His name is associated with many outstanding Hollywood films including SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE LOST WEEKEND, THE APARTMENT, STALAG 17 and SUNSET BOULEVARD.
…………………………………
SHOOT the PIANO PLAYER
Year: 1960
Country: France
Director: Francois Truffaut
Notes: B&W
Rating: 9
Comment: The DVD jacket’s description of the film … Loaded with gags, guns, clowns and thugs, this razor-sharp homage to the American gangster film is pure nouvelle vague.
Red River 7/10
I know when you watch westerns you kind of have to immerse yourself in the ideology, but the ending kind of ignores the fact he murdered like five people, and I’m only counting the ones that weren’t self defense.
Rebels of the Neon God 9/10
Short Cuts 4/10
I’ve lost patience for the way Altman writes characters. They say Nashville is a portrait of America, but really it’s a portrait of a portrait of America, and it’s that special portrait that includes everybody in the world except people you actually know. Short Cuts is no different, only it’s portrait also includes 90’s politically correct male guilt. There isn’t a single self-aware or likable character between the two movies, and I see hardly anything that matches my actual experience, excepting that I used to watch a lot of crime procedurals.
Portrayal of John Lennon’s teenage years in Liverpool up until the Beatles departure for Hamburg.
An entertaining coming of age story with wonderful performances.
Séraphine 2008
France, Belgium, Germany
DIR Martin Provost
SCR Marc Abdelnour, Martin Provost
125 Min
Unimaginative, which envelopes the artist Séraphine in an uninsightful dullness. There is some good cinematography and acting, which moves Séraphine from a poor garretted artist, to a famous spendthrift, to the insane asylum where she dies.
Compare film to the wiki: ……. inspired by her religious faith and by stained-glass church windows and other religious art. …… interpreted as a reflection of her own psyche, walking a tightrope between ecstasy and mental illness.
5/10
5/10 for Seraphine…. ew Robert that is harsh!
Four Nights with Anna
Year: 2008
Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski
Country: Poland
8.5/10
Excruciating depiction of an innocent abroad, very touching film… deeply sad in places.
Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Year: 1976
Cassavetes
second viewing
9/10
I love this film – the delusional proud and ultimately doomed Cosmo is a great character, and what a performance from Ben Gazarra.
The House is Black
10/10
Tout va bien 1972
DIR Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Groupe Dziga Vertov
SCR Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin
96 Min
About: role of intellectual in revolution
How: Jane takes notes
A 50 min doc on this disc about Jane going to Hanoi after the film was made and how images showed her as the power point in the frame – this was conflicting for Godard.
7/10
La bête humaine 1938
DIR Jean Renoir
SCR Émile Zola (novel) Jean Renoir
96 Min
Incredible cinematography here by Curt Courant – a Zola novel brought to life – Gabin the year following Grand Illusion and Jean as Cabuche.
10/10
Bluebeard 2009
Barbe Bleue
DIR Catherine Breillat
SCR Charles Perrault, Catherine Breillat
80 Min
This was good & a typical Breillat ending – whatever that means !!!
9.2/10
Come and See (1985)
10/10
Downside: I feel really sad now.
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
8/10
Undeniably a solid documentary—interesting interviews with rock icons, thought-provoking quotes, all that—but, I took 2 points off because, personally, I felt like something was off. Maybe the editing?
Farewell My Concubine 6/10
Faraway, So Close 4/10 (Rehash any?)
Easy A — 2/10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — 8/10
Where the Wild things Are — 7/10
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus — 7/10
The Road — 8/10
Wall Street — 6/10
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps — 6/10
Barry Lyndon — 10/10
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World — 7/10
My Son, My son, What Have Ye done — 7/10 (sadly)
Salt — 5/10
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) — 1/10
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans — 7/10
The Killer Inside Me — 6/10
As you can see, I haven’t seen many films worthy of mentioning, but I’m naming them nonetheless. Many of these were films I was asked to review (Salt, Wall Street 2, etc), and others were newer films I just wanted to see (The Road, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, etc).
The Hurt Locker 2008
DIR Kathryn Bigelow
SCR Mark Boal
131 Min
Explicit and gratuitous anxiety, which is the role of advertising in consumer culture.
Should Bigelow have won an Oscar for this? ABSOLUTELY ! You don’t like the film and I don’t like the film, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t do a good job directing. Should Cahiers du cinema have rated this # 7 in 2009? PHK NO !
According to the film-ranking website They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?, The Hurt Locker is the 13th most acclaimed film of the 21st Century.
Unratable by me, because I obviously didn’t understand what I was watching.
LOL to those who did.
Revolutionary Road – 9/10
I love you, Phillip Morris – 4/10
Inception 10/10
The Social Network 5/10
Serpico – 7/10
Alice, Sweet Alice – 7/10
Les Herbes Folles – 8/10
Stalker – 9/10
The Devils – 7/10
Ilha das Flores – 10/10
Let’s scare Jessica to Death – 7/10
The Loved Ones – 8/10
Dottie Gets Spanked – 9/10
Quid Pro Quo 3/10
3 Women – 10/10
Viola di Mare – 6/10
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus – 4/10
A Woman Under Influence 10/10
Safe – 10/10
Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal – 6/10
Winter’s Bone – 9/10
The Descent Part 2 – 6/10
My Son, My son, What Have Ye done — 7/10 (sadly)
sadly because? I loved this one.
the rising place — 9/10
oops! dp
The Net (2003)
Das Netz
Director:Lutz Dammbeck
Writer:Lutz Dammbeck
121 min
These people
met periodically as The Macy Conference to determine how we would transit from nations, to a single world order as a way to prevent totalitarianism.
One would have thought that someone at the conference would have found the idea of a world order fascist or totalitarian, but no, and LSD was going to be part of our reprogramming. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was part of the 1960 LSD trials.
Ted thought this: …the technological system need merely adapt human behavior to its own demands.
Apophenia is never mentioned in the film.
Synopsis
German filmmaker Lutz Dammbeck explores the history of the Internet through the gripping true-life story of Ted Kaczynski, the infamous “Unabomber,” who’s often viewed as the ultimate rebel by anti-technology enthusiasts. Brushing aside the conventional image of the World Wide Web as an all-positive information superhighway, Dammbeck posits several thought-provoking conspiracy theories about the darker side of technological progress.
EDIT: while researching this review, my antivirus software notified me that my computer was attacked.
Choose Me
Dir. Alan Rudolph
Ruldolph is an odd egged “Hollywood” director. I’m not sure to what to make of this one.
Rudolph is one of Hollywood’s tragic tales (at least as talented as his mentor Altman) but unable to get the moneys. In fact he quit making films years ago cause he was tired of hustling for funds
Den,
Which ones do you rec:
The Secret Lives of Dentists
1999 Breakfast of Champions – seen it !
1994 Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
1991 Mortal Thoughts
1988 The Moderns
1984 Choose Me
out of those Dentists
out of all of his
Made in Heaven
Trixie
Intimate Affairs
Afterglow
Okay, thanks – all I have available is The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Songwriter is free to watch on imdb
Robert W Peabody III
Inglourious Basterds 2009
DIR Quentin Tarantino
SCR Quentin Tarantino
153 Min
I was expecting something better, this was surprisingly bad. Sans blood-splatter, what have you got here?
Minus 10 out of 10