Last movie you saw and rate it
^^agree with that Jirin. i noticed that the other night actually, after i woke up! That scene got me up hahaha.
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind 6/10
Spielberg sets up the emotional pins and knocks ’em down, which he happens to be exceptionally good at.
This was also the highest ranked TSPDT movie I had never seen, a mantle which now passes to Rocco and His Brothers at #159.
there were instances where they pretty much had Ford in an inescapable death grip, then jumped off or ran away for no apparent reason and gave Ford a nice clean unobstructed shot.
I had to study this as well; from my understanding the replicants show hesitance in killing Deckard (Pris does, the strong one does and most obviously Roy does) so that in those scenes it’s the replicants that are showing a sense of empathy, whereas Deckard would kill them as soon as he gets the chance (as he does with Pris), making them the more human-like ones (linking back to the key them of “More human than human.”)
I actually wrote a much more in depth answer but just accidentally deleted it and couldn’t get it back…
dp
Farewell – 4 stars
This is a rewatch (saw it in theaters a couple years ago) and it still holds up. So good. Would be a good double feature with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
“Spielberg sets up the emotional pins and knocks ’em down, which he happens to be exceptionally good at.”
The two best scenes are the kid walking out of his bedroom downstairs at the beginning, and the spaceship over the mountain.
It really drags in the middle though. still better than a 6 imo.
Close Encounters is boring, and the main character is so annoying.
//Close Encounters is boring, and the main character is so annoying.//
This^
I really think Close Encounters just hasn’t aged well…….and Richard Dreyfuss as that self involved bad husband/father was an abominable character.
I wanted to take those mashed potatoes and just smother him in them.
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
3/5
I expected something more profound from having read about it. Some of it felt like Larry David sitcom material. I usually don’t mind ambiguous endings but this one bothered me. Noah doesn’t really come out and say anything, at least not that I picked up on.
Was contrasting the end and beginning of their relationship supposed to mean that … it’s all fairy tales and that it was lust not love that they first experienced?
I loved Noah’s Greenberg. Obviously Kicking and Screaming is the work of a much greener director.
Lol when Armond White described his experience of watching the climactic scene of Close Encounters – “I saw the face of god”.
Jirin, that is an interesting way of going about film watching – I only make it to #12, Sunrise. Shame on me, I know. As an aside, Rocco and His Brothers is one of my favourite films, it’s truly excellent.
LOL @ armond white
Z Channel A Magnificent Obsession – 4 stars
This is a rewatch but still thoroughly enjoyable. I’m surprised this film isn’t discussed more on Mubi.
Jesus Camp
B
One of the most excruciating, cringe inducing movies I’ve ever watched. I would not blame anyone for turning it off… Yes, lots of it is disturbing, but the majority of it made me forget those kids were brainwashed (and ill) and I just wanted to shoot them all. Seriously, I thought the town of Dogville was bad… One of these girls runs around a bowling ally after failing to socialize with others her own age and tries converting strange adults to Christianity.
I have never seen so many loons in my life, and what also freaks me out is how one of the larger parts of all this bullshit takes place in Colorado Springs, close to where I live o_O
This documentary should be seen, or at least given a shot. As angering and annoying as it is, I am glad it was made. Very telling about human nature. This hellhole summer camp was shut down shortly after the release, but these zombies are still lugging their sorry asses around damaging more and more children’s souls and minds.
Note: that creepy girl on the cover of this film with the tear rolling down her face has some of the more unsettling moments. In the beginning, we see her quickly chanting some weird cristian stuff while looking up. The leader of this says she was not in a trance. I’d argue she was.
Haha, you really don’t like those sort of docos do you
i remember mama d. george stevens (1948)
one of those vaunted classics i’ve finally forced myself to get through. was this four hours long or what? the ridiculous accents and gushing music were really too much. oskar homolka’s character was kinda funny, but i’d rather watch curtiz’s life with father any day. i guess i can understand why people like this but it’s far too sentimental for my taste 2/5
@G Legs
Jesus Camp is brave cinema. Taking me to places I don’t want to be and forcing me to look at them. I love and hate these type of docs, lol
Histoire de Marie et Julien 2003
Jacques Rivette’s spooky romantic ghost story
9/10
Link
The thing about Close Encounters is, it’s hard not to give Spielberg points for his craftsmanship in creating iconic scenes and a series of emotionally imminent moments.
The story though is pretty much just riffing on alien abduction culture, and the mythology of aliens has completely changed since then.
dp
Happiness (Varda) – It’s nice.
That’s all you have to say about it?? I think that’s my favorite film! And it is most certainly not very nice! :P
…or is it?
Smokey and the Bandit. The first half hour is terrible but once it settles into its pattern of chase & crash it is surprisingly fun.
re: Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Has some examples of the worst parenting in movies. When Jillian (Melinda Dillon) leaves her kid playing in road in the middle of the night to be almost run over by Roy (Richard Dreyfuss)? This is Spielberg’s idea of a meet-cute?
Not to mention the abandonment issues his kids are going to have. Forget about weekends with Dad or child-support payments. Makes me crazy.
Norma Rae
F
So apparently this is the easiest way to win an Oscar:
1) be a woman
2) be “strong” (aka, be sassy and have unrealistically clever comebacks)
3) shout a lot
4) be angry (and be angry at your husband who’s worried about you! Don’t forget that!)
5) don’t be a mother to your children and do something you have never had any interest in doing before
It worked for Sally Fields, and it has certainly worked for others actresses!
What. A. Pile. Of. Shat. I’m all for a strong female protagonist, but not a spitting, ridiculous, drunken, unrealistic, irresponsible and irrational b’otch. This movie made me want to throw up….
You go, girlfriend!!
JIRIN: So because there are different conspiracy theories now, that means CLose Encounters no longer works?
“Has some examples of the worst parenting in movies. When Jillian (Melinda Dillon) leaves her kid playing in road in the middle of the night to be almost run over by Roy (Richard Dreyfuss)? This is Spielberg’s idea of a meet-cute?
Not to mention the abandonment issues his kids are going to have. "
this is part of the ‘complexity’ that Spielberg nuts see in his films. Those abandonment issues have popped up several times in his films. He doesn’t seem to have much to say about it though.
@Joks
Not exactly. But, the wonder of the film depended a lot on the cultural context of the seventies. More so than most of his other films.
@DFFOO
Hahaha!
@DFFOO
That’s all you have to say about it?? I think that’s my favorite film! And it is most certainly not very nice! :P…or is it?
Well actually, the reason I wanted to see it is because I saw it in number one place in your top 20 films. I did like it, but yeah, that’s about all I have to say about it. I really liked the style of the films (reminded me of Godard, but actually good) but in the end it just didn’t have the substance to make it a great film. The story, whilst interesting, was very simple, and I gather that the film is supposed to stay interesting because of the style and perhaps underlying themes or whatever. I think Varda was trying to go for some sort of subtle sinister feel or something (which is why you said it’s not very nice?), but the acting was too simple (and on occasion wooden) to really pull it off. Also I cringed in that cafe scene when it goes to those shots of “mystery” and whatever the others were; completely unnecessary and made it feel like a Godard film, which in my opinion is not something a filmmaker should be going for at all.
But overall I did still really like it, and there are good things I would say about it.
MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE
The best film of 2011 that I have seen. This is why I go to movies, it is well drawn characters not plot
the fool who stops being one, the lover who sees past all faults, the old lady who wants to pass something profound on.
This is a truly great film
5/5
Jirin
I like the existential aspects of Blade Runner a lot, my reservations have more to do with the choreography.
In both of the fight scenes with the female replicants, there were instances where they pretty much had Ford in an inescapable death grip, then jumped off or ran away for no apparent reason and gave Ford a nice clean unobstructed shot.