oo i need to re watch R2P.
speaking of it being well photographed, that scene where he is taking the picture of the someone dying is creeeeeepy.
@Mogambo
Oh yeah. I love the dark, creepy side to it. Thought Jude Law kicked ass.
SPOILER
And the photography when he shot Hanks was breathtaking.
Lover, totally agree with Iron Lady – what total BS, can’t believe there was serious Oscar talk for this.
yea I didn’t want to post that spoiler
i just read ebert’s review of it, he gives it 3/4 but said it was cold and wasn’t sure how much he liked it. that’s kind of how I recall feeling about it.
still worth the watch, like you said, based on the strong cinematography.
@Mogambo
I notice I love movies Ebert gives 3 stars more than his 3 1/2 star films: The Prestige, Memento, The Machinist, Toy Story 3, R2D, etc…
Glad you agree it should be viewed for cinematography. If I do ever try and make a serious drama in the future (if I become a filmmaker), I’m turning to R2P and Miller’s Crossing for photography reference.
@B-Rad
I will never forgive the Academy for giving her the Oscar for The Iron Lady… In my opinion, this is their biggest crime. She was only decent in the final 5 minutes, only because her eyes said “I have no idea what I’m doing”.
I’ve never seen such begging for an award. Fucking pathetic. Glad you agree, good sir, makes me feel a little better.
Yeah The Iron Lady is stone unwatchable
Man Hunt – 3.5 stars
I think this is my first American Fritz Lang film I’ve seen. Impressive stuff. Well worth checking out.
The Academy seemed to confuse a decent impression/parody with good acting. I’ll concede Streep pulls off the former, but is nowhere near the latter. Not sure it’s their biggest crime, certainly not like awarding harmful and ideologically despicable films (Forrest Gump, Crash, Driving Miss Daisy), but it’s a bad decision, no doubt. You wonder if they even saw Dunst in Melancholia.
The Academy seemed to confuse a decent impression/parody with good acting. I’ll concede Streep pulls off the former, but is nowhere near the latter. Not sure it’s their biggest crime, certainly not like awarding harmful and ideologically despicable films (Forrest Gump, Crash, Driving Miss Daisy), but it’s a bad decision, no doubt. You wonder if they even saw Dunst in Melancholia.
THE LAST CIRCUS: Generally i don’t like these kind of ultra violent, grotesque, extreme genre bending exercises that try to be as obsense as possible, but De La Iglesia, unlike Rob Zombie, Tarantino, and other American directors, has a view of the world that is not limited to the world of film, no matter how much he references it, in passing or in full, so the end result is more than just a collection of dead texts arranged in a collage-like manner.
Like Takeshi Miike, it’s the kind of insanity that comes from within, and is not an act. He makes these films because he has a few screws loose, not because he wants simply wants to pose and give off the impression that he does. There are all sorts of crazy references here to art, religion, film, politics, and while the political allegory is cheap, the story works, because the characters are well written and believable—at least within the context of this bizarro world anyway—and De La Iglesia’s willingness to the let the story fly off the rails keeps the film unpredictable at all times. Just when you think it’s going to turn into a typical, albeit extreme, love triangle film, it takes a strange detour that i’m not convinced was necessary, but it’s just a build up to another kind of madness. There is also a sly reference to Batman(1989) that i didn’t see coming, and it’s bloody hilarious, as well as ironic.
In the end, good and evil are just two sides of the same coin, and are virtually indistinguishable. Love begets madness, and madness begets itself. 7/10
Punch-Drunk Love – Almost completely unbearable. I cannot believe so many people like this piece of crap. I guess it was destined for being terrible as soon as Adam Sandler was cast though.
^yep. overrated film was overrated.
@G-Legs – as someone who absolutely loves Punch-Drunk Love – why was it unbearable? Besides the bias against Sandler?
“Masculin-Feminin” (1966) : 6/10
“Masculin-Feminin” (1966) : 6/10
Sound design on PDL alone is enough to lock it in all-time imho, regardless of feelings about the content or the cast (though how you can not be into philip seymour in PDL is beyond me.)
Or better said, you wanna fuck with what my brothers are sayin’?
I like Punch Drunk Love a lot. Adam Sandler isn’t a bad actor, he’s a bad writer, and mostly acts in films he wrote. When he has a genuinely good script he does a good job. That just hardly ever happens.
My problem with Punch Drunk Love is that it tried too hard. it wore its influences too obviously on its sleeve, and it just didn’t come together for me. I can appreciate why others like it though and it’s certainly not terrible.
Punch Drunk Love is stupid. It’s his shortest film but it feels like his longest.
@santino,i remember feeling the same way when i saw that film (but i haven’t really seen it since it came out so ill get around 2 seeing it again sometime)……now THERE WILL BE BLOOD on the other hand……
I am not a fan of Adam Sandler at all, in fact I loathe all those “happy madison” type films but c’mon, he’s pitch perfect in PDL. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, all brilliant. The photography, those camera movements, the sound, the music, the mood, the writing… I hope at least no one nowadays is contesting PTA’s skillz as a writer at the very god damn least…
I mean PDL just fearlessly nails the idea of this emotionally repressed, terribly insecure, pathetic and horribly lonely guy, and does it all with this very bizarre sort of “ain’t it lovely” mood and tone, which contrasts against one another to create something for me that is very honest and beautiful. I think PDL is his most honest film with TWBB as a close second, I love Magnolia, Boogie Nights ect. but it seems to me he’s trying to do you know these massive sweeping ensemble altmany things, but PDL and TWBB are tighter and more focused, which I like for him.
In fact I’m ecstatic for The Master based on those teaser trailers, it seems like a fusion between PDL and TWBB, aka The Perfect Movie.
@santino,i remember feeling the same way when i saw that film (but i haven’t really seen it since it came out so ill get around 2 seeing it again sometime)……now THERE WILL BE BLOOD on the other hand……
bitch ass DP!
I actually gave PDL 3 stars because of Sandler’s performance. Although I agree with Santino — I still think the film is three hours long.
When I first saw Punch Drunk Love, I thought it was directed by Dennis Dugan.
_ the idea of this emotionally repressed, terribly insecure, pathetic and horribly lonely guy, and does it all with this very bizarre sort of “ain’t it lovely” mood and tone, which contrasts against one another to create something for me that is very honest and beautiful_
It didn’t come together like that for me at all. I didn’t get the quirkiness factor in both leads. Like yes they are supposed to be odd…but I couldn’t get a read on anything besides their outward behavior. Kinda frustrating. The characters ended up being like caricatures.
Paris Belongs to Us/Paris nous appartient (1961)
Jacques Rivette’s wry depiction of Paris bohemian pretenders
8/10
link
PDL is the only PTA film I like.
He was clever enough to see that Sandler’s persona works for drama as well as comedy.
It is a sad remake of Altman’s Popeye (Hoffman is Bluto)
He was clever enough to see that Sandler’s persona works for drama as well as comedy.
yea Sandler’s persona works for neither…..
LoverofLeCinema
The Iron Lady
F
…I have seen hell…
Road to Perdition
A
Some of the best cinematography I’ve ever seen. Seriously. I’m putting this in my top 10 most awesomely photographed films. Great acting, awesome kills, some fine stuff this is.