Harakiri: 9/10
A Face in the Crowd: 8.5/10
Two very different but extremely satisfying movies in one day.
the royal tennenbaums 9/10
excellent movie
Moon: 7/10
Amazing acting. A definite tour de force for Sam Rockwell.
Somers Town 4/4 – One of the best films I’ve seen this year.
Le Cercle Rouge: 7.5/10
A Perfect Getaway – 3 / 4
Not a bad film, by aby means; it did its job, and I was tense throughout. It may have cheated a little bit, though…
Savvy
Me and You and Everyone We Know- No Rating (Walked out. Couldn’t stand that film)
“Unknown Pleasures” 8/10 – the dv cinematography is stunning, with great dramaturgy and a savvy use of plan-séquences
Don’t Look Now: 8/10
Taxidermia – 3.5/4. Whoa, now THIS is a movie. Craziness abounds!
District 9 – 2/4. Ugh. Another lame summer blockbuster. File this with Wolverine and Terminator Salvation.
Funny People – 3/4. Interesting film. Surpisingly thoughtful and a film I’ll be thinking about for the next couple days. Sadler’s best performance by a long shot.
Raging Bull: 8/10
I saw this film a few days ago called the “Baader-Meinhoff Complex.” It’s a German film that was nominated for an Oscar. I thought it was a pretty good action film and I found the subject matter interesting. It’s based on a true story about these German terrorists who bomb buildings and rob a bank or maybe it was a few banks. They are against the war in Vietnam and the film goes into the seventies showing them not being deterred from carrying out their attacks, even if some of them have been put in jail. I guess you could say that some of the point of the film is that they are not going to stop with their attacks. It covers the RAF. I think I would give it three and a half stars out of four. The terrorist group is also against other governments like their own German government. I like the contrast between one of the characters who starts off as a journalist covering these events to how she becomes involved in them. The film is about two and a half hours long. Maybe the point of the film is that they go too far in their activities. Anyways, I recommend it.
This month so far:
Funny People: 4/10
The Hurt Locker: 8/10
(500) Days of Summer: 9/10
District 9: 10/10
In an e-mail from my friend, I found out that the Baader-Meinhoff Complex is just being released and I guess is Germany’s submission to the Academy Awards. Anyways, that’s what I think that it is. It will be opening up in New York soon. It could have been just released. Today I saw Julia and Julie. The parts with Meryl Streep as Julia Child were well done, but I didn’t love the modern day story with Amy Adams, although it wasn’t too bad. For the Amy Adams parts, I thought some of the dialogue was poorly written and there didn’t seem to be a lot of subtext in it. It sort of spelled things out, without holding anything back and gradually building tension. There didn’t seem to be in those parts a lot of conflict compared with the Meryl Streep part of the film. Nonetheless, I guess I’d give it three stars. It’s not a bad film. It’s good, but not great.
Oshima’s “The Man Who Left His Will on Film” (1970) – 7.5/10
Delvaux’s “The Man With the Shaven Head” (1965) – 8/10
Repulsion(new blu ray edition) 9/10
The Hurt Locker 7.5/10
Knowing 4/10
Funny People 4/10
London to Brighton 7.5/10
Summer Stock-1950: 4/10
Days of Thunder-1990: 7/10
The Guardian-1990: 6/10
“The Deathmaker” 10/10. Astounding acting by Gotz George as serial killer Fritz Haarman. The film basically stays in one room for a two-hour interview done by a psychiatrist to evaluate Haarman’s mental state.
One of the most spellbinding films I have seen in ages; quite exhausting too.
Grace 6/10
As far a little film and little budgets go, this was pretty nice.
The Incredible Hulk: 7.0
Satantango: 1000000000000000000000000000000
Wise Blood. Jury still out, need to resee it.
Red Cliff (original uncut release) – 6/10
The Loved One-1965: 4/10
Cold Around the Heart-1997: 6/10
Outside Providence-1999: 8/10
Paper Heart – 3/4. Cute, sweet, small film. Enjoyable.
Yojimbo (Japan/ Kurosawa)- 8/10
The Ascent (India/ Gopalakrishnan)- 6/10
The Name of the Rose (It-Fr-Ger/ Annaud)- 7/10
Slumdog Crorepati- 6/10
Forgetting Sarah Marshall 6.5/10
Our Hospitality - 8.5/10
District 9 – 8/10 – Cool sci-fi flick, fun to watch in the least
The Warriors – 8.5/10 – Very colourful and entertaining film
Milk – 9/10 – My favourite film out of 2008
David O'Connell
VAMPYRER 2/5 (A tame recent Swedish drama set over the course of a night. Purportedly horror but really about sisterly angst)
STIR 4.5/5 (An Australian prison classic with Bryan Brown. Gritty and tough as nails)