….and how it really intimidated John (Peter Gallagher), especially when it came to the point where John’s wife (Andie MacDowell) being videotaped by Graham. And she enjoyed it. Kinda puts a spin on the storytelling and how sometimes people can get turned on to other ways of getting their visceral kicks. This, in my opinion, is a movie that won’t be dated because of the degree that technology figures into its story, but because of how it keeps its constant focus on the people it’s showing.
I guess I feel like a real snob for mainly going for Criterion Collection releases for the past year and a half. But I feel I have genuinely gotten more enjoyment out of watching films like Haxan, Pandora’s Box, The Rules of the Game, Ugetsu, and Sansho The Bailiff than I have other newer movies I’ve seen. I really enjoyed Watchmen, Coraline, I Love You, Man, and Star Trek, and maybe we’ll see some latent things in movies like those 20 years on.
Just as a little parameter, I’d consider movies from 1980 to now to be the “contemporary” movies we’re talking about, like Scarface, Natural Born Killers, The Lives of Others or Gremlins, as opposed to the “older” movies like The Deer Hunter, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Deliverance, all the way back to L’Age d’Or, The Last Laugh, Spellbound, The Battle of Algiers, et al. Agreed?
I absolutely have to plug Ugetsu’s ending right here. I could pretty much see the very end coming, because of the “ghostly” developments that occurred during the last 20 minutes of the movie. Heck, the last 15-20 minutes is where I’d count Ugetsu’s ending as beginning. I haven’t seen or felt anything like it while watching a movie, ever. The little kid at the end absolutely, ABSOLUTELY had me bawling…..and kinda makes me wanna cry even thinking about it right now.
Ugetsu, what a movie, what an ending!
And I’d throw in Sansho The Bailiff’s ending in there as well, although it didn’t have the impact on me the second time I watched it as it did the first time.
I genuinely enjoyed Speed Racer. Its story didn’t have to be absolutely great to make you want to see what kind of crazy roller-coaster light-show mash-up you were in store for next. And the ending of the last race, to me, played out like an extended “money shot,” if y’all get my drift.
So many pretty colors!
And seizured-up Michael: That was the POINT of the movie!
I’m reading the question he’s asking as, how can we like Criterion (and Kino Video) so much if they some how are “supporting” and releasing movies that were financially (and in Riefenstahl’s case vehemently backed politically) under fascist or communist regimes.
I think the question is fairly asked in Riefenstahl’s case. But I’m responding because of the broad stroke I think the question paints on Eisenstein’s, and could be painted on other directors today as well. Who’s to say you shouldn’t say the same thing about movies released from Communist China today, specifically with someone like Zhang Yimou who worked so closely with the government on the Olympic festivities last year?
And what about Spanish movies like Bienvenido Mr. Marshall, about the Marshall Plan in Spain, or The Spirit of The Beehive, both released during Franco’s reign?
Even though this site offers around six movies for free each month….it’s still free movies!
I watched Black Orpheus last Saturday and really enjoyed it. I doubt I’ll get to watch any more of the Cannes winners, but I look forward to what’s going to be available next month.
I’m really digging The Auteurs so far. My Timeout Film Guide (2005, 13th Edition) is my main cinema reference, and this site is a nice supplement with the discussions, and reading and sharing reviews of the movies. I never got involved in the discussion boards on IMDB or /film or wherever else, but I am definitely going to continue to do so here!
Woo hoo. I was a latecomer to Criterion’s awesome collection of DVDs, but I got my initiation started with a bang. And no one else has mentioned it yet!
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box” was the first Criterion DVD I purchased or watched, back in October 2006 off Amazon.com. I was mesmerized by Louise Brooks, mesmerized by the quality of the picture of an at-the-time 77-year-old movie, and exhilarated by the film’s story, its telling and its outcome.
The second Criterion DVD I watched or bought was a $12 used copy of “The Rules of The Game” I bought in a pawnshop. After I watched that wonderful movie a second time and dove into its features, I was enthralled by what else I could gather from the Collection.
- Every malevolent personality in “Sansho The Bailiff.”
- Henry Fonda’s character in “Once Upon A Time In The West.” HE SHOOTS A KID FOR CHRISSAKES!
- HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
- Of course, Darth Vader in “The Star Wars Trilogy.”
- That chick who goes berserko in “Audition.” That ending…..yeesh, yeesh, YEESH!
- Ted Knight in “Caddyshack.” I don’t care if I get rotten eggs thrown at me for plugging that movie, but Knight, Bill Murray and FRICKIN’ RODNEY DANGERFIELD were awesome in it.
- Peter Sellers in real life. What a prick! I doubt I could ever enjoy most of his movies again after reading his biography “Mr. Strangelove.”
- And let’s throw “Destroyer of Dreams” Michael Bay in there as well.
Bunch of awesome picks in here, guys and gals. Nice call on Bill Murray as “Big Ern” in Kingpin.
I like this thread, but honest to goodness, I can’t think of anyone who I would really consider any director who made movies I genuinely like from being overrated.
However, I will say that I don’t “get” jump-cut happy Tony Scott. “Domino” was OK, “Deja Vu” nothing special, and there’s nothing else he’s making that I would be compelled to watch. Him and Michael Bay (as a of late) have the same damn issues.
So, I guess I could list the movies that prevent me from saying a particular director is overrated.
Steven Spielberg – “Schindler’s List,” “Jaws” and “Munich” by themselves exempt Steven Spielberg from ever being overrated in my eyes. “Schindler’s” and “Munich” are absolutely top-flight, devastating entertainment and required viewing.
Quentin Tarantino – I like “Jackie Brown” and “Kill Bill Vol. 1” so dag on much. I thought “Kill Bill Vol. 2” was better than the first one, but now I realize that “Vol. 1” is an action masterpiece while “Vol. 2” relies a little too much on trite philosphizing for its emotional heft.
Clint Eastwood – “Unforgiven” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” are too good for me to consider this man overrated. Ever. And I thought “Flags of Our Fathers” was excellent too.
Stanley Kubrick – Overrated? Psssssshhhhhhhhhttttttt. Please.
Steven Dante: “The Lord of the Rings trilogy. … The last thing we need is another king…”
Ha ha.
I “got” it, but I wasn’t very much impressed with “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” I guess it has some storytelling value because of how vehemently I reacted against its twist. It was worth sitting through and had some good moments, but it stirred nothing inside me.
I’ll also say that “Pulp Fiction” is mostly overrated as entertainment. Sam Jackson as Jules saved it for me the last time I watched it, because I really, honest-to-goodness didn’t give a half-cent about anybody or anything else in the movie. Well, except for whether or not Jules was gonna blow the couple’s heads off at the end.
“Jackie Brown” and the “Kill Bill” movies, even “Death Proof,” held more enjoyment for me in the storytelling and character departments than “Pulp” did. It’s very, very easy for me to appreciate “Pulp” and how it handles itself … but I just sigh when I think about having any endearing feelings for it, outside of admiration for its virtuosity. Outside of Sam Jackson, “Pulp” to me nowadays just feels like an exercise, an experiment.
Also, let’s keep Oscar considerations out of whether or not a movie’s overrated.
If y’all should know anything by being on this site, it’s that the Academy Awards, fortunately, aren’t the be-all-end-all bellwether of filmmaking quality. So let’s not quibble over how “The Shawshank Redemption” should’ve gotten the 1994 Oscar for best picture, or whatever.
This thread’s about you and your feelings over a movie’s supposed worth, and your counter-feelings to the prevailing opinion over said movie.
I’m gonna throw “Brokeback Mountain” into this discussion. Being a married straight white male, I thought the movie was absolutely heartbreaking, but fantastic entertainment just the same. And just like David said about trashy gay cinema not being trash because it’s gay. “Brokeback Mountain” was a great film on its own merit, not because it was about a gay subject.
And, anybody else notice how all these states have started legalizing gay marriage since, like, 2006, a year after “Brokeback” was released in theaters? Coincidence?
The Thin Red Line was alright, but how much more coherent could the experience have been with another two hours tacked on? If that trick could possibly be pulled off, I’d be interested in seeing it. But somehow I doubt that’d be the case. Loved “The New World” all the same, though.
I’ll point to “Jaws” as a solid reason for Spielberg to not be considered an overrated director. That movie made him “important” 18 years before he made “Schindler’s List.”
And how could Marty Scorsese on the whole be considered overrated? If you had to base his career off just “Mean Streets,” I could see a point. You could take a swipe at him for “The Aviator” too, simply because its best scenes came during Hughes’s Senate hearings. And personally, I think “Goodfellas” is a solid movie, but I don’t quite understand how it attained its exalted status.
For me though, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “After Hours,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “The Departed” exempt Scorsese from any overrated director label.
Not even Michael Caine’s presence made me enjoy “Children of Men” as much as I felt I was going to. I bought into the hype, and I got bit by it.
Sure, the action scenes were fine. But the movie really had just a plot outline for a story, as opposed to an actual plot, which really diminished the appeal and the possible impact of the “future without a future” storyline.Because of this lack of plot, and an especially sharp lack of characterization, I had close to zero emotional investment in any of the characters, even as they were herded around ominously by “tha authorities.” Oooooooo, ominous…..(oooommmmmmm).
AND, as for that car chase scene, unlike some of the other action scenes, I felt that one was very much staged, with the driver even looking right into the camera at least once. Poor use of Julianne Moore as well. She’s there for like, three lines, and then poof her character is gone.
It seemed “Children of Men” aspired to be like “The Battle of Algiers” in some sense for the 2000s, but I just felt incredibly underwhelmed and under served by it. And that’s not even really comparing it film-to-film with Pontecorvo’s, or any other action classic. “Children of Men” was just plain flat, like three-months-old ginger ale.
Interesting, how Graham (James Spader) kept his distance..... over 2 years ago
….and how it really intimidated John (Peter Gallagher), especially when it came to the point where John’s wife (Andie MacDowell) being videotaped by Graham. And she enjoyed it. Kinda puts a spin on the storytelling and how sometimes people can get turned on to other ways of getting their visceral kicks. This, in my opinion, is a movie that won’t be dated because of the degree that technology figures into its story, but because of how it keeps its constant focus on the people it’s showing.
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Is this edition worth buying? over 2 years ago
I’ll sell you mine if you want it. The disc has scratches, and it comes in a Blockbuster case without the liner notes, though.
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on those mass protest/revolt scenes over 2 years ago
Wow. As long as I live in North Carolina, I guess I’ll have no chance of seeing The Battle of Algiers in a theater. Good thing I got my Criterion.
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Do you prefer what is current? Can you fully appreciate older films? over 2 years ago
I guess I feel like a real snob for mainly going for Criterion Collection releases for the past year and a half. But I feel I have genuinely gotten more enjoyment out of watching films like Haxan, Pandora’s Box, The Rules of the Game, Ugetsu, and Sansho The Bailiff than I have other newer movies I’ve seen. I really enjoyed Watchmen, Coraline, I Love You, Man, and Star Trek, and maybe we’ll see some latent things in movies like those 20 years on.
Just as a little parameter, I’d consider movies from 1980 to now to be the “contemporary” movies we’re talking about, like Scarface, Natural Born Killers, The Lives of Others or Gremlins, as opposed to the “older” movies like The Deer Hunter, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Deliverance, all the way back to L’Age d’Or, The Last Laugh, Spellbound, The Battle of Algiers, et al. Agreed?
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Andrei Rublev Criterion Re-Issue? over 2 years ago
There needs to be a quality Region 1 DVD/Blu-ray release of Chimes at Midnight before any re-issue of Andrei Rublev.
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recommend me a film! over 2 years ago
No one has recommended that you watch Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu. Bypass every other suggestion and watch Ugetsu. Right now.
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Do you prefer what is current? Can you fully appreciate older films? over 2 years ago
Yes, a great movie is a great movie, whether it was released yesterday or 1920.
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Movies that you cry at every time... over 2 years ago
Sansho The Bailiff, Ugetsu and The Iron Giant.
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First Photos: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland over 2 years ago
“I will have VENGEANCE…..” Oh wait, wrong movie. Anne Hathaway as Alice = Yum. I can’t wait to see how Helena Bonham Carter acts up as the queen. =D
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The Killing: Greatest Ending Ever? over 2 years ago
I absolutely have to plug Ugetsu’s ending right here. I could pretty much see the very end coming, because of the “ghostly” developments that occurred during the last 20 minutes of the movie. Heck, the last 15-20 minutes is where I’d count Ugetsu’s ending as beginning. I haven’t seen or felt anything like it while watching a movie, ever. The little kid at the end absolutely, ABSOLUTELY had me bawling…..and kinda makes me wanna cry even thinking about it right now.
Ugetsu, what a movie, what an ending!
And I’d throw in Sansho The Bailiff’s ending in there as well, although it didn’t have the impact on me the second time I watched it as it did the first time.
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Speed Racer over 2 years ago
I genuinely enjoyed Speed Racer. Its story didn’t have to be absolutely great to make you want to see what kind of crazy roller-coaster light-show mash-up you were in store for next. And the ending of the last race, to me, played out like an extended “money shot,” if y’all get my drift.
So many pretty colors!
And seizured-up Michael: That was the POINT of the movie!
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Troubled by Fascist & Communist Influences on Cinema? over 2 years ago
I’m reading the question he’s asking as, how can we like Criterion (and Kino Video) so much if they some how are “supporting” and releasing movies that were financially (and in Riefenstahl’s case vehemently backed politically) under fascist or communist regimes.
I think the question is fairly asked in Riefenstahl’s case. But I’m responding because of the broad stroke I think the question paints on Eisenstein’s, and could be painted on other directors today as well. Who’s to say you shouldn’t say the same thing about movies released from Communist China today, specifically with someone like Zhang Yimou who worked so closely with the government on the Olympic festivities last year?
And what about Spanish movies like Bienvenido Mr. Marshall, about the Marshall Plan in Spain, or The Spirit of The Beehive, both released during Franco’s reign?
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First Photos: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland over 2 years ago
Josh, yeah, I read that about Anne Hathaway’s character being The White Queen. Silly me. Yum all the same.
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If you could see any film again for the first time what would it be? over 2 years ago
A Clockwork Orange
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YOUR EXPERIENCES ON THE AUTEURS SINCE YOU JOINED over 2 years ago
Even though this site offers around six movies for free each month….it’s still free movies!
I watched Black Orpheus last Saturday and really enjoyed it. I doubt I’ll get to watch any more of the Cannes winners, but I look forward to what’s going to be available next month.
I’m really digging The Auteurs so far. My Timeout Film Guide (2005, 13th Edition) is my main cinema reference, and this site is a nice supplement with the discussions, and reading and sharing reviews of the movies. I never got involved in the discussion boards on IMDB or /film or wherever else, but I am definitely going to continue to do so here!
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What was the first Criterion movie you watched? over 2 years ago
Woo hoo. I was a latecomer to Criterion’s awesome collection of DVDs, but I got my initiation started with a bang. And no one else has mentioned it yet!
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box” was the first Criterion DVD I purchased or watched, back in October 2006 off Amazon.com. I was mesmerized by Louise Brooks, mesmerized by the quality of the picture of an at-the-time 77-year-old movie, and exhilarated by the film’s story, its telling and its outcome.
The second Criterion DVD I watched or bought was a $12 used copy of “The Rules of The Game” I bought in a pawnshop. After I watched that wonderful movie a second time and dove into its features, I was enthralled by what else I could gather from the Collection.
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Greatest movie villain. over 2 years ago
In no particular order:
- Every malevolent personality in “Sansho The Bailiff.”
- Henry Fonda’s character in “Once Upon A Time In The West.” HE SHOOTS A KID FOR CHRISSAKES!
- HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
- Of course, Darth Vader in “The Star Wars Trilogy.”
- That chick who goes berserko in “Audition.” That ending…..yeesh, yeesh, YEESH!
- Ted Knight in “Caddyshack.” I don’t care if I get rotten eggs thrown at me for plugging that movie, but Knight, Bill Murray and FRICKIN’ RODNEY DANGERFIELD were awesome in it.
- Peter Sellers in real life. What a prick! I doubt I could ever enjoy most of his movies again after reading his biography “Mr. Strangelove.”
- And let’s throw “Destroyer of Dreams” Michael Bay in there as well.
Bunch of awesome picks in here, guys and gals. Nice call on Bill Murray as “Big Ern” in Kingpin.
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Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 2 years ago
I like this thread, but honest to goodness, I can’t think of anyone who I would really consider any director who made movies I genuinely like from being overrated.
However, I will say that I don’t “get” jump-cut happy Tony Scott. “Domino” was OK, “Deja Vu” nothing special, and there’s nothing else he’s making that I would be compelled to watch. Him and Michael Bay (as a of late) have the same damn issues.
So, I guess I could list the movies that prevent me from saying a particular director is overrated.
Steven Spielberg – “Schindler’s List,” “Jaws” and “Munich” by themselves exempt Steven Spielberg from ever being overrated in my eyes. “Schindler’s” and “Munich” are absolutely top-flight, devastating entertainment and required viewing.
Quentin Tarantino – I like “Jackie Brown” and “Kill Bill Vol. 1” so dag on much. I thought “Kill Bill Vol. 2” was better than the first one, but now I realize that “Vol. 1” is an action masterpiece while “Vol. 2” relies a little too much on trite philosphizing for its emotional heft.
Clint Eastwood – “Unforgiven” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” are too good for me to consider this man overrated. Ever. And I thought “Flags of Our Fathers” was excellent too.
Stanley Kubrick – Overrated? Psssssshhhhhhhhhttttttt. Please.
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Underrated Films... over 2 years ago
Bill Paxton’s “Frailty”
Alfred Hitchcock’s “Blackmail”
Brad Bird’s “The Iron Giant”
Woody Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo”
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What films have you walked out on and why ? over 2 years ago
Not even Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” made me walk out on a movie. Yet.
The trick is not even showing up inside the cinema in the first place.
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Overrated Movies over 2 years ago
Steven Dante: “The Lord of the Rings trilogy. … The last thing we need is another king…”
Ha ha.
I “got” it, but I wasn’t very much impressed with “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” I guess it has some storytelling value because of how vehemently I reacted against its twist. It was worth sitting through and had some good moments, but it stirred nothing inside me.
I’ll also say that “Pulp Fiction” is mostly overrated as entertainment. Sam Jackson as Jules saved it for me the last time I watched it, because I really, honest-to-goodness didn’t give a half-cent about anybody or anything else in the movie. Well, except for whether or not Jules was gonna blow the couple’s heads off at the end.
“Jackie Brown” and the “Kill Bill” movies, even “Death Proof,” held more enjoyment for me in the storytelling and character departments than “Pulp” did. It’s very, very easy for me to appreciate “Pulp” and how it handles itself … but I just sigh when I think about having any endearing feelings for it, outside of admiration for its virtuosity. Outside of Sam Jackson, “Pulp” to me nowadays just feels like an exercise, an experiment.
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Overrated Movies over 2 years ago
Also, let’s keep Oscar considerations out of whether or not a movie’s overrated.
If y’all should know anything by being on this site, it’s that the Academy Awards, fortunately, aren’t the be-all-end-all bellwether of filmmaking quality. So let’s not quibble over how “The Shawshank Redemption” should’ve gotten the 1994 Oscar for best picture, or whatever.
This thread’s about you and your feelings over a movie’s supposed worth, and your counter-feelings to the prevailing opinion over said movie.
Go to Comment
FILM AND POLITICS over 2 years ago
I’m gonna throw “Brokeback Mountain” into this discussion. Being a married straight white male, I thought the movie was absolutely heartbreaking, but fantastic entertainment just the same. And just like David said about trashy gay cinema not being trash because it’s gay. “Brokeback Mountain” was a great film on its own merit, not because it was about a gay subject.
And, anybody else notice how all these states have started legalizing gay marriage since, like, 2006, a year after “Brokeback” was released in theaters? Coincidence?
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Thin Red Line- The Original Cut- RELEASE IT CRITERION?!!! over 2 years ago
The Thin Red Line was alright, but how much more coherent could the experience have been with another two hours tacked on? If that trick could possibly be pulled off, I’d be interested in seeing it. But somehow I doubt that’d be the case. Loved “The New World” all the same, though.
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Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 2 years ago
@ LARRYTALBOT
I’ll point to “Jaws” as a solid reason for Spielberg to not be considered an overrated director. That movie made him “important” 18 years before he made “Schindler’s List.”
And how could Marty Scorsese on the whole be considered overrated? If you had to base his career off just “Mean Streets,” I could see a point. You could take a swipe at him for “The Aviator” too, simply because its best scenes came during Hughes’s Senate hearings. And personally, I think “Goodfellas” is a solid movie, but I don’t quite understand how it attained its exalted status.
For me though, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “After Hours,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “The Departed” exempt Scorsese from any overrated director label.
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America in the 70's via Criterion over 2 years ago
Alexander, you still didn’t come up with a title.
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What films have you walked out on and why ? over 2 years ago
@ Evan Calderara.
I loved The Fountain too!
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Children of Men: A Great Film or thee Greatest Film over 2 years ago
Not even Michael Caine’s presence made me enjoy “Children of Men” as much as I felt I was going to. I bought into the hype, and I got bit by it.
Sure, the action scenes were fine. But the movie really had just a plot outline for a story, as opposed to an actual plot, which really diminished the appeal and the possible impact of the “future without a future” storyline.Because of this lack of plot, and an especially sharp lack of characterization, I had close to zero emotional investment in any of the characters, even as they were herded around ominously by “tha authorities.” Oooooooo, ominous…..(oooommmmmmm).
AND, as for that car chase scene, unlike some of the other action scenes, I felt that one was very much staged, with the driver even looking right into the camera at least once. Poor use of Julianne Moore as well. She’s there for like, three lines, and then poof her character is gone.
It seemed “Children of Men” aspired to be like “The Battle of Algiers” in some sense for the 2000s, but I just felt incredibly underwhelmed and under served by it. And that’s not even really comparing it film-to-film with Pontecorvo’s, or any other action classic. “Children of Men” was just plain flat, like three-months-old ginger ale.
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Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 2 years ago
@ GREGORIO SCHEPEPLER OSSANDON
HITCHCOCK?!
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Heads up!!!! 50% off Criterions over 2 years ago
I plan on getting these three during this sale:
The Threepenny Opera
The Earring of Madam De…
Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women
If I had the ability to spend more now, I’d get like…….10 others. Maybe next year.
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