films we just saw
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- Undead Horde
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What can I say about Inglourious Basterds? – probably too much, and I no doubt will over the coming week. A joy, a thrill, a gas, a triumph – it was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. Even having read the screenplay last year (from where the hand-scrawled tile card comes from on the film itself), I was still completely enthralled and utterly gripped at how it all came to life in way that’s impossible to imagine on the page.
Working with some of the best in the business (Robert Richardson can do very little wrong as perhaps the finest DoP working today and Sally Menke’s editing is a sharp as a cut throat razor and just as devastating) it’s, at the very least, one of the most strikingly made pictures of the year. Even if you don’t like the contents, the framing, music choices, production design are simply sublime. Far from being a film for film’s sake, it was a film about the power of pure cinema, of images, of aesthetic indulgence. It was a joyous celebration of the ability for a simple giant projected head to give its audience the passion for fascist uprising or to allow a simple farm girl her longed-for revenge. That simple idea fuels this picture and the result is magnetic, the kind of audacious, unique and constantly surprising Western cinema we all too often lament is absent from our screens these days.
Sadly (but necessarily) sold as a rambunctious action yarn, it’s a tricksy, philosophical art-film masquerading as a brutal whip-smart exploitation romp securing Tarantino’s reputation as the last great auteur (a studio gave him money to play this giddy, indulgent, elegiac dance out to it’s fullest potential – something which still amazes me as much as it does please me). I could have watched another hour of these exploits quite happily and willingly it’s slight faults (Eli Roth’s part, while he looked good, would have been far better served by either of the Wahlbergs) and all.
While I thought it would be good, it’s still the most wonderful surprise of the year. If these ramblings make me a raging fan boy, then so be it.
Working with some of the best in the business (Robert Richardson can do very little wrong as perhaps the finest DoP working today and Sally Menke’s editing is a sharp as a cut throat razor and just as devastating) it’s, at the very least, one of the most strikingly made pictures of the year. Even if you don’t like the contents, the framing, music choices, production design are simply sublime. Far from being a film for film’s sake, it was a film about the power of pure cinema, of images, of aesthetic indulgence. It was a joyous celebration of the ability for a simple giant projected head to give its audience the passion for fascist uprising or to allow a simple farm girl her longed-for revenge. That simple idea fuels this picture and the result is magnetic, the kind of audacious, unique and constantly surprising Western cinema we all too often lament is absent from our screens these days.
Sadly (but necessarily) sold as a rambunctious action yarn, it’s a tricksy, philosophical art-film masquerading as a brutal whip-smart exploitation romp securing Tarantino’s reputation as the last great auteur (a studio gave him money to play this giddy, indulgent, elegiac dance out to it’s fullest potential – something which still amazes me as much as it does please me). I could have watched another hour of these exploits quite happily and willingly it’s slight faults (Eli Roth’s part, while he looked good, would have been far better served by either of the Wahlbergs) and all.
While I thought it would be good, it’s still the most wonderful surprise of the year. If these ramblings make me a raging fan boy, then so be it.
[i]"Would you like to take a closer look ?"[/i]
A bit of a catch-up:
Orphan: Liked this one far more than I thought I would, despite guessing the twist. One of the better movies released this year.
A Perfect Getaway: Another I enjoyed more than I thought, again despite guessing the plot twist (this time before even watching the film!).
Inglourious Basterds: I'd probably rank this somewhere in the middle of QT's output. Better than some of his recent efforts, but not as good as Dogs or Pulp.
Orphan: Liked this one far more than I thought I would, despite guessing the twist. One of the better movies released this year.
A Perfect Getaway: Another I enjoyed more than I thought, again despite guessing the plot twist (this time before even watching the film!).
Inglourious Basterds: I'd probably rank this somewhere in the middle of QT's output. Better than some of his recent efforts, but not as good as Dogs or Pulp.
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
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- Undead Horde
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Last week:
Mr Vampire - Good hopping vampire and ghost fun.
A Chinese ghost story - That fight against the wood demons giant tongue was amazing!
A Chinese ghost story 2 - a bit too dark a lot of the time, but all in all very enteraining.
Infernal affairs - Great!
Infernal affairs 2 - good
Infernal affairs 3 - too confusing, may have been the gin or tiredness but I found it quite difficult to keep track of what was going on with all the timeleaps and stuff.
Noroi - Japanese ghost stuff shot like a documentary. Quite a bit of hand cam but it didn't get annoying. It was very slow paced as well but the last 20 minutes creeped me out bigtime. Only the 2nd movie I've seen this year that actually creeped me out, the other one being Pontypool.
The Hangover - funny but not amazing.
The mini-moni movie - what the fuck was that all about haha.
Mr Vampire - Good hopping vampire and ghost fun.
A Chinese ghost story - That fight against the wood demons giant tongue was amazing!
A Chinese ghost story 2 - a bit too dark a lot of the time, but all in all very enteraining.
Infernal affairs - Great!
Infernal affairs 2 - good
Infernal affairs 3 - too confusing, may have been the gin or tiredness but I found it quite difficult to keep track of what was going on with all the timeleaps and stuff.
Noroi - Japanese ghost stuff shot like a documentary. Quite a bit of hand cam but it didn't get annoying. It was very slow paced as well but the last 20 minutes creeped me out bigtime. Only the 2nd movie I've seen this year that actually creeped me out, the other one being Pontypool.
The Hangover - funny but not amazing.
The mini-moni movie - what the fuck was that all about haha.
You can't do nothing right, Cooper! You stupid sonofabitch! You should have been destroyed at birth! That's what I get for teaming up with a hippie!
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- Frightfest Hardcore
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Really, really, really enjoyed Inglourious Basterds - much better than Death Proof and less all over the place than Kill Bill Vol 2. There are a few faults: some of the music choices don't entirely work either through style (they're originally from spaghetti wetsern scores and that's exactly what they sound like) or highly anachronistic (a David Bowie number), and there's a point in the film at which it diverts massively from known history. You can't do that. You can't make a film about the Titanic NOT hitting an iceberg and you can't make a film in which famous person ******** ******** DIES in 1944 when, historically, he didn't.
But there's a lot of tension in the movie, much of it generated from subtitled conversations loaded with hidden significances. It's very well shot, there are some movie-buff injokes (Antonio Margheriti, of all people, gets a name check), and it manages to rack up the suspense even when, as far as we know our history, the outcome is not in much doubt (see Valkyrie, or The Day Of The Jackal. On the other hand, Brad Pitt looks incredibly uncomfortable in a Giorgio Armani tuxedo, and Winston Churchill gets three lines of dialogue in the background of a wildly misjudged Mike Myers cameo. On balance, it's still great fun.
But there's a lot of tension in the movie, much of it generated from subtitled conversations loaded with hidden significances. It's very well shot, there are some movie-buff injokes (Antonio Margheriti, of all people, gets a name check), and it manages to rack up the suspense even when, as far as we know our history, the outcome is not in much doubt (see Valkyrie, or The Day Of The Jackal. On the other hand, Brad Pitt looks incredibly uncomfortable in a Giorgio Armani tuxedo, and Winston Churchill gets three lines of dialogue in the background of a wildly misjudged Mike Myers cameo. On balance, it's still great fun.
http://streetrw.blogspot.com - For all your occasional film rambling needs.
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But isn't Basterds a movie buff fantasy taking place in a universe where a remake of They Saved Hitler's Brain is probably going to be the sequel?streetrw wrote:...and there's a point in the film at which it diverts massively from known history. You can't do that. You can't make a film about the Titanic NOT hitting an iceberg and you can't make a film in which famous person ******** ******** DIES in 1944 when, historically, he didn't.
In the interests of full disclosure I haven't seen Basterds yet, I will but have to get past FF a Greek holiday, and I thought I needed some distance from The Hurt Locker
There is no delight the equal of dread
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That's exactly what you CAN do if you're making a fantasy revenge movie and happen to love the Spaghetti western genre. Exploitation movies don't usually struggle for historical accuracy! Unfair to call these faults, "imo"!streetrw wrote: There are a few faults: some of the music choices don't entirely work either through style (they're originally from spaghetti wetsern scores and that's exactly what they sound like) or highly anachronistic (a David Bowie number), and there's a point in the film at which it diverts massively from known history. You can't do that. You can't make a film about the Titanic NOT hitting an iceberg and you can't make a film in which famous person ******** ******** DIES in 1944 when, historically, he didn't.
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Then give them lightsabres! The thing is, up until that point there was never any hint within the film that this was a revisionist history, there was nothing within the film to suggest Tarantino was fiddling with history in anything more than surface detail any more than Where Eagles Dare. You can make a war movie playing it straight with generally correct historical detail although technically that model of motorcycle didn't come out until 1947, but you can't make a war movie playing it straight with generally correct historical detail and then have the last reel set against a tank battle in Kidderminster.Meanbobs wrote:That's exactly what you CAN do if you're making a fantasy revenge movie and happen to love the Spaghetti western genre. Exploitation movies don't usually struggle for historical accuracy! Unfair to call these faults, "imo"!streetrw wrote: There are a few faults: some of the music choices don't entirely work either through style (they're originally from spaghetti wetsern scores and that's exactly what they sound like) or highly anachronistic (a David Bowie number), and there's a point in the film at which it diverts massively from known history. You can't do that. You can't make a film about the Titanic NOT hitting an iceberg and you can't make a film in which famous person ******** ******** DIES in 1944 when, historically, he didn't.
And I think Inglourious does generally play it dramatically (if not cinematically) straight within historical parameters. Something like Watchmen makes it very clear from the outset that you're watching an alternate timeline, and Inglourious just doesn't bother to do that within the film. Whatever he's said in interviews - fine, but I'm talking about what's actually on screen.
And I'd love to see a Tarantino spaghetti western. If he loves them so much, (and it's obvious he loves the Morricone and Nicolai scores), why doesn't he just go and do one?
(I'm now officially offline until after the Fest. Massive sighs all round....)
http://streetrw.blogspot.com - For all your occasional film rambling needs.
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a few films i caught up with lately.
Surveillance really enjoyed this twisted movie from jennifer lynch.
Beautiful Boxer is fantastic,awesome martial arts and a superb story.
Pontypool a film that deserves more than one viewing and superbly acted by all.And feels along similar lines to the signal and stephen kings cell.
Dead Snow loads of fun with this zombie comedy,paying its homages to other great movies of this genre,superb zombies in nazi uniforms.
FarCry,The bollemeister is back and another low budget game adaptation from him. i am a massive fan of the farcry games farcry and farcry evolution are superb,so whats wrong with uwe bolls farcry? a lot.
its not set in the pacific,there is no descent into the heart of darkness as jack carver goes deeper into the jungle to find out whats going on.
This could have been a superb game to film adaptation ruined by its lack of budget and scope to dare to do anything other than follow a worn and tired route of storytelling.
the original music could have been used in the film & there are some touches from the game,but its basically grab the licence make the film and ruin it for anybody else who might want to adapt it.
Surveillance really enjoyed this twisted movie from jennifer lynch.
Beautiful Boxer is fantastic,awesome martial arts and a superb story.
Pontypool a film that deserves more than one viewing and superbly acted by all.And feels along similar lines to the signal and stephen kings cell.
Dead Snow loads of fun with this zombie comedy,paying its homages to other great movies of this genre,superb zombies in nazi uniforms.
FarCry,The bollemeister is back and another low budget game adaptation from him. i am a massive fan of the farcry games farcry and farcry evolution are superb,so whats wrong with uwe bolls farcry? a lot.
its not set in the pacific,there is no descent into the heart of darkness as jack carver goes deeper into the jungle to find out whats going on.
This could have been a superb game to film adaptation ruined by its lack of budget and scope to dare to do anything other than follow a worn and tired route of storytelling.
the original music could have been used in the film & there are some touches from the game,but its basically grab the licence make the film and ruin it for anybody else who might want to adapt it.
"Time To Nut Up Or Shut Up"
- sherbetbizarre
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Another big thumbs up for district 9,really enjoyed this movie,for me the semi documentary look was ok,but soon abandoned and went into more straightforward story telling.sherbetbizarre wrote:District 9 - is very good, but the "hero" is such a dickhead I couldn't have cared less about him in the final third...
it did take a while for the action to get going but when it did,it rocked!
the main character was such a fallguy a penpushing beaurocrat that it was hard to like him,but when his character turned around,i felt we really side with him and the prawn aliens.
Every one should have a mecha suit,it should be law.
it does have a few plot holes but as a sci-fi movie its a solid piece of work
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Credo: an unspeakably mediocre British horror cheapie in which a bunch of students raise a demon and kill themselves; six years later another bunch of students hole up in the same building and the demon is still there. Most of the time it's just boring, and the group's leader is such a despicable lout his death is frankly a relief. Myanna Buring's in it, but it's not any good at all.
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Another thumbs up for District 9. Like the documentary style of the film. Also like the fact it had a cast of unknowns. The film did remind me a bit of Alien Nation/The Fly. Very entertaining. Some great head exploding moments.
Then went to see Final Destination 4 in 3D. Did enjoy the film until roughly the last 20 mins or so the house lights came up. Stayed up. Even after speaking to someone about it. That aside. Found this installment far more enjoyable then the 3rd installment. Some good use with the 3D especially at the start of the film.
Then went to see Final Destination 4 in 3D. Did enjoy the film until roughly the last 20 mins or so the house lights came up. Stayed up. Even after speaking to someone about it. That aside. Found this installment far more enjoyable then the 3rd installment. Some good use with the 3D especially at the start of the film.
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- Running Zombie
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I also saw District 9 this weekend. Loved the first part of it, wasn't feeling the last third quite so much, but still really enjoyed. Seems like the first major release I've seen in a while where the trailer didn't give away every damn thing that happens in the movie, which is a major bonus.
"The suspect is armed with a machete in one hand, and his genitals in the other."