Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[Lichen]

Perhaps he's been taking lessons from Al Gore. I believe they were room mates at College.

 

[Lichen]

Peter O'Toole as Ronald Ego (geddit?), or whatever the restaurant critic was called, was especially great.

Anton Ego.

Yeah he was excellent. All musty burgundy and classical sauces.


What I particularly enjoyed was that it did the "appeal to adults and children" thing by being good, not by chucking in some celebrity gags or double entendres for the grown ups.

Did they show the alien abduction short where you saw it?

 

[tom pr]

have to agree with everyone about no country for old men... absolutely stunning to look at & gripping...

I thought it was incredible until the last twenty minutes/half an hour: the sheer suspense in scenes like the one at the second motel was something else. But that last period disappointed me.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Anton Ego.

Yeah he was excellent. All musty burgundy and classical sauces.


What I particularly enjoyed was that it did the "appeal to adults and children" thing by being good, not by chucking in some celebrity gags or double entendres for the grown ups.

Very true. Though having a restaurant critic called Ego *must* be a reference to Egon Ronay, don't you think? OK, so one celebrity gag. Unless I'm imagining the whole thing...

Did they show the alien abduction short where you saw it?

Yes, they did. I quite like this pre-feature-short revival, I've seen a couple of them before Pixar films in the last few years.

 

[Betamaxnomates]

Recently really enjoyed 'Eagle Vs. Shark' though not sure if I'd 'unreservedly' recommend it. It has a lot of things that usually really annoy me in films - self-consciously 'quirky' characters, contrived awkwardness etc. but somehow it all worked for me. Helps if you're a fan of Flight Of The Conchords.

 

[jonny mugwump]

apologies if it's already been mentioned but just saw Van Sant's Paranoid Park the other day and this could be his best film to date. Erratic though he has been, since he settled on this minimal aesthetic (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days) he's just been incomparable as far as i'm concerned. PP expands on this, retaining amateur actors but pushes the dreaminess using lots of super 8 and a truly eclectic sound design/ soundtrack.

What strikes me is just how he manages to get inside of kids heads- unpatronising, unsentimental and totally un-larry clarke whose Kids must be the worst film of all time.

Anyway, it's not unlike Antonioni, the 'plot' kind of not being all that relevant and it's not even a character study as such as alot of feelings are left ambiguous- it just somehow manages to catch a momentary teenage state of existence that couldn't be less hollywood- ie, less dramatic despite the enormity of the situation.

sorry, bit of a rambling post...

 

[Mr. Tea]

unpatronising, unsentimental and totally un-larry clarke whose Kids must be the worst film of all time.

Too true, the characters are like a Daily Mail reader's idea of what teenagers are like - I got 20 or 30 minutes in and had to turn it off because they're just such obnoxious little shits, like really exaggerated versions of the most unpleasant kids I knew at school...

 

[crackerjack]

Too true, the characters are like a Daily Mail reader's idea of what teenagers are like - I got 20 or 30 minutes in and had to turn it off because they're just such obnoxious little shits, like really exaggerated versions of the most unpleasant kids I knew at school...

This maybe so*, but when it comes to the big screen I'll take the Daily Mail's hare'em scare'em anti-fantasy over Van Sant's numbed-out slackers.

Last Days could well be the most boring film I've ever sat through. Elephant left me blank too (though that's obv an improvement on the near-suicidal wave that swept over me every time I checked my watch in LD).

On the upside, watched 3:10 To Yuma last night - now that's a movie.

Edit: *not that i've ever seen Kids

 

[crackerjack]

I thought it was incredible until the last twenty minutes/half an hour: the sheer suspense in scenes like the one at the second motel was something else. But that last period disappointed me.

Without giving it away for those that haven't seen it, what didn't you like about the end? I really loved the way they refused to show scenes that would've been the grand finale in a more orthodox film. It became less and less about the initial theft/chase and more about the sheer remorseless evil of him.

 

[tom pr]

Without giving it away for those that haven't seen it, what didn't you like about the end? I really loved the way they refused to show scenes that would've been the grand finale in a more orthodox film. It became less and less about the initial theft/chase and more about the sheer remorseless evil of him.

Chigurh was the most harrowing character in the film and I felt at the time like I should embrace the Coens rejecting any sort of climax to the chase and him becoming the total focus, but everything after the hotel felt so jumpy that I couldn’t get into it; it was like an epilogue that went on for too long.

Having said that, the more I think about the film since last night the more I come around to it. It was exceptionally well acted (Bardem especially) and shot, and I want to see it again.

 

[mistersloane]

This maybe so*, but when it comes to the big screen I'll take the Daily Mail's hare'em scare'em anti-fantasy over Van Sant's numbed-out slackers.

Last Days could well be the most boring film I've ever sat through. Elephant left me blank too (though that's obv an improvement on the near-suicidal wave that swept over me every time I checked my watch in LD).

On the upside, watched 3:10 To Yuma last night - now that's a movie.

Edit: *not that i've ever seen Kids

Gerry is a great, great film but you may find it boring as well because, um, nothing happens in it. And I usually hate films like that (see Antonioni) but Gerry manages to do that and comment on itself as a film doing that very well. Harris Savides did the cinematography and he's really just as good as it gets.

 

[spooky girlfriend]

apologies if this has already been mentioned, and No Country For Old Men was great and all (finally the Coen Brothers are back on it) but despite coming out at the last minute this http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469494/ I would unreservedly recommend as one of the best films of 2007. The cinematography, soundtrack and just the aesthetic of this film recommend it. Didn't realise until it was over that it's Paul Thomas Anderson's latest (Magnolia)...

 

[IdleRich]

I just watched There Will Be Blood about ten minutes ago and I have to say that I found it quite disappointing. I just didn't get why the DDL character hated Eli so much and the collapse of his relationship with his son just seemed to come out of nowhere.
I watched Freeway with Reese Witherspoon yesterday, that was very good I thought.

 

[ripley]

I just watched There Will Be Blood about ten minutes ago and I have to say that I found it quite disappointing. I just didn't get why the DDL character hated Eli so much

do you mean before Eli made him get on his knees in front of the congregation and scream "I abandoned my son!" and smacked him across the face a few times, or after?

I
I watched Freeway with Reese Witherspoon yesterday, that was very good I thought.

I love that movie!!

I just saw Persepolis, which was truly lovely. Really a beautiful movie. totally satisfying.

 

[craner]

Audrey Hepburn, a sorely underrated comic actress (see also Charade), flirting around in a vast wardrobe of Givenchy masterpieces (a new costume for every scene), beautifully misunderstanding everything about sauve, decent Peter O Toole. In April (as it's always April) in Paris.

 

[IdleRich]

"do you mean before Eli made him get on his knees in front of the congregation and scream "I abandoned my son!" and smacked him across the face a few times, or after?"

Well, before really. Plainview reneged on his deal, cuffed Eli to the floor and then started rubbing his face in the dirt for pretty much no reason (having already refused him the chance to bless the mine). After that you can't really blame Eli for taking the opportunity to make him look like a fool but when the wheel turns again and Plainview humiliated the bankrupt Eli I didn't understand why he didn't savour that humiliation instead of...



SPOILER










SPOILER






.....throwing bowling balls at him and then beating him to death with a skittle.

 

[IdleRich]

"Audrey Hepburn, a sorely underrated comic actress (see also Charade), flirting around in a vast wardrobe of Givenchy masterpieces (a new costume for every scene), beautifully misunderstanding everything about sauve, decent Peter O Toole. In April (as it's always April) in Paris."

That's where that "Papa" "Nicole" thing that they used in those car adverts came from isn't it?

 

[craner]

Yes.

 

[tox]

Saw Charlie Wilson's War the other evening.

Pretty confusing film. I can't tell if its ham-fisted propaganda attempting to excuse the USA's handling of covert war in Afghanistan, or a piece of cinematic genius which reveals the short-sighted nature of the scheme through the story of a smarmy politician, without outside comment.

Certainly a film I need to read a bit more about!

 

[crackerjack]

Saw Charlie Wilson's War the other evening.

Pretty confusing film. I can't tell if its ham-fisted propaganda attempting to excuse the USA's handling of covert war in Afghanistan, or a piece of cinematic genius which reveals the short-sighted nature of the scheme through the story of a smarmy politician, without outside comment.

Certainly a film I need to read a bit more about!

Probably a bit of both. It's written by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing), who's an aggressively lberal Democrat. I should imagine his postion on Afghanistan is one of pride in undermining the Soviets and shame that they failed to foresee and forestall the Taliban.

Politics aside, was it good?