I got back from seeing There Will Be Blood earlier and can't stop thinking about it.

I read about this movie a few months ago. Is it based on a book titled OIL?

It is loosely...and yeah, like Capo, I just can't stop thinking about TWBB.

If anything, the numbing raw sensation of TWBB festers in one's mind and grows....grows....grows....just like the 1st-time viewing of any Stanley Kubrick movie.

Somebody on FCM said it's up there with Citizen Kane and The Godfather - in, I assume, its character depth and allegorical embodiment of capitalist America. I agree; it's fascinating and fantastic.

I believe it's the best film of 2007, the best film Paul Thomas Anderson has made, the best performance Daniel Day-Lewis has given and the best musical score of last year too. Can't wait to see it again.

THE DARJEELING LIMITED
(First Viewing)

Wes Anderson continues to frustrate me with his films. I find them dull and I don't at all enjoy his style of humor, regardless of how many "name" actors he's able to cram into any one film.

You're wrong Irish.

Again.

While you're certainly entitled to your opinion Capo, I just cannot understand what it is lately with your constantly berating anything that Irishman12 posts about. Enough already. If you don't agree with him, that in itself is fine. Nothing wrong with your having a different opinon than he does. But tell him why you don't agree. If you can't do so in a respectful manner, then don't bother to reply. Stop it with the antagonizing responses, the insults and the making fun of him.

If you don't like his reviews, then ignore them and move on.

Oh come on, Cardi. Get naked and relax. If you weren't naked already.

Chill, Winston.

I'm chilled out. I'm relaxed, and in about 10 minutes I'm going to get naked.

Now just be a good boy Mick.

In about 40 minutes Mrs. Cardi will have a smile on her face.

That's what you think!

Anyway, I saw Juno on the big screen earlier tonight. Good, pleasant and watchable; I warmed to it after some initial annoying dialogue. Quite messy, though, and rather silly in its conservatism. Michael Cera's promising, but he goes missing somewhere in the middle, and his late comeback in the script (or Juno's falling for him) feels unwarranted.

Of the 2007 mainstream pregnancy movies, I much preferred Knocked Up, whose subtle humanity didn't need the flashy indie hipness to attract critical buzz.

For a total flip side, check out last year's Palme d'Or winner (the grand prize at Cannes), 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, whose nightmarish depiction of abortion feels very real indeed; in comparison, Juno's rather trivial, and quite naive (though somewhat refreshing) in its narrative optimism.

Anyway, if Juno wins Best Picture at the Oscars, it's a complete fucking travesty.

I can't stop thinking of There Will Be Blood. I woke up last night dreaming of it, couldn't sleep for thinking of it, and I plan on seeing it again when it comes out on theatrical release proper this Friday. Seriously, guys, see this film; it's the best made since... well, I don't know.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD is just.....

I don't know why its fucking great. You so-called MOVIE BUFFS must see it!

Capo, I am glad you mentioned the music of There Will Be Blood. The background sound is not conventional music like a nice piano sequence. It is composed of hums and drones and slowly modulating tones. Just unsettling.

I'd have guessed 11 minutes.

No, Don Cardi would've had the smile, not Mrs Cardi

I was allowing for the extra 30 seconds that he lasted.

11 minutes? Ok, maybe she wouldn't have been smiling.

You know we love you Cardi.

***** Couldn't be anything but 5 stars

This is a stately, majestic masterpiece of world cinema. My parents first took me to it at the age of 5 or 6, and a few images stuck with me forever.

Watanabe is a colorless, boring civil servant who has put in his time at the city offices for 35 years ... and then learns he has but a few months to live. (Ikiru means "To Live.") Over the next few weeks he tries everything he can think of to deal with this awful news -- taking out his cash and going on the town, trying to enjoy life with and through a much younger female subordinate, attempting to reconnect with his estranged son....

Takashi Shimura offers one of the great acting performances of all time. It's hard to believe this is the same man who leads "The Seven Samurai" a few years later (never mind his hilarious cameo in the original "Godzilla" as a frightened peasant).

Formally, the film is a fascinating study of plotting and film editing. (What can you say about a movie whose opening shot is a stomach X-ray? See Donald Richie's excellent book _The Films of Akira Kurosawa_ for more in-depth discussion of this film's techniques.)

Be prepared to settle into this story. It's lengthy and not fast paced. If you can do this, you will be hugely rewarded.

On Ikiru: I love the shot when Watanabe walks from the hospital after being told he hasn't long to live, and the audio is completely cut off. The silence of the street is staggering.

Unconventional narrative pattern - a complete shift in time late on turns into poignant retrospect. Quite a bold thing to do, really, but it works. I'd like to see it again.

Welcome to the board.

Very true, Capo de La Cosa Nostra.

And thank you. I've yet to make a post on The Godfather threads, but reading over a few of the discussions, it looks like I'm in for a treat.

Thanks again for the welcome.

I just watched The New World (2005/Malick) again, by the way, and was completely floored... again. It really is one of the greatest films ever made. It's disappointing and shocking that Malick has made only four films, but each one of them is a masterpiece, and an extension upon the previous: Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and this. I love its intertwining fragments of retrospect; its elliptical narrative development (binding images together as if unfolding in some distant past tense, only with a present voice-over; illustrated memoirs).

I fucking love it. People need to start watching masterpieces on this forum.

I recently watched The New World, and, like yourself, was absolutely amazed by it... again.

I feel, for director Terrence Malick, The New World offers a chance to explore his familiar theme of man versus nature.

BEOWULF (2007) 1/2
(First Viewing)

Another visual achievement in cinema history and Robert Zemeckis does a fantastic job retelling this age old story with some great action! I'd say it's a mix of 300 and ERAGON. Ladies and gentlemen, Zemeckis is back!

Back? Back from what?

He was always there.

Its just, can Zemeckis make a good movie beyond his masturbation to digital experimentation?

Fuck, what happened to the dude who shot BACK TO THE FUTURE, ROMANCING THE STONE, and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? You know, quality entertainments.

He's dead to me. No wonder Bob Gale left his ass years ago.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT
(First Viewing)

Unfortunately, this goes into the category of "worst Ben Foster film seen yet." I still dig his work and I think he's one of the brightest under 30-years-old stars working today, but this film just sucked on many levels. And can Melissa George do a decent movie or what? She's quickly becoming the new B scream queen with THE AMITYVILLE HORROR remake, TURISTAS and now 30 DAYS OF NIGHT.

BLADE RUNNER 1/2
(Second Viewing)

Still not overly impressive. I know a lot of people like his earlier work such as ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER but really the only two Ridley Scott films that I loved were GLADIATOR and AMERICAN GANGSTER. I like Tony Scott better anyway.

Last night I watched my first W.C. Fields film, Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935/Bruckman); the fact that the title has absolutely no relevance to the plot or synopsis is telling of the casual unfolding of the narrative. There's something very humble and human in this sort of humour; a bumbling everyman who doesn't like many people, lacking the sharp wit of, say, Groucho Marx, but astute and honest enough to get by in his own way. I look forward to seeing others; I know It's a Gift is one of Turnbull's favourites.

Today, on the big screen I saw Gilda (1946/Vidor). Rita Hayworth is astonishing, and the sexual ambiguity of the protagonist is obvious and unsettling. Very good.

Is that really all you have to say about the film? "Still not overly impressive"? Why post any words at all - the stars say as much. Come on; if you're going to post anything in this thread, at least invest a little conviction. It's (apparently) a discussion thread - it doesn't belong in the games section.

Anyway, I see Blade Runner again on the big screen in a few weeks. I can't wait, since I don't really remember too much about it.

Best futuristic movie ever!

However, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, Irish.