The Last Waltz

Amazing.

They're not ghosts so much as the walking dead. They needed Will's blood because there had to be a blood sacrifice from everyone who took the treasure in order for the curse to be broken. (Bootstrap Bill's blood runs in Will's). Jack became a ghost because he took that one piece of treasure while Barbossa wasn't looking. This made him immortal, so he could fight Barbossa and not die. When the curse was broken, all of the crew, plus Jack turned mortal again... so they surrendered.

Sorry if that's confusing.. let me know if you don't understand it, its kind of rushed. Ha.

DESPERATE HOURS (1990) - **1/2

After he helped to destroy United Artists with the now legendary infamous HEAVEN'S GATE, Michael Cimino tried with several movies to mount a countback, with only YEAR OF THE DRAGON possibly being the only worthy contribution to cinema since GATE.

In 1990, Cimino re-teamed with DRAGON star Mickey Rourke(and shortly before Rourke's career meltdown would force him to both work in softcore features and, for a brief time, pro boxer, before his comeback in 2005 with SIN CITY) in this remake of the famous 1955 movie with Humphrey Bogart.

The first act is brilliantly executed, and it looks like while this movie wouldn't be a classic, it would be a solid worthy feature of the thriller genre, like Cimino's DRAGON was for cop pictures. Instead, the movie's 2nd and 3rd Acts subsequently lose the narrative momentum, and end up being much about nothing.

A pity since Rourke does his best to work out a Bogart-esque silent charisma role, and really, he does good. David Mansfield delivers a great score that is a retro-trip back to the film scores of the 1950s, full of trumphets, and not simply fucking music used to mix action footage, which most film scores now seem to only exist for.

As the movie went from being a ***1/2 to **1/2 in rapid freefall, we see Cimino trying his best to make use of such a basic script, from having a ball-breaking woman leading the FBI squad after Rourke, to having 360 degree cinematography angles, to even nicely-lighted smoke.

A shame that since GATE, Cimino was always a talented if problematic director, he's only directed 4 movies since 1980, the last being SUNCHASER (which from what I hear, is pretty lousy) in 1996. Interestingly, he's a board member of the Weinstein Company, along with doing consulting and script doctoring work for it.

THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (1974) - ***1/2

We continue my flick-by-flick examination of Cimino's work(and yes, eventually including the most infamous of them all, HEAVEN'S GATE soon enough) by checking out his directorial debut.

The title refers to veteran bank robber Clint Eastwood and yuppie young-man fast car-lover Jeff Bridges as they plot to pull off the style of a bank heist that Eastwood's character had pulled off years ago...and at the same damn bank! We have witty dialogue penned by Cimino, and delivered in this fun if ultimtaely sad caper picture. We have Eastwood being Eastwood, and George Kennedy getting mauled by a dog.

This movie also has my new favorite movie-quote of the week:

"Hey kid, go fuck a duck!"

I'm hoping your eventual viewing of Heaven's Gate will be the extended director's cut? Supposedly that's the better version, which I've actually seen spoken of quite favorably in certain places. I've never seen it, but I'll have to one day considering how much I liked The Deer Hunter.

Dekalog, osiem
1988/Kieslowski

I didn't quite enjoy this segment. Kieslowski tries to craft an interesting dual character study about the Holocaust and it's lasting effects on two individuals, but ultimately the emotional message doesn't come out clearly or effectively and we're left with an uneventful, uninteresting, and boring chapter in the Dekalog series. Eight down, two to go.

2/5 Stars

Billy Bathgate (1991)

Billy Bathgate is a movie about a teenager who was born into a typical early-1900s poor Irish family in the Bronx, New York. He finds himself working for the same man who is known as "the beer baron of New York," who is also known as Dutch Schultz, Arthur Flagenheimer. Things seem to be going very well for Billy as he and his boss become closer, until he finds himself in love with his boss's mistress and the Dutchman is upset with their antics.

Dekalog, dziewiec
1988/Kieslowski

A much better chapter in the series. It seems to me that when Kieslowski doesn't have such heavy-thinking type subject matter, he's able to concentrate a little more, flesh out his characters better, write a more interesting story, and make a better film, which is odd, I admit, but so far in the series, my favorite segments seem to be fairly simple stories of husbands and wives and cheating and whatnot.

Kieslowski displays some of his best editing and writing skills here, and they make for an overall solid segment. This piece contained some of the best moments of breaking the 4th wall I've ever seen as well. In the pentiultimate scene, a man attempts suicide by riding his bike off of a bridge, just as simultaneously, his wife rushes home on a bus to try to stop him. Kieslowski shows us the man's anguished face, and then a slow motion shot of him freefalling, and then he cuts directly to the wife in close-up, staring directly into the camera with this hopeless sort of look on her face that just completely expresses the emotions of the entire piece really. It was quite an inspired moment.

It's interesting to see that the next and final segment is actually a comedy, which drastically differs from the rest of the series so far. Kind of odd. Looking forward to wrapping this up today or tomorrow.

4/5 Stars

.........Thanks for the summary.

Care to provide any personal thoughts on the film?

SPARTACUS (1960) - ***1/2

Now I understand why Stanley Kubrick always backed away and disowned this quite financially successful picture "classic" of his.

After a week or two of shooting, star/producer Kirk Douglas fired Anthony Mann and called up his PATHS OF GLORY director Kubrick to finish the rest of his would-be non-Jesus Roman Empire epic, SPARTACUS.

Okay, what works? Well, Sir Laurence Olivier is money, so is Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov.....hell, all the sequences shot in Rome rule, with the Senate political intrigue and all. Though check out the restored scene at a bathhouse finally put back in the 1991 restoration, where certainly two men talk whatever they like both "oysters" and "snails". At least it would be the more recognizable Romans that I know of!

But unfortunately, while that shit is hot, the rest of the movie isn't. If anything, Douglas(no offense, but even Kubrick would probably agree that Doulgas called the shots behind his back) delivers a very conventional hero picture of such historical epics of the time period. Yes, poor Spartacus gets his ass beaten like cookie dough, but what other indication is there that he could actually become a "charismatic" leader of a slave revolt? I mean besides the fact that he's the star.

Worse yet, I love how for such a movie about a whole other world from the 1960s, how these slaves have a clear understanding of "freedom" that we do today. Really, you think these slaves would know any better about such things in a whole world where slavery isn't only part of the status quo, but also considered an essential of society?

"I'm not an animal!"

Ya whatever.

"I'm Spartacus! I'm Spartacus! "I'm Spartacus!"

Oh? Well, whoever points out the real Spartacus gets free of any punishment. Any of you assholes want to support him now? I figured as much!

Well, AskaNinja didn't care for POTC 2!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWq89t9q5gg&search=Ask%20a%20Ninja%2BPirates

FIND ME GUILTY (2006) - ***

Vin Diesel was on my shitlist. Besides being the bald-headed, one syllabel-uttering, whatever the hell ethnic he is, former club bouncer, ignorant-acting action movie star, he worked in many lousy movies. He gave me road rage with THE FAST & THE FURIOUS, then proceeded to lead in possibly one of the dumbest action pictures that I may have witnessed: XXX. Dear God!

Yet Sidney Lumet felt that he could act seriously without me having to resort to medication. I have to say, even in trying to watch shit like RIDDICK, Lumet must have known something that I didn't, because he's right.

In this fact-based tale of a mobster (Diesel) who defends himself during a Rico trial(which apparently is still a U.S. record holder in length, lasting almost 2 years), if Diesel couldn't motor a worthy performance, this movie was doomed.

Instead, Diesel comes through, with hair implant included, with playing an obvious thug gangster that displays humor, some questioning of the witnesses(of which the film claims is actually much of the real trial's transcripts), and as well the varying level of emotions that his character displays in his face as he continues to refuse to comply with the Feds in "ratting out", even if his "loved ones" of his mob family think his antics will bring the end for their cases.

Diesel's performance overcomes the film's problematic editing(of which I believe came from the movie's massive re-editing during post-production), the fact that the film barely scraps by trying to get the audience to root and cheer as the climax occurs, despite the fact that these known bastard hardcore scumbags are what they are, and unless one is keen observant of law itself, they wouldn't have fully understood why the jury's final verdict occurs.

Still, a nice-decent comeback for the great Sidney Lumet, who won the Lifetime Acheivement Oscar while editing GUILTY. After the absolute failure of the amazingly bad GLORIA in 1999, Lumet retreated to a life of doing television for the A&E channel, and even a HBO TV picture before making his would-be "comeback".

Now if only Diesel would actually bother to act on a more consistent basis, then maybe I would put XXX in my amnesia box.

16 BLOCKS (2006) - **1/2

Richard Donner helms this average film, with Bruce Willis as a disgruntled cop having to safely escort a mouthful of marbles Mos Def to a courthouse by 10 AM, and also try to fight through an army of corrupt cops trying to stop them.

Yeah I didn't think 16 Blocks was that great either but Mos Def surprised me and put together an enjoyable performance. Bruce was Bruce

I too liked Mos Def's acting. I would definitely watch if he acts in some movie.

KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005) - ***1/2

Once upon a time ago, Shane Black was probably the most highly-paid and hated scriptwriter in Hollywood, involved with multi-million dollar script sales ranging from LETHAL WEAPON to LONG KISS GOODNIGHT to LAST BOY SCOUT. Then he dropped off the radar.

He returns, with LETHAL WEAPON producer Joel Silver backing him, in his directorial debut. Filming his script, Black helms this charming and would-be post modernistic take on both pulp crime novels and action pictures, except his protagonists are useless people that TRY to imitate such hard-boiled heroes.

The movie is very charming, if too smart for its own good at times, with almost a hint that Black is trying to create the next underground cult video favorite, which I guess isn't the worst thing to happen.

I got the feeling watching that that they felt like they had the next big thing but just didn't quite know how to market it or something. I know exactly what you're talking about with that underground cult favorite type thing. I thought it was solid.

ANNAPOLIS (2006) - *1/2

Hollywood is trying to make the next TOP GUN of sorts, but this one gets flogged for being damn crappy.

If anything, I'm surprised that the U.S. Navy itself didn't tommahawk missile-launch against the studio who released it.

Then again, the Pentagon still supports Michael Bay, even when Bay has the military usually be the bad guys. I don't get it really.

Chinatown

A view of life at its darkest and most painful. The script is probably the best ever written, and the performances are flawless. The beauty of this film is in how the complex story keeps building upon itself, letting the viewer know only what Jake knows, to the point where the viewer becomes Jake, and ends up tangled in the web of confusion, lies, deceit, and corruption, all building up to the final scene, which is in my opinion, the darkest, most poignant ending in all of cinema.

A 5-star elite.

Dekalog, dziesiec
1989/Kieslowski

The final chapter in the 10 part series, and interestingly enough, a noted departure from the style utilized throughout most of the films so far. Segment 10 plays out like a Coen Brothers black comedy, with moments of true drama, moments of true suspense, but overall, a darkly comedic overtone reigns over the entire piece. Kieslowski uses one of the best little nuances I've ever seen here when at a particularly suspenseful or comedic moment, a brief drum roll suddenly comes in, specially emphasizing the absurdity of the whole situation.

Overall, a fitting final chapter to an impressive series.

3/5 Stars

Dekalog
1988/Kieslowski

Overall, the 10 part examination of the daily trials and tribulations of the Polish middle class was impressive in its scope and wide range of emotional ground covered, but while Kieslowski elicits some great performances here and there, and shows true directing innovation at times, his technical execution during the series as a whole didn't quite merit any overzealous praise. If anything, he must be respected for having the ambition and the vision to take on such a project, and noted for having done nearly the best he could given his available resources.

Everything about this series seemed good, but not great, interesting, but not ground-breaking. This format of multi-character, epic-type film definitely works better as a single piece with the stories intertwined in my opinion, as evidenced by the films of Paul Thomas Anderson and Robert Altman, among others. I feel like Kieslowski could've achieved a deeper emotional impact and expressed a clearer overall message had he chosen the best few of his 10 stories, wrapped them into one film, and given it a bit more of concurrent theme.

3.5/5 Stars

But hey, on the plus side, I'm finally done!
I'm feeling quite ambitious and victorious myself. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to sit through a 10 hour long Polish TV series from the late 80's. Now I can finally start watching regular movies again.

My viewing of this film also means that I've officially completed 1/3 of TSPDT's Top 100.

Little Man **

Not as bad as some people have said it was. I thought it was better than White Chicks (which isn't saying much but still). I LOVED seeing David Alan Grier and his cameo was hilarious

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Probably the finest movie I've seen in theaters in 2006. The cast and the performances are perfect, as well as the score by Devotchka. Simply great movie.

KILLER'S KISS (1955) - ***

Technically Stanley Kubrick's 2nd directorial feature, but FEAR & DESIRE is considered by many that have seen it, including Kubrick himself, to be very amateurish and piss-poor. Thus KILLER'S KISS was Kubrick's first true movie per say, and we see a solid film noir picture from a promising and future filmmaking master.

You see lighting and shots that one can't believe that only did Kubrick pull off, but only at the age of 26. Maybe the best sequence in terms of photography is when the hero runs across the massive roofs of some lot buildings, where in the background you can see the Brooklyn Bridge and the rest of the city. Beautiful!

Clerks. ***

The movie that introduced Jay & Silent Bob to the world. The directing wasn't bad but nothing great either. The writing and the performances stand out to me the most. I think the more I watch this film, the more I enjoy it. Looking forward to the sequel tomorrow!

The Elephant Man
1980/Lynch

My 2nd Lynch picture, and a truly remarkable one. The first half, with the introduction of characters and exposition beautifully displays the excellent set production convincingly recreating 1880's London, dreary and nightmarish, as only Lynch could do it. Anthony Hopkins controls the first portion of the film, as we slowly learn with him the graphic details of the Elephant Man's mutation and maltreatment.

Once John Merrick himself is introduced as a character, rather than just being referred to as the creature, the story shifts to focus on him and his continued struggles to overcome to prejudice of the public society. Lynch is able to fully utilize his choice of black and white cinematography throughout, as well as crafting an uplifting story that wraps up with a truly emotionally overwhelming ending. An especially interesting film to see the mix between a traditional, conservatively-executed movie, with clearly evident touches of Lynch here and there.

4/5 Stars

I watched this last night:

Paris, Texas

A brilliant examination of the human condition. Wim Wenders takes a relatively simple plot and turns it into something absolutely astonishing. The cinematography is some of the best I've ever seen, the score is absolutely bone-chilling (especially in the final scene), and the story is developed perfectly, the mystery building up with little details, until it all comes out in an extremely emotional scene towards the end with Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski. The final half hour of this film is simply beyond words, and our first full look at Nastassja Kinski's character is one of the greatest images in all of cinema.



Almost brings me to tears...

Alien ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

A surprisingly good movie. Both Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm put together enjoyable performances.

Only **1/2?!?! Let me guess, 4 stars for ALIENS. :rolleyes:

Last Days
Gus Van Sant 2004 US (2nd time; DVD)
The final hours of a rock musician who is surrounded by hangers-on.
As deep or as empty, as sprawling or as inert as you like; the 4:3 ratio isn't quite as powerful when seen on the small screen, and it isn't as visually innovative as Gerry or narratively ambitious as Elephant. Indeed, it seems a step back, or at least implies a contentment to stay on familiar turf, for Van Sant.

I couldn't tell ya, I haven't seen it yet. Maybe tonight I'll have the time and give it a shot.