MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM 1/2
(First Viewing)

Why oh why Natalie Portman do you subject yourself (and us) to this utter trash of a film. You are most definitely better than this!

That's what I keep hearing that it's a classic/masterpiece/etc. I just didn't care for it, even after a second try. Oh well, one man's trash is another man's treasure I guess.

you said it..

YAY! Let's all get naked and slap our cocks upon each other's cheeks.

Jesus Christ, I feel like I've had a shot of glucose in my arm. Just watched Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson/2002), and haven't felt as nervous or energetic or claustrophobic in a while. Talk about sustained relentless rhythms; that elongated music that plays throughout the early day-at-work scene (that culminates in Lena giving Barry her number and address), and the volume at which it plays, made me shiver with excitement. It's very effectively nauseating.

I think it's a really interesting neo-noir, too; an everyman seduced into a dodgy deal and dangerous underworld by an unknown (literally, here) femme fatale. Sandler's brilliant, as is Hoffman in the few scenes he's in.

As a fan of justified violence and as someone who relates to internal anger (and redemptive love; the scene where Barry confronts the supervisor and says he has so much strength in him now because of the love in his life made me want to jump up with joy), I thought it was a masterpiece.

Eastern Promises was pretty good until the ending. It feels rushed. Maybe the British legal system is different and keeps people locked up forever for Statutory rape but here in the U.S. the boss would run things from prison and the problems wouldn't be solved so easily.

It's Cronenberg's narratively tightest film. It does feel rushed, not to mention a bit silly (adoption is that easy?). It's quite an ambitious attempt to produce both an accessible, mainstream film and still explore the same thematic preoccupations of earlier work: the limitations of one's physicality, the fragility of the body, permanent scarring, the body as identity, identity in general (What does it mean "to be"?), etc. The violence is devastating, too, both in its literal depiction and allegorical internal connections - the violent trauma of child birth, the sleaziness of organised prostitution, the horror of death, the undercurrent of sexual envy (the Turkish bath scene is visceral and sweaty, it's like an event at the original Olympic Games; horrific, homoerotic, humane).

I liked it but thought it could have been a little longer. And I agree about the ending feeling rushed.

Anyways, I just watched Fever Pitch(us version) and didnt really like. Maybe its because I saw it after I read the book and didnt see how a book about football(soccer) could be made about baseball. Great book btw.

AMERICAN GANGSTER
(Second Viewing)

Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott are all back and all is right in the world again. This is Scott's best film since 2000's GLADIATOR but I am so displeased that this film only received one Oscar nomination (it went to Rudy Dee for best actress in a supporting role as Frank's mother). I'm really angry Denzel didn't get at least a nod or that the film wasn't on the Best Picture list. This is easily the best crime film since last year's THE DEPARTED and is a new gangster classic! I don't know what it was but it was better with a second viewing. I think with it being unrated and having 18 minutes of additional footage, that's what was probably wrong the first go around.

I just watched Brian De Palma's Redacted (2007). Effective moments and a cool concept can't really compensate for the overall "What's the point?" feel I had when it finished.

I don't think many people on here would like it. Far too critical (and rightly so) of the war effort.

John Turturro presents.....

An All-Star cast in.....

Romance & Cigarettes (2005)

James Gandolfini
Susan Sarandon
Kate Winslet
Steve Buscemi
Mandy Moore
Mary-Louise Parker
Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano)
Christopher "Fucking" Walken
Eddie Izzard

...and those are just the names that I know!

So WTF happened? Did all these stars owe him huge amounts of money or something? I just had to take a break halfway through (somehow I lasted 45 minutes!) just to clear my head as to WTF is possibly going on in this thing. I actually wondered that a mere 15 minutes into it when Gandolfini broke into song and dance (!!). And after realizing Aida is not playing Gandolfini's sister, but daughter??! Sarandon looks younger than she does in this!

And neither Soprano star has changed 1 ounce of their Soprano characters to try something new apparently. Maybe that makes it a bit bizarro.

The entire time I'm wondering (and still wondering) if either I'm just too damn stupid, or, if this is the most brilliant thing ever.

But then Walken sang a song, too.

Dubya Tea Eff?

Ah. Guess I'll see if I can get thru the second half...

(To Be Continued...)

PS - Kinda made it thru the second half, but certainly not easily. I'll have to see this a couple/few more times before I figure it out I'm afraid.

No Rating yet! But certainly not 3/5 (NetFlix) or 3.2/5 (IMDb) yet...

For a change I liked Russel Crowe. I feel Denzel Washington acts the same in all his movies I have seen. I think the movie wasn't anything special.

The Big White ***
One cannot help noticing the similarity between this movie and Fargo though it is a comedy. The acting is good from everyone, especially from Giovanni Ribisi. The visuals set in snow clad Alaskan town are excellent.

Psycho Limey bastard!

I've liked Russell Crowe for awhile now since probably GLADIATOR when you add in A BEAUTIFUL MIND and his other films since 2000. He may be an a$$hole in real life, but the man can act.

And I'll give you what you said about Denzel but very few actors I've found are worth my $6-8 every time out the gate.

I always been fond of Russell Crowes early film Romperstompers.

$6-$8?

Irish, are you under 12?

Just watching Kes at the minute,i love this film and brian glover plays a great part,it's also typical of how it was in the north of England at the time,it always chokes me up as well when his brother kills his bird

Anyone who hasnt seen Kes in my opnion should!

i agree great film. especially the footie scene..lol

No, matinees here aren't $10 with the evening shows being $20

Everything's bigger in Texas, huh?

This is Texas man, land of big trucks and cheap movie tickets
I'll be watching michael clayton today for $2. I must be below 5 then

Hey, I'm jealous!

I'm a youthful 48, so I can't even make believe I'm over 55 for the discount here in New York.

Christ, Geoff, why such hostility? Not a fan of musicals?

I have no problem with musicals. I love Grease, West Side Story, Rent, etc... but those movies make sense to me. Romance & Cigarettes didn't. At least not the first time. Perhaps it was the shock of seeing 3 Sopranos cast members doing it. Could they be type cast after all?

Yeah thats my favourite scene,it alawys makes me laugh ,Brian Glover definetly steals that scene

I don't know, I thought it was an original film that consciously subverted expectations and worked on recurring ones: the Sopranos cast, as you mentioned, not to mention Kate Winslet as some current-day slut (keep in mind she's noted for period costume dramas); as for Walken, he didn't look out of place at all - have you seen the video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice"?

It'd be interesting (to me) to ask why those other musicals make sense to you (despite aesthetic stuff like songs intruding upon narrative, breaking the fourth wall, etc.) but this one doesn't. What do you even mean by "sense" (normally that's used in relation to "making sense of the story")? Was it a case of viewer expectations being totally out of line with what the film offers?

I don't think all of the film works, but I at least thought it was good. But I knew going in that it was a musical.

You make some sense. And you're right, I had no idea it was a musical. But as I said, I'll watch it again. I'm sure I'll be able to pay more attention the second time now that I know what to expect.

What, there were other crime movies between October 2006 and November 2007? Really?

What were they?

First off, he's not locked up "forever" in the movie. He got pinched like American mobsters in the past have done for tax evasion or any other non-mob sounding crime...you know?

With Viggo in the clique, the Police arrested and persumingly locked up the Boss for that jail sentence, which gives Viggo the power vacumm to play his power politics.

Capo, you weren't moved by that last shot of Viggo, all alone, in the restaurant?

Easily, arguably, the CASABLANCA of this decade with that devastating climax.