Likes the smell of money.

Pulp Fiction ***
Funny and entertaining. I would place this movie in the same category as 'snatch', although this has a much different and unique style of presentation.

Fight Club
1999/Fincher

Ah the joy of starting a movie at 4:30 in the morning. 2nd viewing in the past few days. Pretty much solidified as one of my favorite films.

5/5 Stars

F/X (1986) - ***

Nice decent picture that works on an intriging premise: A F/X coordinator in Hollywood is contracted by the FBI to fake a bloody assassination of a mob boss, to be placed in Witness Protection. The boss is shot at the office, but he's really dead. Who tampered with the squib bullets, and who is trying to kill the coordinator off?

Followed by a very mediocre sequel a few years later.

Anyone seen this?

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies

Looks very interesting. Don't know how easy it is to find though.

Yes. It is personal, and very passionate because of that. It'll introduce you to some very overlooked directors of the old system, which Marty has always admired. There is also a companion book, which is basically the screenplay for Scorsese's voice-over, with stills taken from the films featured.

By all means see it....it's one of Woody's best.

But what happened to Broadway Danny Rose?

That's great Capo, thanks for the description. I'll have to look into finding that.

Last Year at Marienbad
1961/Resnais

This was a fantastically mysterious film. The beautifully haunting opening sequence, with graceful, smooth, uninteruppted tracking shots taken at odd angles down a hotel corridor draws you right in and immediately sets the style and tone for the film. Resnais uses unnamed characters, heavy symbolism, and his complex mixture of dreams, fantasies, nightmares, memories, reality, and subconcious is stunning, in a bewildering sort of way.

I recently saw this listed as one of the most confusing films of all time, and it was this intriguing label that made me seek out the movie. This description plays out in full. Resnais strategically places quick segments of staccato editing and emotionally disturbing scenes in between the long eerie scenes of the regular story which is always accompanied by a ghostly organ score. I look forward to rewatches not to try to understand, but simply to expierience what Resnais has put together.

5/5 Stars

I've heard great things about Resnais' films, and that one in particular. With that critique, I know now that I must see it by the end of the week.

I was hoping you'd seen it already and could provide your own opinions and perhaps some suggestions. That type of surrealist, foreign film, thought-provoking, mysterious, has come to be exactly what I feel like I'm looking for. It does really seem like your type of movie, but I'm often surprised by your reviews, so I guess we'll see.

Parts of it bear a heavy resemblance to Mulholland Dr, which I also liked. I'm really enjoying these films that challenge me mentally.

I'm eager to hear your thoughts.

I'm hoping to get back to Allen sometime in the coming weeks. I'll be sure to let you know what I thought of it once I get my hands on it.

I saw it in the theatre when it first came out, but hadoccasion to see it a second time yesterday on DVD.

One of the reasons that I don't write full-scale reviews is that I can really be a dunce sometimes and miss the obvious.

After watching it yesterday ( and then reading a few IMDb reviews), what I wrote above still stands, however

..........****SPOILERS HERE****.....****SPOILERS HERE****..........

I didn't realize after my first watching how heavily Woody borrowed from the plot of his own work, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and even more so from a great and truly under-rated film, A Place in the Sun.

Eyes Wide Shut
1999/Kubrick

Did I miss something? Was this a joke? Was this just Stanley Kubrick, master filmmaker of numerous classics, just saying to us all, "Hey! Guess what? I'm gonna start developing this movie in the early 80's, but not release it until 1999, and I'm gonna take nearly 2 years to shoot it, and take a year for post-production, and I'm gonna have Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. And guess what? The movie's gonna suck!"

Because yeah, it did. I hated it. I really hated it. The first half an hour or so showed promise, I'll give it that, but wow, after that, I should've just gone and stared at my toilet for the remaining 2 hours and 10 minutes of further running time. Yeah, so, don't waste your time. I don't know what happened to Stanley.

This deserves 0 stars but I'll give it 1 because
A. At least Tom Cruise seems like he's giving it his all
and
B. I enjoyed the Alan Cummings cameo. although it felt horribly out of place.

1/5 Stars

Eyes Wide Shut isn't that long...is it? I've been wanting to revisit it in a while now.

No, I mean, 2 hrs 39 mins, more than your average movie, although I've definitely been through a good few that were longer. For me, it was just that

A. I didn't like the story
B. Kubrick used a lot of long, silent shots of strange things like showing Tom Cruise walking through a door and then a hallway like 6 seperate times
C. I really wanted it to end

So it seemed dragged out. There's a conversation near the end between Cruise and Sydney Pollack that goes on for a full 14 minutes, no music or anything, and some of the lamest dialogue I swear I've ever heard.

I didn't like that conversation, for the sole reason it explained, and thus reduced the frightening mystery of, the masked ball before it.

Agreed, although I didn't find the masked ball that frightening or mysterious in the first place.

I always liked EYES WIDE SHUT as this sort of very good film about dreams and reality, and what is and what isn't actually happening. Notice that the street names in the film's New York City don't exist in real life.

I thought the whole "was it a dream" ending felt like some 4th quarter forced shit to try to make it interesting, but by that point I didn't care and didn't buy it. You wanna see something that makes you question what is reality and what is fantasy, see Last Year at Marienbad. I watched them both yesterday and Eyes Wide Shut pales in comparison.

Boogie Nights
ZERO

Please, those of you who consider PT Anderson a genius, PLEASE tell me this was a miss for him. I am actually blown away by how horrible this film is. I can't believe it.

I approach Magnolia with caution...

Boogie Nights is in my top 10 of all time. What exactly did you find wrong with it? Great use of music, innovative camera work, large group of well-defined and interesting characters, does a great job of re-creating the time period, equal mix of drama and comedy, great cast of talented actors, lit well, shot well, directed to near perfection. Not a shot out of place.

I don't get that at all.

And Magnolia is better.

I mean, yeah, it took me a few viewings for each to realize their greatness, but I didn't feel the way you did.

And remember with Boogie Nights, Anderson is doing the whole thing in a slightly satirical manner. He's paying homage to the porn industry while simultaneously poking fun an it. He's satirizing the laid-back, drugged out, California lifestyle, while also showcasing it.

The Devil Wears Prada
2006/Frankel

An enjoyable film, despite the fact that it was drenched in conventionality and predictability. Worth seeing for Meryl Streep.

3/5 Stars

It was absolutely pointless, stupid, and unfunny. The characters were developed horribly, and the entire thing was just completely insignificant to me. Why do I care about a bunch of porn stars and how their lives turned out?

This was a very painful experience for me. I was ready to turn it off after the first 45 minutes.

... shame on you, Chung.

I gotta agree with Hagen here about BOOGIE NIGHTS. Pretty well-made movie, and it gets a ZERO rating?

PT Anderson is a God.

His movies are the second, third, fourth, and fifth coming of the messiah.

You should treat them as such.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124819/

DO IT.

HA!

Now you just look like a complete hypocrite, having given South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut four stars, over AIM today, eh?

And I know you're going to give me the whole "Well, this is good satire" thing. Well... So was Boogie Nights.

:p

The Matrix Reloaded ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

I didn't think this was a bad follow up to the original Matrix. I didn't expect much out of it (since I've heard people rip the sh*t out of the final 2 installments), and that could be the reason I enjoyed it so much. I think this had better visual effects than the original and that freeway chase scene was the most enjoyable.

I've always said since I first saw them that 3 was a major letdown, 2 was good. I feel like people lump them together.