Oui, oui.

A Short Film About Killing is one of the best films I've ever seen. I've not seen the shorter Dekalog version however.

I think it has the most intense ending in the history of cinema. One of the few times I've ever cried watching a movie.

I hope you enjoy it, Hagen.

Well, I face a bit of dilemma here then.

Should I try to get the longer versions? Might I miss out on the emotional impact if I just watch the short versions?

EDIT: Nevermind, they're not available to me. I'll have to settle for the short versions. I'm done the first 4, so 5 and 6 are coming up.

The Squid and the Whale (2005) -
Director: Noah Baumbach
Set in a 1980s-Brooklyn, a high school under-grad and his younger brother are left in the stressful situation of joint-custody when their parents finally decide to give in and divorce.
Here's a movie that struck close to home. Having expirienced my own parents divorce, I found myself being able to relate to this film completely. Baumbach captures not only the stress of joint-custody, but also the humor. While divorce is a stressing and a depressing expirience, I also found humor in the entire idea as a child. The film captures that humor... the confusion, and everything that follows. I can relate exact scenes in this film to my own expiriences--IE, children picking "sides" with one parent or the other. In adition, I enjoyed Baumbach's use of music. I was estatic to find that the film features by favorite Lou Reed song, "Street Hassle" as well as Pink Floyd's "Hey You".

I preferred Killing in its truncated version, anyway, Mista.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless minds.

Not what I excpected but still a great movie. Anyone who ever says Jim Carrey can only defigurate his face should spend a dinner with Dr Lecter.

8,5/10

Q: What does Lecter have for breakfast?
A: Eggs and Kevin Bacon

:p

I'm glad to see you enjoyed it as well LLC. I think I gave it 3 stars myself. It was pleasantly surprising and Linney and Daniels worked well together (and the kids, especially the younger one who continued to curse, were well cast)

Yes. Apparently the younger one is a relative of Kevin Kline's? His son, I presume.

Dekalog, piec
1988/Kieslowski

I really enjoyed the opening half, where Kieslowski shows some of his best editing skills as of yet, going back and forth between the young man, the cab driver, and the lawyer. Voice over is also used with great effectiveness in this section. This was also the first segment of the series that skipped a large portion of time, with the story taking place over a year's span. Overall, I wasn't quite sure if the young man's moral transformation was justified and/or explained. Perhaps this is better handled in the longer version. 5 down, 5 to go. Really looking forward to segment 6.

3.5/5 Stars

What did you think of the ending?

The execution felt a little bit anti-climactic, but I did really like the build-up to it. The lone scene afterwards, the young lawyer alone in the meadow, which I assume was the one that Jarek described to him from his childhood, shouting to himself, was effective but not exactly tear-jerking or anything.

What did you find so haunting about it? And is it any different in the full version?

Just wanted to mention, the ending here and the storyline as a whole really reminded me of Dead Man Walking with Sean Penn. Ever seen it? I had the sort of reaction to that, that you felt towards this.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) -
Director: Stanley Kubrick
After having his wife confess to nearly committing adultry, a Manhattan doctor is pushed along a night of sex and discovery.
...Wow. This is still sinking in. What an amazing note for Kubrick to close his career on; I have to admit to being alarmed and worried that at this point, the man may have lost his touch, but he certainly did not. Sure, this may not measure at the same mark as previous achievements such as A Clockwork Orange or 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it is no less than a momentous achievement. His direction is absolutely flawless. He managed to work out of his actors some of the best I've seen from them. The story and cinematography had me on edge throughout, and the erie piano score only pushed this reaction further. This is a film I am going to continue to take time to ponder, and process on a deeper, perhaps philosophical stand point.

And yes. It is like softcore porn with better acting.

Eyes Wide Shut

Too lazy for a proview now...but I agree with everything LLC said, except that it wasn't on the level of 2001 or Clockwork...I actually feel this is Kubrick's best film.

I've not seen the Dekalog version of Killing, but I believe Capo has seen both, so he would know if the endings were different.

I haven't seen Dead Man Walking either.

This post is a joke right?

I don't understand.

I just don't.

Now you know how I feel.

Oh yeah, how you think I feel when he underrated TWELVE MONKEYS? Hopefully he'll find upon the great works of science fiction, and maybe realize that Gilliam somehow produced a worthy cinematic nugget of the genre. Not that I'm dissing his worthy and respectable opinion, since its not like he gave a BOMB rating to it, but again....this is the price with subjectivity.

You may see a movie as clear as if you was looking out the window, or that same picture, its a bug guts-laden car windshield with rain splattering over it.

Anyway, I don't think EYES WIDE SHUT is a masterpiece, but its still a really damn well-made film. Besides, the first time I watched it, the movie was damn sterile to me, much like Hagen's review for it, so I can actually understand where he is coming from. But over time, and after several viewings, I now think its yet another worthy picture in Kubrick's outstanding resume.

Besides, who didn't laugh at the obviously, digitally, placed people in front of certain sex acts? Apparently the European edit didn't bother with such nonsense. :p

I feel like I'm eavesdropping.

Yeah. We should all really be having a nude, sexy slumber party, and talk about boys we'd like to funk, while you and the other voyeuristic perv's listen from the back yard, where you are spread up against the wall, below an open window.

Mista's High Reviews
Volume 1

A series in several parts.

Old School
2003/Phillips

Pretty fucking good stuff. Todd Phillips, in a nice gangbanger cameo near the beginning AND taking the nice director's chair here, crafts a nice film with shades of Suburban, American Beauty like shit going on at the beginning. Luke Wilson isn't someone I've seen much of, but I like him here. And Will Ferrel and Vince Vaughn as the big goofy funny big guys roundout the perfect leading trio. The best of the Frat Pack genre. Can't wait for part 2.

High Rating: 5/5 Stars
Actual Rating: I don't know somewhere.

Wedding Crashers
2005/Dobkin

Awesome movie, great editing and shit during the music accompanied party scenes. Ladies so damn fine. Vince Vaughn's facial expressions alone make me laugh. Great writing too, the guys are educated just enough to be able to use funny vocabularly. Enhances all the comedy. Vince Vaughn is amazing here again. Crab cakes obsessed. Seeems like so much fun to be there. Wanna go to a wedding. One of my favorites of 2005. The shit.

High Rating 4.5/5 Stars
Actual Rating4.5/5 Stars bitch

This edition of Mista's High Reviews has been brought to you by . . .

10 Wedny's chicken nuggets
1 Wendy's chicken sandwich, mayo, lettuce, and beautiful buffalo ranch sauce

1 Vince Vaughn
1 Stale Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tart
1/2 Bag of Tortillas
1 Baloon Bicycle
3 Trips upstairs for food
1 Silent dance in front of the bathroom mirror
2 Rambling movie reviews

Thanks for reading.

haha

I don't find the final shot tearjerking; in fact I find it rather unnecessary. I think the sudden change, in the execution scene, from a 'tough', silent wanderer to a babbling goner in desperation in the face of death is captured with heartrending abruptiveness, and I think it's one of the most powerful scenes in the entire ten films.

To me, that's the film's strong-point: two merciless killings in two entirely different contexts, one unlawful, the other sanctioned by the State, and both utterly repelling. It's the reason why I prefer the shorter version; much more succinct.

The longer version doesn't add much; Jerek visits his girlfriend after the killing - she turns out to be the same gal the taxi driver was perving on. (Though the murder remains without motive.)

I just didn't quite get Kieslowski's motivation in making his character expierience that transformation, which subsequently made me feel as though it came off less effectively. What are we as the viewers supposed to get out of it? Or is it, as the title suggests, just an objective piece, with no intended message? Simply titling it A Short Film About Killing implies no intended emotional reaction. Could the confusion I'm feeling perhaps be the intended result?

Any thoughts?

A Woman Under the Influence
1974/Cassavetes

An interesting piece. Definitely one of the better depictions of mental deterioration that I've seen, and this is an especially strong genre. Gena Rowlands performance is excellent as I've read, completely lived up to its hype. I also liked how Peter Falk's depiction of the husband who's losing his mind in a different way trying to deal with his insane wife nicely complimented and contrasted Rowlands' character. Their chemistry together was powerful.

Yet, I didn't like how despite the 6 month stint in rehab the wife did, she came out basically the same, and because of Cassavetes choice to make both the first and second dinner scenes especially long, I got a little bored after a while, considering they felt nearly identical. And to some extent, the uber-casual, I don't need to edit, I don't need to do anything special with the camera attitude employed by many independent filmmakers is starting to bother me. Although I must mention, I did really enjoy Cassavetes' use of the moving close up. By sometimes focusing on a moving subject in a close up, the viewers will often find the point of interest temporarily out of the shot, which allows Cassavetes to use a sort of slowly gliding, passive camera feel. Overall, a good film with excellent performances, but I thought it was just a little bit too light on plot line and camera work that could keep my attention.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Killing of a Chinese Bookie eventually.

3.5/5 Stars

I think that's the chief marker of Kíeslowski's aesthetic: he's not really interested in moralising, or manipulating. The power of Killing, for me, comes from the bleak detachment between camera and content. Music is used sparingly and effectively; Preisner's scores are beautiful, for all of his films, but have a cold haunting tone about them. They're certainly not as manipulative as, say, how Spielberg might use a John Williams score.

You perhaps felt uncomfortable with this emotional detachment?

And to some extent, the uber-casual, I don't need to edit, I don't need to do anything special with the camera attitude employed by many independent filmmakers is starting to bother me.

I hate this stereotype, especially for the father of Indie film. You know, when one produces it himself? Doesn't have a big budget? And on top of it is pioneering Cinema Verité, which is meant to be a documentaryesque depiction of reality. The whole film is built on it's characters. And did you even see the same film? And on top of it not every film needs to do something special wit hthe camera just to keep your attention. Just wait till you see Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise where the camera never moves.

SPOILERS
The same dinner scenes? You mean with her coming back completely quiet and devoid of her mannerisms until her husband couldn't take it anymore?
SPOILERS

I agree that I shouldn't really be blaming Cassavetes or other independent filmmakers for their sometimes mundane camera use considering...

A. Budget constraints
B. They're going for the documentary-like style, like you mentioned.

On that point, I understand and agree with you. But explain to me again the difference between the dinner scenes? It seemed to me like in both, the wife is fairly quiet but everyone kind of seems to be cautiously awaiting her to do something crazy, which she eventually begins to do, and then the husband freaks out. What's the major difference there? She didn't seem devoid of any of her previous behavior after the 6 month break.

And on a side note Vercetti, forget this argument. I've seen you name this as one of your favorite/best films. Could you perhaps explain why you feel the way you do? Often times a seasoned rewatcher can make me remember things I may have underappreciated in a film.

I don't feel as though it was that, exactly. Like I said, the scene seemed almost anti-climactic, as in not as interesting or stimulating as I thought it'd be. I'm not saying it gave me a confused and/or uncomfortable reaction, I'm saying it gave me little to no feelings that the scene seemed to be trying to induce.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ** 1/2

I knew it'd be hard to top the first Pirates and I was right. The story in this one didn't interest me as much and even though it was about a long as the original, this one felt longer/slower. I don't think any of the characters shined as well as they did in the first one (except for Keira Knightley). Also, I didn't care as much about Davy Jones as I did for Captain Barbossa. And for those thinking about leaving after the movies ends, STAY AFTER THE CREDITS!