The King of Comedy
(1983/Scorsese)
Very enjoyable. Well made film with consistent undertones of humor and peculiarity. Scorsese and DeNiro craft yet another dynamic character study. Really enjoyed the little news montage at the end, very un-Scorsese, but very good.

It's Not Just You, Murray!
(1964/Scorsese)

Are Kiarostami and Panahi in the same boat as Makhmalbaf as far as a lack of popularity?

I was just going to post about that before reading this. Yes I have. I watched the first disc (3 episodes) and I got the 2nd disc through Blockbuster Online on Monday but sent it right back out because I wasn't in the mood to watch it. Maybe one day I'll continue it but as of now I doubt it. The first episode was good but 2 & 3 just didn't do it for me [/b][/quote]Irishman12, have you decided to revisit the Decalogue yet? I know this post is ancient, but I was browsing.

Anyway, in my opinion, not every Decalogue episode is a masterpiece. For me the flaws (not failures) are Decalogue 3 and 7. Whereas Decalogue 4 is an interesting failure.

With that said, Decalogue 5 is without a doubt a masterpiece, but not an easy viewing. In fact, the whole series is not an easy viewing because it depicts difficult situations that dramatize the harsh realities of the human condition. Decalogue 8 has an interesting premise and succeeds.

So, I'd say jump ahead to the 3rd disc and watch Decalogue 10. It's a tremendous black comedy. That should be a good way to get back into it. Then maybe follow it with:

Episode 6, 9, 8, then save the best for last (Episode 5). Or, 10, 5, 6, 9, 8.

No, I haven't watched them since

Friday the 13th: Part 2 **
(Nth Viewing)

Yet another movie I got to see on the big screen, on Friday the 13th no less

Monster House * 1/2
(First Viewing)

This movie almost looked interesting enough for me to check out in theaters. Luckily I didn't because I didn't hardly enjoy it

MMTH,

The extended version is being released this December.

About the movie, I don't know if you haven't seen it yet (I'm going through this thread page by page), but it has the reputation of being possibly the perfectly shot film. Vittorio Storaro's career is legendary as is this film.

If someone were to ask a cinematographer to show them how film is an art, "Conformist" would be one of them.

TCM has shown in twice w/i the last year.

That's funny because I just saw The Conformist 2 days ago. I loved it.

What consitutes a "perfectly shot film" as opposed to, say, an "incredibly shot film"?

DVC, I rented Masculin féminin and Vivre sa vie on the same day, and watched them in immediate succession. Since I don't own them (yet), I was unable to revisit them when I recently re-explored Godard's work. All I remember, of both films, is liking them very very much. My database entry for Vivre sa vie reads:

"As the opening title explains, this is a film told in twelve scenes; every shot, in its rejection of basic cinematic rules, constantly reminds the viewer who is behind the camera, and the narrative dances along with building momentum until the Monogram B Picture finale."

The Conformist is an excellent film. The ending was frightening.

Nacho Libre ** 1/2
(Second Viewing)

Cool, thanks.

I think Vivre sa Vie, along with A Short Film About Killing, are the ultimate "show, don't tell" films.

Mission:Impossible III ***
(First Viewing)

Definitely the best of the trilogy. Philip Seymour Hoffman was on top of his game with this performance!

Capo,

"Perfectly" is an adjective I've seen used by other cinematographers to describe Storaro's work in the film.

Doesn't Godard shoot one of the scenes in "Vivre Sa Vie" in shot/reverse shot albeit not in typical analytic editing? Godard in the film shoots each scene differently and thus giving us a survey of different cinematic techniques moreso than breaking them - shows the endless possibilities on how to stage a scene. In the process, he strays from norms and "breaks rules."

I have yet to see The Conformist, but it should be coming very soon. Would I lose anything by missing out on the extended cut?

Don't Look Now
(1973/Roeg)
Some interesting cross-cutting techniques and a fantastic ending can't quite save an otherwise frustratingly mediocre film.

The Departed
(2006/Scorsese)
2nd viewings are always more satisfying. Really enjoyed Nicholson and Baldwin's performances, Scorsese's humor shined through more, and his directing techniques are the best we've seen in years. Yes, it's a bit long, but there are no long sections that drag, and the ending more than makes up for it. A masterful film for my favorite director, perhaps his 5th or 6th best. And he's one of the few directors where that's actually saying something. See it, see it, see it, if you have not. After how long I'd been waiting for this film, it is just so satisfying.

2 stars for such an enthusiastic review?

Or am I reading things wrong?

I realized my mistake a second before you had.

Edited.

Cool, and I guess if I compare my ratings with yours...I think we're in the same rating range.

More and more, I am certain that Scorsese will win the Best Director Oscar in Febuary. FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS isn't the critical orgy that the overrated MILLION DOLLAR BABY is, and with 2 Oscars to his belt, Eastwood lacks luster for 2006.

I'm just pulling for this and United 93 when Oscar season rolls around.

Did you ever end up seeing that?

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift **
(First Viewing)

Not as painfull as I imagined (that was left to 2 Fast 2 Furious) but this trilogy is nothing to "ride" home about (suspect_5) :p

The New Guy
(2002/Decter)
Decent comedy. Eddie Griffin's the man, and the O'Connell Brother's cameo was great.

The Last American Virgin
(1982/Davidson)
Nice little 80's high school flick, with an awkward moment here and there due to some exaggerated sexual antics, but overall, good. Although the suprisingly sad ending kinda comes out of left field.

Some Kind of Wonderful
(1987/Deutch)
It may have been directed by Howard Deutch, but you can tell good old John Hughes is a major force here (he wrote and produced). It was interesting to see Eric Stoltz in one of the only other films I've seen him in aside from Pulp Fiction, as he plays a drastically different character here. Compared to all the other teenage-aimed films that we've watched in my class, this one just rings so much truer, whether it be dialogue or the situations or the emotions, you can just tell there's a master of the genre behind the wheel. Hughes and Deutch also teamed up for 1986's Pretty in Pink, so I'll have to check that out sometime soon.

An American Haunting *
(First Viewing)

Horribly bad, slow and repetitive movie

Are you a Some Kind of Wonderful fan Irish?

It was my first real "Leah Thompson is hot" movie, and I know how much you like her.

Yeah I am a fan. My 3 favorite Lea Thompson movies are probably Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part II and Some Kind of Wonderful

The Break-Up ** 1/2
(Second Viewing)

Definitely funnier the second time around. Vince Vaughn is one of my favorite comedians alive today

Final Destination ***
(Second Viewing)

I LOVED this, the first time -- but I think the "shock value" is pretty much gone after seeing it once already. Once you know when things are gonna happen, it takes a lot away from it. If you're gonna see it for the first time, then grab an arm! But after that, it's just neat to pause and go frame-by-frame -- and to watch the xtras -- to see how they did it...

If you've never seen it: Watch it NOW!!!!

But if you have already, wait a couple years...

REDS (1981) - ****1/2 (Third Viewing)

I wrote my lengthy and incoherent review months back, which you can still find in the archives.

As perks with my new job, I get free shit...and I got the new REDS DVD as part of the gig.

With the nicely, and refreshingly remastered transfer, I forgot how beyond the performances and, unbelievably, Beatty's docu-drama narrative, its DP Vittorio Storaro that made this fucker work. When watching his work on the Russian Revolution, the snows of Finland, the sands of Africa, and the buorgeosis of the NYC intelligentsia of the turn of the century.....he so deserved the Cinematography Oscar. To think, he claims that he shot more feet of footage for REDS than he did for his other "epic" movie, APOCALYPSE NOW.

Midnight in the garden of good and evil (1997), directed by Clint Eastwood.

A film noir set in the Deep South. Mysterious, gothic, humorous. The final scene is absolutely impressive. Excellent performances by Kevin Spacey and John Cusak. Jude Law's final grin (or was it supposed to be a smile?) is chilling.

I've just seen Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly on the big screen. I'd expect Turnbull and SC to have seen it. Maybe others. Any thoughts?

Mine:

Fifties noir, but not; you can't help but look a little puzzled when it all turns a bit sci-fi, or even sigh (or smile) once you realise the narrative, with all its new faces and false leads, is going nowhere. Shot in absolutely hypnotic black-and-white, and played straight by Ralph Meeker as the hero, it is a bleak, though not humourless, piece of work, and a very enjoyable one.

I liked it. My friend says that part 2 is full of gory stuff. I don't mind gore, but it has to be meaningful, not stuffed in just for the sake of it. Anyway, have you seen it? Is it any good?