What movie did you watch last night? (14 Viewers)

[Mormon Nailer]

Of course it's salient you can't pick and choose which films are criticised by what set of standards (except documentaries) I hold them all up to the same standards and ZDT is fiction. secondly I couldn't give two fucks about the film makers criticise them all you want Mel Gibson is a racist anti semite but Apocolypto isn't a bad film because of that.

So if it's faction then back to my original question - Why is it important that the terrorist pursued is named Osama Bin Laden.

This argument that it's just fiction, so what if it's wrong really baffles me. You really see no distinction between Inglorious Basterds and The Longest Day? Or the scene in Michael Collins where Kitty O'Shea flies in a helicopter to mBeal na Blath to save Michael, doesn't trouble you?

 

[washingcattle]

So if it's faction then back to my original question - Why is it important that the terrorist pursued is named Osama Bin Laden.

This argument that it's just fiction, so what if it's wrong really baffles me. You really see no distinction between Inglorious Basterds and The Longest Day? Or the scene in Michael Collins where Kitty O'Shea flies in a helicopter to mBeal na Blath to save Michael, doesn't trouble you?

It isn't important that the name of the terrorist is Osama Bin Laden, the film wouldn't be any better or worse if his name was Ahmed Khan or Tim the Sorceror.

No there is very little distinction. I knew very little about the Khamir Rouge or Dith Pran before I saw The Killing Fields but the film was a great film. That's the point I've been making all along ZDT is a very good film. I said it isn't trying to take a stand on torture and it isn't. I said it's a detective story with no moral core and that's what it is. You want to talk about it in terms of journalistic truth. I don't see the point.

Every single film based on a true story is inaccurate Ned Broy dies at the hands of the british in Michael Collins. This never happened.

Dieter Dengler supposedly thought everyone in the prison camp how to pick their handcuffs in Rescue Dawn. This never happened.

It doesn't make them bad films. What makes films based on true stories bad films is when the director co-opts the story to make a political or moral point. For example the Brits are portrayed as absolutely blood thirsty in Michael Collins or The Patriot. The Americans are portrayed as absolutely saintly in Saving Private Ryan this is the type of film making I despise. Like I said I'll take ZDT, Hunger or Bloody Sunday over any of those moralising films any day.

Lastly the first day of History for the junior cert you get told that as a source feature films do not count. It's that simple.

 

[pete]

Silver Linings Playbook - verdy good, notwithstanding the fact that everyone just seems to get cured of the crazy about halfway through.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Cabin in the woods-it shouldn't really have worked but they just about pulled it off.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Hilarious black comedy with an EDGE.

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[David Kronenbourg]

The Bay. Barry Levinson's found footage style eco-horror. Not very good.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Abres Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). Later remade into Vanilla Sky. Far superior to the Tom Cruise vanity project.

 

[Anthony]

Argo.
Twas good. Affleck certainly directed himself to look good. ALl the old 70s/80s stuff was great as was the malcom in the middle guy. Actually great cast all round.

 

[pete]

Red Dawn. Not as good as the original.

 

[pete]

Hitchcock. Enjoyable - worth it for the Psycho premiere scene.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Abres Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). Later remade into Vanilla Sky. Far superior to the Tom Cruise vanity project.

Always been meaning to check this out. I actually really liked Vanilla Sky.

 

[hermie]

Abres Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). Later remade into Vanilla Sky. Far superior to the Tom Cruise vanity project.

That face on the poster looks like Jack L. *shudder*

 

[washingcattle]

Having been caught up in a seemingly endless and debate about the pros of cons of torture I haven't had the chance to blather on about what I've been watching recently so here's a quick catch up of what Netflix says I watched this week.

The Long Goodbye.

Robert Altman updates Phillip Marlowe from the 1940s to the 1970s, played by Elliot Gould instead of Humphrey Bogart he's a chain smoking mumbling, shambles who simply drifts from event to event trying to catch up to who is lying to him who wants to kill him and why. Gould is just cool as fuck the entire time and Altman allows the film to drift along at a considered pace occasionally changing the tone from laid back mystery to one scene of genuinely unsettling and rather gruesome tension. The performances are as natural as any other Altman film and though the whole thing doesn't totally hang together perfectly as a detective story (unlike Zero Dark Thirty for example -wink wink) The Long Goodbye is a perfect example of both Altmans take on cinema and also what was so great about the 70s in american cinema. In the end the film is a masterclass in tone and mood and what's left behind in terms of the usual important aspects of film noir, like tension and pathos is replaced by sheer cool as fuck bravado. In many ways a blueprint for the Cohens Big Lebowski pity there's no Bowling though.

Being Elmo

The rags to riches story of Kevin Clash, an African American puppeteer who rose from humble beginnings in Baltimore Maryland to be one of the most recognised voices in childrens entertainment as the man behind Elmo. Hi story is interesting, starting out with his love of puppets, his first breaks into television, his eventual meeting with Jim Henson and his subsequent rise to stardom (of sorts) the film however is too formal in it's approach and never scratches the surface as to the mans character except to say that he is a hard working and dedicated puppeteer. After the film was released Clash was accused of improper sexual contact with minors and more recently of the use of crystal meth which could lend some sinister overtones to scenes of Clash inviting children to visit his workshop and to essentially hug his right hand. This of course is not present in the actual movie. However ultimately the film is a somewhat empty portrait of a workaholic and a perfectionist who has made his own luck in achieving his goals.

Kurt and Courtney

I've seen a few of Nick Broomfields films at this stage and his mix of Louis Theroux and Werner Herzog can shift between bizarre, personable, smarmy even in only a couple of seconds. Broomfields film is essentially about the way in which Courtney Love manages to forcibly shut people around her and Kurts mouths, without ever managing to penetrate the wall she's put up as to why she needs to do engage in this. By the end of the film the question of whether or not Courtney had a hand in Kurts death remains unanswered but it's hugely ironic that from the get go Broomfield himself states that he doesn't really believe that Courtney had anything to do with it. What there are however are several characters worthy of parts in Twin Peaks, lots of junkies being untrustworthy and generally flakey and plenty of music by Earth, since Courtney refused to allow Broomfield the rights to Nirvanas music. What your left with is a bad taste in your mouth as Social butterfly Courtney Love transforms into A list Hollywood actress and rock star while simultaniously behaving like an arch criminal, defining the word cunt and generally seeming like as crazy and as malevolent a force as anything which David Lynch has ever invented. Which is saying something. Interesting if not hugely satisfying.


Aileen : Life and Death Of A Serial Killer

Broomfields other offering on netflix fares much better than Kurt and Courtney. This time it's the strange tale of Aileen Wuornos, Americas first female serial killer. Isn't it great to see feminsim in action ? Fisrt voting now mass killing ? great stuff altogether. Wournos lived a life which is about on par with being reincarnated as one of those beetles that eats and lives on shit, and then having a few of your legs burnt off by a passing toddler with a magnifying glass. The first hand accounts of her childhood make the film well worth a look if for nothing else just to have an idea of exactly how badly a human can be treated. Eventually Wournos ended up working as a prostitute and murdered and robbed six men. She was caught and during her trial Wournos claimed that the police and DA prosicuting the case where already selling the story to Movie execs and begged for a mistrial, of course she failed was convicted sentenced to death and lo and be-fucking-hold the echo of the gavel hitting the eh... whatever it hits... I'm surprised I knew the word gavel..... eh anyway it was still audible when the film Moster was in the can and Charlize Theron won an oscar for forgetting her make up. I haven't seen Monster but this is as harrowing a tale as you are likely to see about what it takes to make a serial killer. So odd it's well worth a look.


American Movie

I wrote a lengthy review of this but before I hit "post" my browser logged me out for taking too long. It's annoying but it did give me time to attempt to coin a phrase, wait for it.... Folkumentary. I googled it and apparently it's a fucking film so it probably won't make it into the film lexicon which is a pain in the hole because I worked hard on that and it describes what i'm on about perfectly. American Movie is the story of a down on his luck near alcoholic named Mark Brodchardt who with the help of his friends and family has been trying to make a great American Movie called Northwestern for over a decade. That's all I'm saying this time. See this movie.

A precursor to films like Anvil or King Of Kong which I'm also calling a "folkumentary" this has a far funnier, edgier but also larger heart, definitely the best of the films I've seen of late and well worth a look.

Shadow Dancer

Which isn't on netflix but is on a USB key which a mate filled up for me. YAY. Set against the backdrop of IRA shenanigans in the mid nineties just prior to the end of out and out hostilities. James Marshes film is well acted and tightly scripted but unfortunatley never manages to fully ignite... kind of like a duff incendiary device. While by no means a bad movie it just isn't quite as good as it could be. The accting is good all round although Aiden Gillen can't do a nordie accent to save his life and there are some effective moments, it's similar to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in tone and execution but never manages to fully explore the vast possibilities of turning a complicated plot into a very complicated plot. One of the rare occasions in which a film should have been longer. It feels rushed towards it's conclusion As such it lacks tension and gets slightly predictable. Of course I may be opening a can of worms here but the film really has nothing to say about the north and uses the politics as backdrop rather than ever engaging with the decision making process of the IRA the repercussions of the peace process or the slight futility of score settling prior to the agreement to lay down arms. To be fair this would be fine by me if the film had worked a little better as an out and out thriller but the fact that it never really engages with the North is not helped by the fact that it was for the most part filmed on the street where I grew up which for me was a more than slight emersion break. So worth seeing if you want to see where little Washingcattle first learned how to impale himself on a wire fence. Which did really fucking hurt I'll have you know.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Set sometime in the early '90s, some nice period touches like the kids not knowing a song on the radio and not being able to find out instantly what it is. I found it lacklustre and the fact that the actors are quite obviously older than the age of the characters they're playing really took me out of it. I also felt that, for whatever reason, they played down the look. It doesn't really scream at you that it's set 20 years ago. Obviously the lack of computers/mobiles is there but I don't think they got the fashion right, perhaps that was deliberate, they didn't want to go with a comedy, wacky '90s angle. Most of the characters look too good though and a couple of them look more 1970s than anything. Although it portrayed quite well the main characters inner tumult it just didn't really hold any surprises. I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10.

End Of Watch

I read some rave reviews of this which makes me think that most film reviewers are either in some fucking payola scam or don't know their arses from their elbows. It wasn't shit but it wasn't that good. The best, most novel element is the banter and rapport between the two main characters, very well played by Gyllenhaal and Peña. They arcwelded a pointless "found footage" element to proceedings that doesn't do anything for me whatsoever and the cartoon villains are really ridiculous, to the point of almost sinking the film. It's a pity because the verisimilitude of the main characters' relationship and dialogue suggests this could have been an excellent film if played less for action/drama and was more slow burning. There are also a couple of WTFy edits where it seems like the director just decided a year or two had gone by for no reason.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Great reviews Washing Cattle. I think I'll re-watch The Long Goodbye again this weekend. A fine slice of atmospheric noir.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Kurt and Courtney

I've seen a few of Nick Broomfields films at this stage and his mix of Louis Theroux and Werner Herzog can shift between bizarre, personable, smarmy even in only a couple of seconds. Broomfields film is essentially about the way in which Courtney Love manages to forcibly shut people around her and Kurts mouths, without ever managing to penetrate the wall she's put up as to why she needs to do engage in this. By the end of the film the question of whether or not Courtney had a hand in Kurts death remains unanswered but it's hugely ironic that from the get go Broomfield himself states that he doesn't really believe that Courtney had anything to do with it. What there are however are several characters worthy of parts in Twin Peaks, lots of junkies being untrustworthy and generally flakey and plenty of music by Earth, since Courtney refused to allow Broomfield the rights to Nirvanas music. What your left with is a bad taste in your mouth as Social butterfly Courtney Love transforms into A list Hollywood actress and rock star while simultaniously behaving like an arch criminal, defining the word cunt and generally seeming like as crazy and as malevolent a force as anything which David Lynch has ever invented. Which is saying something. Interesting if not hugely satisfying.

Loved that when I saw it the IFI all those years ago. The crazy Courtney (and her crazier dad) sections were good, but the footage that always stuck with me was of Kurt talking about what music meant to him, and of being in love. Quite endearing really.

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[David Kronenbourg]

Gus Van Sant's Gerry. Two guys named Gerry get lost in the wilderness and that's about it. Kind of transfixing. Lovely scenery.

Take Shelter. Second viewing of this. Much more rewarding. I found it a little unfocused the first time. Michael Shannon is terrific as a regular joe terrified he might be losing his mind. The storm sequences are beautifully composed.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Peter Gabriel - Live In Athens 1987.

This Way Up. Blindingly good with an immense version of In Your Eyes.

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[7 - No tomorrow]

Loved that when I saw it the IFI all those years ago. The crazy Courtney (and her crazier dad) sections were good, but the footage that always stuck with me was of Kurt talking about what music meant to him, and of being in love. Quite endearing really.

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I don't get the obsession with this guy. An asshole in his 20s that took the easy way out. People attach mystic significance to people just because they are dead.
Some decent records and that, but come on.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

If Matt Johnson had died after Infected he'd be bigger than fucking Elvis.