I thought was good, because it was self-aware enough to be humorous and ironic about the subject of how stupid society can get, and how much fun it would be to go on a rampage against that kind of bullshit. It's a world apart from something that tries to be serious, but fails, like "V."

As for reason/emotion, my main point is that political ideologies end up pre-judging who's good and bad, without much concern for looking at facts on a case by case basis. The world isn't convenient enough to just have a list of good and bad social institutions, and both sides continually promote this view, and rarely look at the real points and ideas on the other side. You can't blanket-apply one idea or ideology to every problem and expect it to work.

I like Mel Gibson. He is a competent filmmaker who is kind of obsessed with violence, but one doesn't have to take it seriously all the time. Indeed it's kind of funny how he replays the same revenge-violence stuff, sometimes very seriously (Braveheart), other times with more humor (Payback). But with all of the directors who are either hacks (ie, Michael Bay) or pretentious assholes (ie, M Night Shamylan), someone you can count on to be competent and sometimes creative is pretty good. 

why are you bitching about shamylan so much? 

Luckily with every film he makes, his anti-cult following grows.

There was a decent quick knock at him on one of the latest Southparks. Oh man I love those guys. 

Hah, yeah that scene from the last southpark with Shamylan, Bay and Gibson was pretty hilarious, and pretty much spot on.

(Yeah my only occasion to jump in to this conversation is when someone mentions southpark, should I be worrying?)

Went to see Stardust the other day, was entertaining enough, the music was bloody annoying and sometimes it was pretty cheesy, but it had it's moments and was still a nice light-hearted fantasy adventure movie. 

made 1.5 decent films. I do think he has a keen sense of suspense, he just uses it in mainly stupid films. 

Never seen it before, but I read the book a long time ago (thought it was a very good book), and Im undecided about the film. It was a bit crap. Its too much of an ambitious thing to make that book into a film, cause of the timescale. King put a lot of detail in the book. I almost wish I hadnt seen the film because it has clouded my memory of the book.

It was OK though, but as the endof the book the town collapses and theres a massive flood, and they missed that out of the film. 

you all might have misunderstood the movies (or maybe i did, and he really sucks). :)

e.g. i thought signs totally sucked the first time i saw it; but after a second & third watch i think it totally rocks.
It does take the 'american aliens horror'-scenario, but what's interesting about it (imho, of course) is that it puts the focus on the characters - to an extent that i wouldn't really describe it as a sci-fi alien movie anymore.

Village is similar, if you watch it with the expectation of a horror movie, it WILL suck, because it isn't such a movie.

I absolutely love the music and the visuals in his films. that's what it's all about for me, and those two elements alone make them great movies.

i have no idea if he's an asshole like portrayed in sp, but i don't really care ;) 

And I never watched his films with a pre-judged view of genre. He does have his own sort of genre, really.

It's just that his ego is so massive, and you can tell in his films, that he's trying to prove that he's a genius. This continually interferes with my enjoyment of the otherwise decent suspense stuff that he does.

Anyone seen "Altered"? It's more of a conventional take on the American-Aliens horror genre, but I found it quite effective. Some rednecks whose lives were ruined by an alleged alien abduction attempt to get revenge. The director of this was involved in Blair Witch Project (the first one).

"Those aren't ideas, those are special effects!"
"I don't... understand the difference."
"I know you don't! Get him out of here!"

lol. 

PROSTITUTE: I've still got 5 minutes left honey...
MEL GIBSON: Then go boil an egg.

Mel Gibson delivered that whole film like he was Frank Drebin out of Naked Gun, but it wasn't funny. Oh no, it wasn't funny at all. 

Blair Witch sucked.
Maybe if I were more of a city boy who has never been to the woods.

Guys, list some revolution flicks. There's "Goodby Lenin" which was hilarious (I recommend it), although it wasn't that realistic or serious all the time. About East Germany.
Then Kolja (or is it Kolya), about Czechoslovakia. But the movie as a whole isn't that good, and it's only a side thing. 

is a crappy version of Point Blank, I didnt think it was that funny either. 

You got me, I grew up in the city. But my friend who grew up in the north, whose parents own land up in the northern forests, thought it was good.
Subjective, yeah, but I think it's one of the better horror movies in the last 10 years. Altered isn't shot in the same way, but it has a sweet vibe of paranoia. 

Ok build up ending in total anti-climax. 

my 2 cents an Oldboy. I dont see how it comes across as anything other than (well done) pulpy entertainment.

Zodiac - well it looks great and is reasonably well acted, but the scripting is heavily flawed. David Fincher's sprawling 2.5+ hr film is too episodic (at least in the first half) and doesn�t really have characters, it has ciphers that are used to progress the plot along. That�s the biggest problem, the plot in general is interesting but without having characters of any substance, it doesn�t amount to much. Mark Ruffalo comes out best, but all he's doing is making the best out of a very underwritten role.

As for the subject matter itself (ie the impact of an unresolved serial killer case on the investigators and community), the 2003 Korean film Memories of Murder does it much better justice.

6.5-7/10



Malcolm X (1992) - it has some great moments, but most of them are buried in unnecessary scenes and unnecessary nostalgia. Spike Lee's overlong film could have been great had some of the material been trimmed so that the power of the great scenes could have more impact.

You have to give credit to Lee for changing the tone of the film to match the changing of the character throughout his life, so that it goes from the giddiness of low level crime to religious sermon to blindly political and finally to unwanted reason. I'm not a huge Denzel Washington fan either, especially in his more recent stuff with Tony Scott, but here he is extraordinary. It's a fantastic performance that doesn�t draw attention to itself but instead to the character (which is where I have problems with some of the more recent biopic portrayals like Ray etc).

Still, as mentioned earlier, I found the length to be unnecessary (especially some of the early scenes) and despite the material being fascinating, the overall movie wasn�t as impressive.

6-6-5/10



Ask The Dust (2006) - Robert Towne returns to LA in his debut feature as director (he wrote Chinatown), but the results are of a far lesser quality. Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek star in this story of a writer looking to make it big but struggling with writer's block and moving to LA for inspiration. It's gorgeously shot, it definitely has a Chinatown feel to it, but unfortunately the writing is nowhere near the same level. Farrell does well with what is a limited role but Hayek is terrible and the script in general is pretty poor.

5/10



Corpse Bride - Tim Burton's return to stop motion animation is a pale imitation of his earlier The Nightmare Before Christmas which was wittier, had more plot and better characters. This new film is still a pleasure to look at but although its short, the script runs out ideas very quickly. There's some nice jokes but on the whole its pretty thin material struggling to make its short running time.

5.5-6/10



The Crow (1994) - Alex Proyas is a very talented man and he lends this considerable flair and style which elevates it to decent level even though the material is not exactly great. Brandon Lee is fairly intense as the title character but its mainly Proyas' interpretation of the world the comic is meant to be set in that keeps you interested. The fact that it's a convincing depiction and there's no CG also makes it a very refreshing change (hello 300).

6-6.5/10 

replace Oldboy with blair witch project. i dont ven know how that happened. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302886/
Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn, super sexy girls, how could this be bad. (Not to mention a short scene with the Stiffler and one other "famous" guy I already forgot about right now.)
Could have had some more love (the ending was a bit underwhelming) but it was fun and great. Ellen Pompeo, god she has a smile. 

Eastern Promises - moody, brutal thriller/drama from the Cronenberg-Mortensen team and it's as good as their last offering, A History of Violence. The script is tight, every plot point and character action fits together nicely without feeling too forced or contrived.

Mortensen is very good as Nicolai, an english russian mafia heavy man, and he is well supported by Naomi Watts and an in form Vincent Cassel (who finally gets a decent english language role).

Cronenberg directs well, mixing restraint with unflinching (although gratuitous) violence and the end result is pretty satisfying.

7.5/10


A Prairie Home Companion (2006) - Robert Altman's last film, a fictional behind the scenes look at the final show of a long running radio series in the american midwest that gets suddenly cancelled, is reasonably entertaining thanks to some hilarious conversations and very good performances from the ensemble cast.

However, that's all it is, a string of conversations, some interesting and some not so much. There's nothing really holding it together, apart from what looks like whimsical nostalgia, and it really doesn�t amount to much apart from being a nice diversion.

6/10


Slings and Arrows Season 2 - not as good as season 1, but that's a realtive comparison, because it's still a damn fine season of tv. It retains almost the same format as season 1, which makes it seem not a fresh but otherwise it's darker and whackier with the same high level of writing and acting.

7.5/10 

Mean Machine - Watched this again last night. Its a copy of a remake , and also a remake in itself (IMHO). Anyone who's seen The Longest Yard (old or new) or the original Mean Machine will know what I'm talking about. The screenplay of all four movies is almost identical. Mean Machine (2000?, Vinnie Jones) is by far my favourite. Its very very funny. About screws playing guards at fooball (or soccer if your American). In each film theres always a guy who plays a psycho whos in maximum security and this film has Jason Statham (sp?) who plays 'The Monk', a martial Scottish martial arts expert, who ends up in goals. His daydreaming scenes are priceless. Also there is a 'lesson' in how to play dirty given by The Monk using Danny Dyers as a model, where he demonstrates 26 different 'moves' which could be used to immobalise the opponents. All in all hilarious, not too long, well scripted, well worth a watch:

8/10 

I know, I know... 

Weeds Season 1 - even though I found quite a lot of the drama and comedy to be forced and/or predictable, on the whole this was quite a decent show mainly due to the performances. Mary Louise Parker does a really good job, even on the numerous occasions the script lets her down, and most of the others rise above the material too.

But I shouldn�t criticise the scripting too much, even though its not as clever as it thinks it is, it hits the mark regularly enough for it to be satisfying.

7/10


Criss Cross (1949) - excellent film noir from Robert Siodmak. Burt Lancaster does really well here, his character seems to be aware he is doomed right from the start and Lanacaster portrays the reluctant acceptance of his situation very well. Tight script with neat supporting performances and its shot very well too.

7.5/10


Ugetsu (1953) - hmm, it's pretty well made in almost all areas and has some very neat ideas, but it just didn�t work for me beyond an appreciation level. Kenji Mizoguchi's period fantasy about the actions of two farmers during civil war in the samurai times is part neo-realist cinema and part ghost story, with both parts fairly convincing in their execution.

The story, however, is very melodramatic and I personally think melodrama requires a heightened form of acting to work and the neo-realist approach adopted here did not work for me in that aspect.

Still, well worth checking out.

6.5/10


The New World (2005) - Definitely overlong, and the last half an hour doesn�t work as well as it should, but otherwise I found this to be an excellent take on the Pocahontas story with engaging performances from Colin Farrell, newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher and Christian Bale.

Terence Malick obviously has a slow, ponderous and meditative style, and it's one which annoyed me no end in The Thin Red Line, but here I found it captivating in managing to transplant you right in the middle of where this movie takes place. The cinematography here goes beyond just pretty imagery and actually makes you feel the location, so much so that after spending 2 hours in the jungle when the movie finally shifts to England for a brief period, it seems as alien to the viewer as it does to one of the characters.

Now admittedly the style and pace is not for everyone and will most likely bore many when coupled with the lack of any real story, but this is in my mind what cinema is all about. A good story is a bonus but when you have such command over sound and image and are able to extract performances from your cast that support the atmosphere, narrative drive is not all that necessary in my book.

7.5/10


The Little Foxes (1941) - very well acted and scripted (if predictable) melodrama by William Wyler starring Bette Davis. Davis is terrific as usual and the supporting cast are wonderful, most of them underplaying their scenes with Davis but still having as much impact.

William Wyler also must have had a thing for staging crucial end scenes on stairways, this is the third movie (the others being Jezebel and The Heiress) of his where I've noticed it.

7.5/10


Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - gold black comedy but it would be a disservice to the great script in calling it just that. The great thing about the writing is that although its often wickedly clever, it manages to also be touching and dramatically convincing when it needs to be. Great ending too.

Add to that the brilliant performance(s) of Alec Guiness who plays 8 members of a royal family that are targeted for murder by an unhappy descendant (an excellent and deadpan Dennis Price) and you have a great film.

8/10 

that someday a movie will be made that has this sort of impressionistic experience of nature's magic and all that stuff. I hoped New World could have been it but no. 

your all gay 

I just watched Hoodwinked. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443536/

Great! If you like animation movies but are bored by all the generic crap nowadays (after Shrek and Ice Age), then give it a try. I was really well surprised. 

Macbeth (1971) - easily the best film version of any shakespeare play I've seen, Roman Polanski's extremely literate adaptation will not be for everyone, mainly because it retains the dialogue as written, but it is most definitely a great film with tons of atmosphere and excellent performances.

Its not perfect by any means, some of the slight changes such as casting Francesca Annis as a much younger Lady Macbeth dont work, but otherwise it manages to do the tale justice, quite a feat considering how many difficult adaptable scenes there are in the play.

It also alters the ending ever so slightly, but it's masterstroke, wrapping up the movie beautifully and providing a nice tie in to history.

8/10 

Weeds Season 2 - writing's a little bit better, more chracter development this season but otherwise I still think it could be sharper and darker and less forced. Still there are moments of hilarity and the performances are top notch.

7/10


Ball of Fire (1941) - for a movie written by Billy Wilder and directed by Howard Hawks, I found it extremely disappointing. The writng lacks spark (although you can see the template for Some Like it Hot being put into place) and the direction seems lazy.

The only thing going for it is Barbara Stanwyck's performance, and even that is a rehash of her far better work from the same year in The Lady Eve.

5/10


Layer Cake - terrible wannabe brit gangster flick. It lacks the humour of Lock Stock... and does not have the hard edge that it thinks it does. Its basically continously ceasless exposition that makes sure you cant care less about the plot or any characters.

Daniel Craig is decent but his performance is wasted in a movie as bad as this.

4.5/10


Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - Havent seen any other versions of the tale (including the new one from a month or so ago) but Philip Kaufman's 70's version has a nice atmosphere of paranoia and unease.

Unfortunately, that is offset by some silly scripting and dodgy music and acting. Not a bad film, but not really a good one either.

6/10