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Film Thread.
I thought a trio of themed threads about other entertainment media might be good. If you're not interested, please just ignore the thread and pick some threads that interest you from here: http://celephais.net/board/view_all_threads.php

Anyway, discuss films...
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Reminds Me Of An Old Joke I Once Heard In High School 
What do you call a fanny with teeth in?

A vicious cunt! 
 
I want to see that - heard it's good and goofy in a 'slither' type of way. 
Hmm 
That the vagina dentata one?

It's alright, mildly amusing, if slightly sub-average. Watch it if you have nowt else to do, but I wouldn't go out of your way to do so... 
 
RocknRolla, 2008 by Guy Ritchie
Nowhere near Lock, Stock ... or Snatch. Fun though. Very local english, I switched on subtitles after a while. Some hilarious, some cool scenes. But also a lot of stupid scenes. A bit much of annoying music. Some great actors. Ending unsatisfactory as it was not really about the actual main characters (12, Mumble and Bob for me). Will probably not watch again. 
 
The Informant! (2009) - Steven Soderbergh's latest, a satire of something like Michael Mann's more serious (and much superior) The Insider, tries too hard to be quirky and clever which was completely unnecessary given the loopy nature of the overall plot and main character.

It works best when it casually weaves in random stream of consciousness thoughts in the main character's voiceover narration and less successfully so whenever the music score emphasises each change in tone to such an extent that Soderbergh may as well have had cue cards popping up on screen instructing the audience which parts are meant to be serious and which parts are meant to be funny. Soderbergh's approach is even more beguiling when you consider how impressive Matt Damon is and how on the ball he is as to how each scene should play out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130080/

6.5/10


Up in the Air (2009) - Another decent film from Jason Reitman but once again it feels a little too clever for its own good and doesn�t end convincingly. He has a gift for making what should be smarmy and unlikeable characters likeable, and for extracting strong performances from his cast, but there is a little too much tongue in cheek in his films for them to work beyond surface level (I think Juno, once it got past the first annoying 20 min, worked best on this level).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1193138/

7/10 
 
The Italian Job (2003)
Very bad hollywood action movie. I think I should avoid movies with Mark Wahlberg (ok, Shooter was alright) and Seth Green (I so can't stand his characters...).


I got into The Big Bang Theory after getting bored of 2-3 seasons 3rd Rock from the Sun recently. Very funny show so far. I am sure nonentity will disagree. 
Spirit 
Spirit 
The exceptions are of course Three Kings and The Departed. 
Hmm 
Huh? 
Also 
The Corruptor 
Hang On 
you preferred Shooter to IJ remake??

I thought the first was terrible and the second decent.

Also, Boogie Nights, easily the best thing hes been involved in! 
Nitin And SleepwalkR 
Boogie Nights is definitely on the list, The Corruptor I have not seen, but will make an effort now. 
[Rec] 2 
Bit shaky in parts (not the camera), but otherwise okay. Hardly any new elements except for the conclusion, basically the same movie from a different perspective. 
Damn 
Boogie Nights > The Corruptor, of course 
Vigil./sleepy 
I would actually put the predictable but well made We Own the Night ahead of The Corruptor too. If only for the spectacular rainstorm car chase. But its also a decent movie :) 
So 
Los abrazos rotos by Pedro Almod�var is a movie I watched today and liked very much.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913425/

A blind screenwriter finds out that his archenemy is dead, so he tells the story from his past to his protege, and strives for some closure. 
 
Shutter Island (2009) - not sure how much of the flawed narrative is the book's fault but even if it is, I think some changes were warranted in the adaptation to film. Plays its cards way way too early and then the eventual resolution is so logically flawed, it takes away quite a bit from the reasonably well crafted film that otherwise takes place.

Scorsese the film buff is on full display, skilfully homaging many of the great noirs, particularly the works of Jacques Tourneur, and some of the sequences are from his heyday as a director, but the whole is definitely less than the sum of its parts.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/

5.5-6/10


Dexter Season 3 - the show's writers have a history of creating intriguing and morally ambiguous setups and then letting themselves down with an easy and morally simple resolution. And they are at it again this season, but this time with probably the worst example of the above. The setup for this season is brilliant, with Jimmy Smits excelling in his role as Dexter's new friend and secret sharer, but the denouement just gets silly and features leaps of logic that just should have been better through.

6.5/10


Young Torless (1966) - Volker Schlondorff's disturbing debut is a pre WWI drama set in an Austrian boarding school at which a young boy becomes a target for humiliation and torture by a group of other boys, each of whom have different reasons for participating. It works as both a claustrophobic drama that unfolds with uncompromising starkness and also as a thinly veiled parallel of the rise of nazism in civilised society.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060574/

7.5/10


A Prophet (2009) - Jacques Audiard has made a string of fine films but his latest is a modern crime classic. The rise of a young arab man in a french prison to mafia kingpin is not the most original of plots but Audiard's direction and Tahar Rahim's central performance elevate this to a much higher plane. Frequently brutal, always menacing, immaculately constructed and absolutely compelling from start to finish.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235166/

8/10


Genova (2008) - the new film from Michael Winterbottom takes more than a few cues from Nicolas Roeg's classic Don�t Look Now, having a grieving family looking to an italian city for solace and sharing supernatural overtones. Its nowhere near the quality of Roeg's film, suffering from a rambling script and being repetitive in both form and content, but it makes a fascinating use of its backdrop and is blessed with some fine performances, particularly from its young cast.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0791303/

6.5/10


Germany Year Zero (1948) - I cant believe this was allowed to be shot in Germany 3 years after the war. Roberto Rossellini's neo realist depiction of post war life in Germany is hardly a flattering view, featuring a demolished landscape and also a demolished society. The film centers on a handful of characters, all of whom move around Edmund, a 12 year old german boy who takes on responsibilities that you would not wish upon anyone anywhere.

The location shooting and use of non-professional actors lends it a remarkable authenticity and although I found it to be a little predictable narratively, its never less than engrossing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039417/

7-7.5/10


Che Part 1 (2008) - this is as unconventional a biopic as there has ever been. Steven Soderbergh is not exploring Che the man, but Che the icon and his approach seems to be to analyse his subject by comparing his leadership during two of his campaigns, the successful revolution of Chile, which is this film, and his unsuccessful attempted revolution of Bolivia, which is Part 2. Its not quite as narratively simple as that description because, in Part 1, he also goes back and forth between Che's 1964 United Nations General Assembly address.

Its not an easy film to watch, the first 20-30 min are particularly confusing but once you cotton on to what its trying to do, made easier by Benicio Del Toro's fantastic acting, its utterly compelling. Very keen to see Part 2.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892255/

7.5/10 
Dexter Season 3 
Yeah I agree, it started so strong but it seems that the show follows a formula that you can pretty much expect that Dexter's new buddy is going to get killed in the end, which was okay for the first 2 seasons (actually liked season 2 the best) and the last 2 episodes of season 3 especially I felt were backwards. It's like they ended the season an episode early, realized their mistake, and then put in the last episode just before airtime.

Hope season 4 is better when it comes out on DVD. 
Zwif 
yeap agree on season 2 being the best but even the end to that was too neatly and easily resolved.

Have heard John Lithgow is great in season 4. 
 
Ghost Dog: Pretentious.

Downloading Le Samourai, I trust nitin's recommendation. :)


Watched all of The Big Bang Theory now. It went quite downhill after half the third season. You gotta watch it from the start, I remembered watching a random episodes months ago and not liking it at all. Watching from the beginning I highly enjoyed most of them. Had some great laughs. 
To Be Fair 
Le Samourai can also come off as pretentious, but its also feels a hell of a lot more classy, cooler and natural than Ghost Dog 
$$$ 
Once Upon A Time In The West 
amazing, such strong impressions. Of course the fact that the music is so well known and recycled played a big part in making it even more immersing (I think that one likes music better the more familiar it is, guess why there are always the same songs on the radio). Dragged a bit near the end. Some bits were hard to understand (language issue mostly). Easily one of the best movies I ever saw. 
Yeah 
class film, does drag a bit but I love the opening sequence and the music is indeed ace. 
$$$ 
indeed. Meh. 
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