That's interesting. I'd rate Lotus as his best ever although I really loved the earlier Cigars of the Pharaoh. Thinking about it - its probably just a great example of how great movie opportunities get compromised by the need to seek box office safety Lotus: Colonial Shanghai? NO Sharks: Middle East Puppet Regimes? NO Black Gold: Oil Politics? NO Calculus: Cold War Eastern European Intrigue? NO Red Rackham: Sunken Pirate Treasure? HOLD THE PHONE And so a movie gets made out of one bottom 5 Tintins Of the rest there is not enough to make a Big Film out of them. To me the one that would make a really great movie is The Calculus Affair. It has a strong story line, and loads to work with in terms of setting and atmosphere.
Yeah, not just Europe either. I saw it all over the place in some Asian countries (along with Asterix and Obelix), but not here. This movie might be aimed overseas.
Not much was going on tonight so I decided to revisit an old favorite. Network (1976) It's an important movie to watch anytime, but it's particularly important to watch now. I don't know of a phrase that is more associated with the Republicans in the last few years than "mad as hell". They use it in their speeches, the Tea Party put it on their billboards, that crazy guy up in New York used it as his slogan in 2010. And it is understandable. The Beale speeches in the movie are so emotionally attractive. But the point of the movie isn't those speeches, it's about how those messages were manufactured, manipulated, and used. On a more important note, this is one of those films whose TV-ratio release used the whole image of the source 35-mm film instead of cropping the widescreen image. This means that if you watch the 4:3 version you get to see Faye Dunaway's boobs, which you don't see in the widescreen version.
We Bought A Zoo. I thought it was very enjoyable. I needed a good natured low key film to help ring in the new year with the family and this most certainly fit the bill.
I saw 22 movies that were released in 2011. That's probably too few to make a Top Ten list, but here goes anyway: 1. Midnight in Paris 2. Win Win 3. Cave of Forgotten Dreams 4. Hugo 5. Drive 6. Hanna 7. Super 8 8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes 9. The Tree of Life 10. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Bridesmaids and Martha Marcy May Marlene are honorable mentions. I didn't see The Guard, Young Adult, Certified Copy, The Descendants, A Separation, or Attack the Block. Had I seen them, I bet they'd be competing for a spot in the top ten.
and Rescue Me - just finished Seasons 2 and 3 --- i get absorbed in about 3/4 of the episodes, but the 3rd season has some of the characters becoming caricatures of themselves and that can get annoying sometimes... Sheila is insane, she makes me angry every time she is on the screen... as for the show itself, when the hammer drops on a plot change, it comes big... so season 4 is upcoming...
The Adjustment Bureau - I really liked this. The movie just flew past and I went along for the ride...
The first movie I ever saw on my own was The Muppet Movie. For me, The Muppets is a worthy follow-up.
Dogtooth - ok, I've seen some weird movies before, but this has got to be in the top three. WTF throughout the whole movie.
It's definitely a strange movie. Just curious, what are the other two that you would list in your top three?
absolutely terrifying. how anyone ever made money off of puppets i'll never know. theres no money in the world you could pay me to sit through a movie like this
Young Adult I liked it better than the other Diablo Cody-written movie I've seen (Juno), and about as well as the other Jason Reitman-directed movie I've seen (Up in the Air). Which is to say, I quite liked it. Excellent performances from all involved, but especially Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, and Patrick Wilson. It's a study in self-deception and callousness; quite funny throughout.
Have you ever watched anything with the Muppets? It really is entertaining and the early movies as well as the TV specials were fantastic.
I haven't seen it. I looked it up and saw John Waters name on it, so it makes sense. I think I'll pass on it for now. I'm not in the mood for anything by Waters.
Yeah. That movie's messed up. I watched it earlier this year and was just like "___________!!!!" at times.
DRIVE (2011) Caught this is the $1.50 theater last night. Really enjoyed it. I also loved the ambient score by Cliff Martinez.
Drive (2011) Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn I missed the original theatrical release but caught it over the weekend in the tiny little theater not too far from where we live. It references many genres and movies, but at its core it's really a western set in modern day Los Angeles. The most obvious influence in terms of narrative is Shane. Like the titular character in that film, the main protagonist is a man who is essentially running form his own dark past ("I do not carry a gun") but is forced back into his old ways by evil men and his desire to protect a child and his mother. The visual style is obviously a tip of the hat to Mann (especially the locations and the night scenes, but also the opening titles/credits). In a movie brimful of references and winks, I'm sure I missed many of them, but one little one I especially enjoyed is the sound of the passing train as the Driver waits in the getaway car for Standard and Blanche during the pawn shop hold-up. Another obvious reference to the Western genre, and one that is oh so easy to miss. The entire cast is brilliant, but I want to single out Gosling for how much he does with so little dialogue (he has to act with nothing more than his eyes in many scenes and pulls it off) and Carey Mulligan as the female lead. She reminded me of something that Monica Bellucci once said in an interview, how the French and Italian movie divas were two very different archetypes. The Italians (like Sofia Loren and Claudia Cardinale) embodied the ideal of the "Woman", even at an early age, whereas she described the Frenchwomen as more “girlish”. The amazing thing about Mulligan in this movie is that she is able to capture both ideals, sometimes in one and the same scene. It’s certainly one of the more compelling performances I’ve seen recently. The soundtrack is very memorable and I have already ordered it off Amazon. I think this deserves to go to the very top of the 2011 releases I've seen.