Superb choice. I also second 40 Year Old Virgin, the thinking man's frat pack movie. It's more thoughtful and human than it has any business being.
Jack Black has never, ever, ever had a role wheer he didn't overact the shit out of it. I can't watch that guy for more than 10 minutes without resenting it.
He pretty much ruined that movie for me. Actually Cusack was pretty terrible too. The girl was cute though. But, thats just me.
Why people love John Cusack is one of the great mysteries of the ages. He has starred in terrible movie after terrible movie after terrible movie, and he has acted poorly in every single one of them.
Confessions, to me, is also an indictment not only of television, but of its audience in a slightly different way than normal. A lot of films critical of the "tv-reality," like Quiz Show, treat it as a trick foisted upon decent-minded people. Confessions treats it as the ultimate device for organizing mass resentment. It's an unflattering reflection of its audience. Chuck Barris, as noted social observer Dick Clark says in the film, was successful because he knew his audience and he was his audience. Whereas in most films about television, there's the hope that if only the right people ran it, it could still be a progressive force. Confessions doesn't offer that hope. It's funny that with GN & GL, people commented on the journalism aspects and didn't notice the television part, even though similar themes about television pop up in that film, too. I agree completely on Adaptation and your assessment of its differences with Confessions. I say it this way, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is the only film where Charlie Kauffman completes his thoughts. Or maybe George Clooney completes his thoughts for him. Maybe that's why Charlie supposedly dislikes the film so much, that he wasn't able to just horse around with whatever semi-idea struck his fancy lately.
"Lost in Translation" was liked a story based on me. I had the exact experienses in the same neighborhood -- Shinjuku, Japan -- a year or so before the movie came out. I also spent some time at that bar in the hotel. I was not an aging Hollywood actor. I was only 33, but I was and still is married. Of course, there was a girl in Shinjuku.... a girl I tried to forget. My ending was similiar to what happened to Murray, except she cried and never ran after me in a taxi. I read the plot..... hmmmm, it was based on me. So my expectation of the movie was high when it first came out. So I did not like the movie, but I will see it again someday. On top of head.... City of Gold.
I forgive him due to Grosse Pointe Blank, though repeated viewings of that movie are more due to the fact that I am in love with Minnie Driver's character.
How about we break them down into genres? Don't know if anyone would take the time to do that, I'm kind of busy, but it would be interesting to see what we can put together.
Equilibrium (2002) d Kurt Wimmer Hero (2002) d Yimou Zhang House of Flying Daggers (2004) d Yimou Zhang Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) d Ang Lee Best new action star of the decade - Tony Jaa - Muay Thai style fighter with films Ong Bak and The Protector (which opens in US in 2 weeks). He is the Martial Arts successor to Jet Li who is retiring from action films after Fearless. Incredible stuff.
I just realized there's a distinct lack of love for the art house/film school favorite "Shaolin Soccer".
I thought "Kung Fu Hustle" was great. But "Shaolin Soccer" was a mess, in my opinion. Not very engaging on any of the levels it was shooting for. And I love HK movies, Kung Fu movies, and soccer.
15 more 24 Hour Party People (2002, d. Michael Winterbottom) All the Real Girls (2003, d. David Gordon Green) Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002, d. George Clooney) Howl's Moving Castle (2004, d. Hayao Miyazaki) In the Bedroom (2001, d. Todd Field) Little Miss Sunshine (2006, d. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) Mystic River (2003, d. Clint Eastwood) Oldboy (2003, d. Chan Park-Wook) Pride and Prejudice (2005, d. Joe Wright) The Proposition (2006, d. John Hillcoat) The Return (2003, d. Andrei Zvyagintsiv) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, d. Wes Anderson) Russian Ark (2003, d. Aleksandr Sokurov) Solaris (2002, d. Steven Soderbergh) Unbreakable (2000, M. Night Shyamalan)
There's something about the films that I flat-out can't get into. I can't make myself read the books again either. I used to love the books and enjoyed the first two movies, but by the time the third rolled around, looking at it all just made me think, "So what?" I think it's much better than any of the other kung fu films released stateside so far this decade. House of Flying Daggers wasn't anything special; the action wasn't good enough for how predictable the plot was. Hero thought it was much better than it actually was. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was okay, but it didn't have a gay kung-fu master tailor, so it loses out as well.
Guess I'm the only one here that didn't like Unbreakable. What do you guys think of Mar Adentro(The Sea Inside) by Amenábar?
So in a movie about the writer of the movie you're watching writing a movie about a book that ends in such a "Hollywood" way, you don't think it is in any way a commentary on the film business/writing proccess? Especially when the writer creates a fake twin brother who comes up with the plot to Saw III.
Hate it! Hate it! Oh Heavens to Betsy, do I hate this movie. One last strichnine lullaby for a continent that has been in slow motion suicide for a century, at least. No one offers any resistance to the Bardem character to him that doesn't turn out to be a pushover, and anyone who dares to disagree with Bardem's character gets treated like an inhuman ogre. And just when it looks like he might find some resistance in the female attorney, lo and behold, she winds up in the same predicament and comes to see the absolute saintliness of his desire. I mean, this is a movie with a court scene that only shows only one lawyer speaking. That's how one sided this whole thing is. Gosh, I hate this movie. Just one man's opinion, though.
either i'm far too dense to understand what made the movie good, or it just wasn't any good. since i think The Magnificent Ambersons is better than Citizen Kane, you can decide for yourself... and, BTW, i thought A Beautiful Mind was a scam. good story, though.