What movie did you see today?

[Timbuk2]

Another oldie for me:

Casino - A Martin Scorcese film starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone & Joe Pesci

Good movie with good performances from all involved (Sharon Stone plays the fucked up ex-hooker wife so well...you could believe she was playing herself ) but I loved the way Scorcese captures the era with the styles of clothes, cars, buildings, decor and even weapons - You could watch this movie just to see the fucking suits De Niro wears!

Yep agreed - tip top movie. Joe Pesci as creepy and despicable as ever in that.

~

Definitely, Maybe

Lukewarm romzycomzy. Ryan Reynolds as the protagonist; walked and talked like a Gillette shaving advert, and was about as bland.

Kevin Kline in a minor part looked and acted as sharp as ever though.

And Rachel Weisz luscious as always, but she was upstaged (for once!) by the effervescent, vivacious, pixie-like Isla Fischer, whom I saw last in the Aussie soap Home and Away about 20 years ago.




Anyway.

Movie gets a 6/10

[termite]

I saw 'The Road' yesterday - a Cormac McCarthy painfest with an emaciated Aragorn taking the lead. Most of the apocalyptic scenery reminded me of my first impressions of England in late autumn.

But it is a mature and responsible look at 'family' and all that entails, and it's very well done.

4/5 stars.

The way I usually feel is: A movie that moves you emotionally = Good Movie

When I watched The Road I was in a pretty good frame of mind and by the time the movie was over I felt on the verge of depression. So I should say it was a good movie because it must have moved me emotionally right? Yet I have this suspicion my depression was as much a result of the subject matter on the screen as it was with me wanting those two miserable hours back and my good mood along with it!

I do wonder though? When you're involved in making a dark & hopeless film like this do the actors have a miserable experience (suffer for their art perhaps)? Viggo Mortensen certainly had such a grim, desolate appearance (even for him) that it seemed more than just make-up and a few kilo's shed in a sauna before filming.

[Momo]

The way I usually feel is: A movie that moves you emotionally = Good Movie

When I watched The Road I was in a pretty good frame of mind and by the time the movie was over I felt on the verge of depression. So I should say it was a good movie because it must have moved me emotionally right? Yet I have this suspicion my depression was as much a result of the subject matter on the screen as it was with me wanting those two miserable hours back and my good mood along with it!

I do wonder though? When you're involved in making a dark & hopeless film like this do the actors have a miserable experience (suffer for their art perhaps)? Viggo Mortensen certainly had such a grim, desolate appearance (even for him) that it seemed more than just make-up and a few kilo's shed in a sauna before filming.

Interesting post. I think you're touching on several aspects here that usually remain unseen. In context of your post, the first is the writer: he must experience something directly in order to transcribe it to paper. He could use metaphors and fantasy landscapes to do so, but the characters and how they feel are his alone.
The second is the actor: he must absorb the character and learn to see through the other's eyes. By doing so, he recognises the writer and therefore understands his role in the story.
The third is just artistic direction: a greasepaint smudge here, a torn pair of jeans there. He may look skinny in a few scenes but chances are he's worked out to define specific parts of his body: abs perhaps, or upper back, to accentuate a look of hunger.

While the actor is on set, for those moments when he's delivering his lines, he's channeling something external. It's that channeling ability that makes for great movie moments. When he goes home, the channeled character can linger, sometimes for months.
It never leaves the writer, though.

[Flixy]

The way I usually feel is: A movie that moves you emotionally = Good Movie

When I watched The Road I was in a pretty good frame of mind and by the time the movie was over I felt on the verge of depression. So I should say it was a good movie because it must have moved me emotionally right? Yet I have this suspicion my depression was as much a result of the subject matter on the screen as it was with me wanting those two miserable hours back and my good mood along with it!

I do wonder though? When you're involved in making a dark & hopeless film like this do the actors have a miserable experience (suffer for their art perhaps)? Viggo Mortensen certainly had such a grim, desolate appearance (even for him) that it seemed more than just make-up and a few kilo's shed in a sauna before filming.

Haven't seen The Road, but generally movies that move you are good. I mentioned Beyond before, here, I left the cinema feeling rather depressed and sad. But it was a good movie! It depends a lot from actor to actor. Some actors are able to seperate themselves from their characters, they can really turn a switch to become something else. Quite fascinating to see. But I think most actors suffer to a certain degree. Some actors are notorious for how they immerse themselves into their characters - and as a result can be awful to work with for the duration of the project (and some time there after). And it can be painful for them too, especially if it touches their own experiences/personality/emotions - and can become too personal. In Easy Rider, if you've seen it (and if you haven't, do it!), in one of the later scenes on the cemetery, Peter Fonda, on acid, talks to a statue that represents his mother. However, he shifts from his character to himself. He later regretted showing so much of his real emotions (his mother committed suicide), and repeatedly asked Dennis Hopper to have it cut out. In the end they agreed to put it in there though (and gave Fonda leverage to push Hopper to get Bob Dylan's 'It's alright ma' song in there), and it's a great scene.

Caution: contains nudity. And made me not want to try acid


Writers can also distance themselves from the content though, Hazir. Depends on how personal it is to them. And in some cases, it can be a relief to write something off of you. It's an emotional venting, too, to write.



Went back to the film festival Still loving my free-films pass

-Les neiges du kilimanjaro. French film, quite good! Was a bit surprising when we got into the cinema, apparently it was also on the parcours of films old people would like, so the cinema was filled to the brim with senior citizens. Oh well, it was still good. It's about an older French couple, the man loses his job, and then they get robbed. More broadly speaking the movie is about the changing world (he's an old school, idealistic, socialist union member), not living your life how you'd expected to when you were younger (he's somewhat bourgeois now), and also quite strongly about guilt, compassion, retribution (he finds out who did it, but struggles with the consequences of that). I liked it a lot. Quite a lot of funny scenes too! Title comes from an old chanson. 8/10
Couldn't find a trailer with subtitles, so if your french is decent...


-50/50. Finally managed to see it, after sleeping through the press screening,and the saturday evening viewing that Seth Rogen attended was of course sold out completely. It's quite decent, but it's obviously a formulaic Hollywood film. It deals with cancer, with some humour, which is nice for a change (but not new, I know at least Dutch films that tackled this before). It's quite predictable,

Spoiler:

when you first meet the therapist, you know they will have a struggling start, get along well, have a falling out, and end up together. When you meet the girlfriend, you know she will cheat and break up. Etc, etc.

However, if you expect a hollywood flick, you expect that, and don't mind. It's well made, good acting, the humour is humourous, the emotional scenes are emotional (both the person to my left and right shed at least one tear from what I could see), so altogether a good movie. Of course, a lot of people went through similar situations or know people who did, which probably made it more emotional for a lot of the audience. 7.5/10

-George Harrison: Living in a material world. Documentary, by none less than Martin Scorsese, about, obviously, George Harrison. Takes a whopping 208 minutes, but I was not bored. Interesting interviews and footage, learned a lot about him that I didn't know, also went into the tensions and dynamics of the Beatles, but also quite deep into his life after the Beatles. Good flow, good editing, good documentary. 8/10

[Draco]

^^I saw the Road a short while back and it was incredibly depressing. Not something I'd like to see again or even think about (although I did like some of the questions it raised, themes etc, like when the kid says "are we the bad guys?"), but yeah, it was just so morbid.

But on a lighter note: Waterloo Bridge (1940): such a beautiful movie

And my favourite scene :


The music is perfect and it's what made the scene so wonderful.

[Hazir]

Yesterday; Contagion, which I did like quite a lot. Sort of a disaster movie without too much of the disaster visualized.

Today; The Change Up; mildly funny comedy about the good old body swap, this time between a lawyer and his good-for-nothing best friend with a heart of gold. Was a bit long at 2 hours as the funny material was a bit thin on the ground. Last half hour was filled with a longing for Ryan to take of (at least) his shirt.

[Timbuk2]

Midnight in Paris, at the cinema.

Woody Allen's return to form, with Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Marion Cotillard.

Fabulous fun, really enjoyed. Very playful writing. Allen at his rambling, meandering best. Wilson was the perfect choice as protagonist.

8.5/10

[Hazir]

The Debt , well written, well acted. And surprising.

[Ominous Gamer]

Mars needs Moms

way better than I was expecting. Scared the all living hell out of Scarlett, which is a first.

[Hazir]

The adventures of Tintin, entertaining, though maybe a bit too much geared towards younger viewers. I saw the 2D version which already looked pretty awesome.

Jane Eyre, a new adaptation, very well done but utterly lacking speed, so it did lead to time checking towards the end.

[Flixy]

I want to see Tintin! Also, I want to see the Lion King in 3D...


...but I jsut found out the Lion King is only running in the afternoon, and in Dutch. Grr

[Timbuk2]

I want to see Tintin!

This. Am a big TinTin fan, grew up with the books. Even have a number of TinTin pics on me walls.

[GGT]

Never heard of TinTin. Must be a euro thing?

I wanna see Puss 'n Boots. Also Margin Call.

[Timbuk2]

The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of classic comic books created by the Belgian artist Georges Rémi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 80 languages and more than 350 million copies of the books sold to date.[1]
The series first appeared in French in Le Petit Vingtième, a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le XXe Siècle on 10 January 1929. The success of the series saw the serialised strips collected into a series of twenty-four albums, spun into a successful Tintin magazine, and adapted for film, radio, television and theatre.
Set during a largely realistic 20th century, the hero of the series is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy (Milou in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash, cynical and grumpy Captain Haddock, the highly intelligent but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus (Professeur Tournesol) and other supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (Dupont et Dupond). Hergé himself features in several of the comics as a background character, as do his assistants in some instances.
The comic strip series has long been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire style.[2][3][4][5] Its "engaging",[6] well-researched[6][7][8] plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, accompanied in later albums by satire, and political and cultural commentary.

[GGT]

Rin Tin Tin (often billed as Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1920s and 1930s) was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several relatedGerman Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.

The first of the line (c. September 10, 1918 – August 10, 1932) was a shell-shocked pup found by American serviceman Lee Duncan in a bombed-out dog kennel in Lorraine, France, less than two months before the end of World War I. When Duncan found him on September 15, he was still blind and nursing.^[1]
The dog was named for a puppet called Rin tin tin that French children gave to the American soldiers for good luck. The dog returned at war's end with Duncan to his home in Los Angeles, California.^[2] He was a dark sable color and had very dark eyes.
Nicknamed Rinty by his owner, the dog learned tricks and could leap great heights. He was filmed making a 12-foot leap at a dog show by Duncan's acquaintance Charles Jones, who had just developed a slow-motion camera. Seeing his dog being filmed, Duncan became convinced Rin Tin Tin could become the next Strongheart. He later wrote, "I was so excited over the motion-picture idea that I found myself thinking of it night and day."<sup>[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rin_Tin_Tin</sup>

[Momo]

I want to see Tintin! Also, I want to see the Lion King in 3D...


...but I jsut found out the Lion King is only running in the afternoon, and in Dutch. Grr

I also would love to see the Tintin movie.

The lion king 3d is ok... it looks dated though and if you've seen it already the 3d aspect is a bit 'been there done that'.

I'd skip it unless you're some sort of hardcore fan.

[Flixy]

I mostly want to see it in cinema again cuz, well, I loved it as a kid, and I want to see it on a big screen, don't care about the 3D

Tintin is a famous belgian comic, loved it as a kid. I think I saw all the cartoon films The unicorn story is one of the best, too! I still have tintin in africa, which its amusing in it's old racism

[gogobongopop]

So. Sexy.

Films I've seen recently:

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
It was OK. Good atmosphere, decent script and acting; but overall I found it too slow and too dull. Don't get me wrong, I loathed Transformers 1, 2 and 3 with a passion, but there were just too many moments in this film where my mind started to wonder off. The main character didn't seem to say a single word for the first 30 minutes and the fill was just filled with shots of him walking, sitting, going in a lift and swimming. Not one to watch again.

How to Train Your Dragon
Bought this for Clara after reading some highly praised reviews. Wonderful film. Wonderful. It's my personal favourite of all the recent animated kiddy films. For me, it's knocked Toy Story 3 off the top spot. How they managed to make an incredibly cute dragon that resembles my cat, I don't know; and I don't care - it was just a wonderful film to watch. The soundtrack was also excellent!

Real Steel
If I were 10 years old again, this would have been my new favorite film. The CGI was stunning and I thought Hugh Jackman was great. Good stuff!

[Momo]

I mostly want to see it in cinema again cuz, well, I loved it as a kid, and I want to see it on a big screen, don't care about the 3D

Tintin is a famous belgian comic, loved it as a kid. I think I saw all the cartoon films The unicorn story is one of the best, too! I still have tintin in africa, which its amusing in it's old racism

It's not problematic for me because I can read it from the context of 1930's Belgium. The racism is based on ignorance of African people and culture, not on a hatred of black people: but that is the point of racist policy: it's usually more about ignorance than hatred.
So, basically, it's quite fascinating, getting a glimpse of how those people used to view Africans.

[Timbuk2]

So. Sexy.

Yeh. And married to fking Borat.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
It was OK. Good atmosphere, decent script and acting; but overall I found it too slow and too dull. Don't get me wrong, I loathed Transformers 1, 2 and 3 with a passion, but there were just too many moments in this film where my mind started to wonder off. The main character didn't seem to say a single word for the first 30 minutes and the fill was just filled with shots of him walking, sitting, going in a lift and swimming. Not one to watch again.

Not seen. Have been tempted, but will probably wait till its out on deeveedee and watch on a rainy tuesday eve.

[Lor]

Yeh. And married to fking Borat.

Did you know he's playing Freddy Mercury in an upcoming movie?

[Flixy]

@momo: I agree it should be seen in its time.

I liked tinker, tailor, soldier spy, it's a boy slow, but I don't mind that. I was pretty much all the time caught in the movie. But yeah, no harm in waiting for the dvd, it's not a film that's especially good in cinema. I'm not sure I'd have seen it, had it not been free.

[Hazir]

Subsaharan Africa is absent from the movie, a coutry that resembles Morocco is used as a backdrop with no real interaction between the hero and its inhabitants.

[Ominous Gamer]

Puss in Boots. Brandy has been wanting to see it, and after seeing his Old Spice parody, I couldn't refuse.



Its a well done movie, full of adult jokes that fly right over the kids head, but still plenty for them to cheer and laugh about.

[Dreadnaught]

It has been getting great reviews, but the just-release Margin Call is actually available for a 24 hour rental for $6 at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UT29Z0/

It was a very solid movie. And, with tickets at $13/each here, a great deal to watch from home at my convenience!

[Flixy]

I want to see see margin call, but I overslept for the press screening, and it doesn't have a wide release, I think.

[Ominous Gamer]

Tron: Legacy

I really enjoyed it. A good balance of story, action, suspense, with a bit of an undertone. Having The Dude play the creator was a bit of a shock, but he fit the roll very well once his character started getting filled in. Even Brandy like it, and she never goes for these techie movies. Michael Sheen did an excellent job playing Zuse.

[Flixy]

How was that a shock? He also played the same character in the first tron.

And the soundtrack is awesome, as well

[Ominous Gamer]

Its been a very, very, long time since I last saw Tron, to the point that I don't remember much of it. but I only got around to The Big Lebowski with in the past couple of years. The Dude really stuck in my head, and now its hard to shake him, especially when he plays the same care free character in other movies.

Sorta like how when Elijah Woods plays his deer in the headlights character. Seeing him in Green Street Hooligans, all I could think was hobbit.

[Flixy]

Fair enough. Tbh I always thought he was cast as the dude, because he played a similar character in the original tron