I really liked Final Desitination too. I only saw it this past year, not really knowing much about the movie, but was entertained (and surprised) throughout the film. Loved the ending.


TIS

It's great to get to see one of your favourite films on the big screen, on actual film.

Saw Singin' in the Rain today. Golly. What a masterpiece. And tomorrow I have a dilemma: to watch Citizen Kane on the big screen, or The Godfather.

Hmmm. Steak or lobster.

I am not so sure this applies to all kinds of movies. I recently saw Godfather and Shawshank, two of my favorites on a relatively big screen (my school theater has something like 8' x 8' screen). But I didn't feel anything special compared to wathing them on my laptop. Maybe movies that depend mainly upon visual/audio special effects will make a difference. BTW, this week they are screening A Clockwork Orange in my school, another of my favorites

But what I mean by big screen, is an actual film print projected onto a big screen. No TV.

Just as a live performance is the best way to judge a musician by, a big screen viewing is the best way to judge a film.

Well, in the spring, FULL METAL JACKET print was screened at my school, and yeah....a Kubrick Masterpiece all the way.

Interestingly, the big print we've got for the spring to play at the theatre screen, and it WILL kick so much ass:

SCARFACE!

The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra
(1928/Florey & Vorkapich)
Interesting silent short, telling the story of a man who comes to Hollywood to find fame and fortune but instead finds nothing but failure and despair, and he seems to descend into psychosis and depression. The setting is depicted here in hellish shadows and stark lighting contrasts courtesy of Citizen Kane's Gregg Toland. Add in some primitive, frantic hand-held sequences and the film produces a wonderfully terrifying sense of futility and dehuminization for our main character. In an early scene, he is branded across the forehead with the number 9413, signifying his worthlessness among the masses of Hollywood hopefuls, and it is only upon his eventual death and ascension to Heaven that he is freed from his worldly confines and his enthusiastic smile returns.

The Fall of the House of Usher
(1928/Watson & Webber)
Foreboding and indistinct, nothing clear is really transmitted here, although you know that's how the directors wanted it.

Fuji
(1974/Breer)
Really enjoyable short, mixing quick cutting camera work containing fleeting a sense of nostalgia, with simplistic stop motion animation, all focusing on the ominous Mount Fuji as it passes by through a train window. The only soundtrack is the coming and going sounds of the train over a rickety track. It all adds up to form what seems like a glimpse of someone's distant memories projected onto the screen. Great little piece of work.

Dazed and Confused
(1993/Linklater)
Fantastic. I love how Linklater's films are all so different.

Mothlight
(1963/Brakhage)
A "found foliage" film composed of insects, leaves, and other detritus sandwiched between two strips of perforated tape.
Interesting experiment in expanding the parameters of what is considered cinema. Personally, I saw it as a comment of sorts on the invisible hyperactivity in nature, that what may appear soft and slow and gentle, at its micro-levels, is hectic and rapid-fire. We viewed Window Water Baby Moving after this, which is just a silent film showing the birth of Brakhage's daughter, but I couldn't quite bring myself to watch.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
(1982/Heckerling)
Fun little movie, didn't really live up to my expectations though. Could've used more Sean Penn, and less on the cliched Jennifer Jason Leigh storyline. Overall, enjoyable. And why is this the only film I've ever seen with a Led Zeppelin song in it?

"Harakiri" (Masaki Kobayashi) is highly recommended. "Sword of Doom" (Kihachi Okamoto) also.

Since majority of people visiting these boards like crime/gangster films, I bring up "Yakuza Papers" (Kinji Fukasaku). Pulpy, extremely-stylized, absurd, funny, violent, break-neck, etc. See:

http://www.image-entertainment.com/detail.cfm?productID=32100

MMTH,

I did a little browsing around and it seems some sources mistakenly referred to the upcoming Conformist DVD as extended rather than special edition. According to IMDB, there's a cut that is 5 minutes longer. I suspect that the extended notion comes from the 5-hour cut DVD of Bertolucci's other masterpiece "1900" to be released on the same day (shot once again by the master Storaro).

One From The Heart (FF Coppola, 1982)
5/5 rating
1st viewing
*Notes on my rating rationale after brief review

Frannie (Teri Garr) and Hank (Frederic Forrest) are a couple, who upon celebrating their anniversary, realize something essential to their relationship and themselves.

The plot and story are simple, but its expression and dramatization are anything but. Coppola chooses to depict love in its most popular form - young love and fairy tale conception (naive, ideal, passionate); thus, criticisms of thin character depiction aren't suitable because it is obvious Coppola was not concerned with deep probing of the human condition like in his other films. Coppola viewed it as the complete opposite to "Apocalypse Now" in terms of mood and treatment.

One of the best 80's American films yet virtually unseen, Coppola's innovative and daring musical that is entirely cinematic despite its fusion of two arts/mediums - theatre and cinema. Unfairly maligned because of its finances and industrial goals (it was pulled after only a week theatre-run), it is an intoxicating revisionist musical - its songs dominantly narrate via the Tom Waits musical score rather than plot (i.e. characters breaking into song and dance in scenes). It is not a musical in the vein of "Sound Of Music," "Singing In The Rain," or "Grease."

Wonderfully touching and hilarious performances from the leads and supporting roles (Harry Dean Stanton in a perm!, Nastassia Kinski, Raul Julia).

Few films have amazed me with such wonder and magic: Coppola brilliantly fuses theatre stagecraft with cinematic techniques; the legendary Vittorio Storaro bathes scenes in light and color; Dean Tavoularis remarkably constructs Las Vegas; and the Tom Waits score is infectious.

Highly recommended.

The 5/5 rating is based on my reaction to the film. I do not compare it to other 5/5 films and adjust accordingly. Nor does it mean I think it is flawless. I think masterpieces can have flaws and good movies can be flawless.

Batman Robin No stars.

Joel Schumacher is the devil. Arnold Schwarznegger is horribly miscast, campy, corny, gross, terrible. Clooney is an ok (to put it nicely) Bruce Wayne, and a horrid Batman. The only half way decent part of this piece of trash was Michael Gough.

Thank you so much, Christopher Nolan.

Slither **
(First Viewing)

A horrible B movie that pokes fun at these "invasion/alien" movies. Pretty funny stuff but overall pretty forgettable.

First post on the new boards.

American Beauty
(1999/Mendes)

Pump Up the Volume
(1990/Moyle)

Been there... done that... and Joe, leme tell ya: it's a hell of an experiance. Not as mind blowing as saw "Lawerence of Arabia" or "2001: a space odyssey", but a great ride nevertheless.

Soylent Green * 1/2
(First Viewing)

Pretty horrible Charlton Heston movie

Enjoy, the most I've ever enjoyed watching Scarface was a couple of years ago at a theater in Austin called The Paramount

The house of mirth (GB, 2000)
directed by Terence Davies

A most refined drama in the style of my beloved Visconti and Ivory, based on a novel by Edith Wharton. Along with Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (Wharton again) and Iain Softley's The Wings of the Dove, it is a must see for anyone who cares about period dramas, showing the hypocrisies of a wealthy society where women were nothing without a rich man by their side. Gillian Anderson, the popular Scully in the X-files series, is astonishingly good in the leading role. Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D Minor (Slow Movement) is a most fitting soundtrack for such a story.

Highly recommended to the ones who don't give a damn for action.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning ***
(First Viewing)

I really enjoyed this and I daresay it was better than the 2003 remake Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Jessica Biel. Some pretty strong images in this movie that was a bit surprising with what they were able to get away with.

The Bourne Identity **
(Second Viewing)

Hopefully the sequel is better. It didn't do it for me either time. Never saw this movie as "great." It's not terrible but it's nothing to ride home about.

The Prestige
(2006/Nolan)
One of the better films of the year thus far, although the remaining two months look daunting. Jackman and Bale are excellent, once you get over their somewhat awkward accents, and the surprise appearance from David Bowie was fantastic. Perhaps too convoluted at times, although I'm sure this turns into a sense beautiful complexity upon further rewatches. The problem with the story here was that although I didn't always understand how they got there, I always seemed to know where things were going to end up. What I'm trying to say while the twists themselves weren't shocking revelations, it was still fun to watch the Nolans work their way there.

Omar's right about the period detail here, in a notably different approach than that taken by The Illusionist's Neil Burger. Where Burger seemingly opted to acknowledge the fact that he was making a period piece film, playing around with different cinematographic lighting schemes and whatnot, Nolan seemed to go for dead-on realism. At this point, I'm not completely sure which I preferred.

I was surprised to find that I've actually seen all of Nolan's films from Following onwards. While I find his body of work thus far somewhat uneven, from the potential 4-star film, Memento, to the seemingly vastly overrated Batman Begins, I'm personally impressed with his films, the ideas he brings to the table, his cinematic techniques, and just in general, his potential to become a truly legendary directing talent of this generation or perhaps the next. I'm sure mostly all here will be going to see this film, but I'll give another recommendation for it anyway.

The TCM prequel was hardcore?

Clearly no one has seen TCM 2 by Tobe fuckin Hopper. Best part? None of that artificially silly "pretty" look that Ridley Scott would take a shit on.

Saw ***
(Fourth Viewing)

Gearing up for numero 3 later this week

You see Irish.....IMO that movie is in the top ten list of last decade....

THE BOURNE IDENTITY is a pretty entertaining spy thriller that unlike the BOND franchise in the last decade, seems to be relevant to the geo-political and mood of our times.

While Liman, known mostly for small indie-minded fare, does a man's job with action, its the sequel BOURNE SUPREMACY that is even more tuned in with the post-9/11...with Greengrass delivering an even more action-potent picture of a sequel.

Considering that trilogies usually get fucked in the 3rd part (X3 anyone? ), I have reserved optimism for BOURNE ULTIMATUM...but, it should be good. Mind you, SHOULD is the magic word!

Just imagine....Pitt was supposed to do that movie instead of Damon, but an injury and scheduling got him off the flick. Talk about a whole other movie....

THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) - ***1/2
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) - ****

Foxy Brown ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

A pretty darn good Pam Grier movie that was more enjoyable than Coffy

Well that's your opinion. IMO the movie wasn't that good

I love films by Liman and Greengrass seperately but have little interest in seeing these. Although you've put in a good word.