how do I join, Hagen?

Which Wicker Man, guys, the remake? I've not seen it, but the original is a fantastic film.

Guess that you are too young to remember "GET SMART" and the organization called KAOS.


Don Cardi

Allegro
Christoffer Boe 2004 Denmark 1st time; big screen
A famous pianist returns to Copenhagen and is tempted into "the Zone", where lost memories are found again.
Very interesting, striking up conscious similarities to Stalker, but at less than ninety minutes, it hardly has the chance to offer much worth. It has an ultra-grainy visual, shot entirely at night; the novelty of a mysterious place where one might retrieve lost memories wears thin halfway through. Thematically of interest, and boasting a great deal of potential, and there seems to be signs, or intentions, of an emotional core somewhere deep down, but it's hidden in remote, distanced dialogue, and character purpose is entirely unconvincing.

Borom Sarret
Ousmane Sembene 1966 Senegal 1st time; big screen
A day in the life of a poor wagoner, who takes people from here to there for little cost.
Discard any kind of accusations of crude technicalities, and this is gripping for two primary reasons: firstly, it is a rare look into African culture of the mid-sixties, and secondly, it is so new, so fresh, so different - and consciously so - to conventional Western filmmaking. Camera angles have a kind of conscious ideology to them - such as the low/high angles to denote class division; the dialogue is overdubbed, naively, into French, so as to draw us into empathy by means of remote distancing; and there is a persistent rhythm throughout, invoked by a recurring musical motif, of minimalist and effective percussion.

Notting Hill
Roger Michell 1999 US/UK 1st time; big screen
An ordinary bookshop worker can't believe his luck when the world's most popular actress walks into his store, and what begins is an on/off love affair.
The synopsis shows much potential, but the commercial intentions of Michell and scriptwriter Richard Curtis let it down. There are genuine moments of interest: Julia Roberts more or less playing herself, attending a birthday meal as the lowly Hugh Grant's date is full of potential; there's some neat visual editing late on when Grant walks down one single street over different seasons of the year, with invisible cuts changing from autumn to snow to spring to summer; and in general, it explores the whole concept of stardom and celebrity, and how these figures of worship are prone to human emotions too. The makers would have achieved much more had they eradicated the lousy one-liners, forced humour and re-drafted the final third into a more succinct, less predictable - perhaps more bitter- affair. But it's just another craft-it-for-the-chicks film, alas.

Capo is right. The original WICKER MAN was a terrific film with Christopher Fucking Lee. Yes, that's his name. Check his birth certificate.

The remake with Nic Cage...lets just say it was doomed to be a burning dog turd as soon as the movie opened.

THE WICKER MAN(1973) - ****
THE WICKER MAN (2006) - **

An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

In this second Q&A with Kevin Smith he now enters the homes of some of his fans in Toronto and London.

Not as funny as the original and kind of disappointing. Still interesting to hear more stories by Kevin Smith but not as good as the original.

Sedotta e abbandonata Seduced and Abandoned
Pietro Germi 1964 Italy 1st time; DVD
In 1950s Sicily, a father of five's honour comes under threat when he finds out one of his daughters has lost her virginity to her sister's fiancé.
This begins with a dramatic revelation and then, for the next two hours, concentrates on the desperation of its aftermath and consequences. It's a brilliant film, excessive and exhaustive, and often rather funny; Germi shows a fierce confidence in his writing, and admirable control of cinematic form. Highly stylised stuff, it's visually exciting and superbly edited... He knows when to cut and what to, and the shot-to-shot relations between the end of one scene and the beginning of the next (such as doors closing and opening, or dialogue mirrored across different spaces in time) creates a sustained energy and tension, of events spiralling into one another. Seemingly, a massive influence on The Sopranos - there's a moment where a rumour escalates into scandal around town, which might have consciously been echoed in season five of the show, when rumous fly regarding Tony and Adriana's possible fling.

Add this to your Netflix queues as soon as possible, folks.It's available on Criterion.

Derailed.
It was OK, not the greatest.

Little miss sunshine *
Anothe movie on flight! Some poignant moments in an otherwise goofy movie, whose highlights are the little cute girl and steve farell(?) (the guy in 40 yr old virgin).

I watched the new version of wicker man, it is not dog turd as rra says , but nothing great either.

A Scanner Darkly ***
(First Viewing)

The L.A. of a not-too-distant future suffers a surge of drug abuse involving a new ultra-addictive and eventually brain-damaging substance simply named "D". Bob Arctor is an undercover narc leading a double life, dutifully reporting to his superiors while effectively having abandoned whatever normal existence he had for a "D" user/dealer career. But this schizophrenic situation and the drug-induced memory and concentration lapses put Bob under mounting.

Visually this movie was AMAZING. I'd say it's probably up there with Sin City in terms of just eye-candy on the screen. Robert Downey Jr. however stole the show with his comidic outbursts and adrenaline lifestyle. He really worked well together with Woody Harrelson (they just feed off each other well). It was great to see Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder working again (and on a meaningful project). Richard Linklater does not disappoint with this film!

Told you Irish.

What did you tell me? I don't remember your review

Figures, you didn't read my Honorable Mention list(#11-20) of 2006. Umph!

But yeah, A SCANNER DARKLY was on it. Check the list out sometime!

Lady In The Water ***
(Second Viewing)

Cleveland Heep, a stuttering apartment superintendent, encounters a girl named Story swimming in the complex's pool. He soon learns that she comes from the Blue World, and has a message for mankind. Will he be able to help her complete her mission?

Not as affective the second time around but still an enjoyable, brought to life, bedtime story. Paul Giamatti was easily the gem of this film as the stuttering apartment superintendent. If for nothing else, his performance alone is worth seeing.

The Last Emperor - (Bernardo Bertolucci;1987;France/Italy/UK)
A biopic of Pu Yi, who became emperor of China at age 3 and was used as a powerless pawn for most of his life.
A grand film that has some truly beautiful and gritty splices of Chinese society. The most powerful thing about the film however is it's depiction of Pu Yi, who was a nothing more then political eye candy, not even allowed to leave his residence in the Forbidden City or even his mansion when he was controlled by the Japanese. John Lone gives a subtle yet brutally lonely portrayal of a man who went from being emperor of China to a mere gardener. The music and accurate depiction of China also adds a lot to the atmosphere, but nothing as much as the on-location filming of the Forbidden City.

Match Point - (Woody Allen;2005;UK/USA/Luxembourg)
An Irish tennis player floats into English aristocracy and soon into a love triangle that proves to threaten his new lifestyle.
A very dark and different Allen film that proves to show his more pessimistic side. It has a nice Noir feeling and atmosphere that enhances the plot while boasting a very good opera soundtrack that sets the mood perfectly. Jonathan Rhys Meyers gives a very good performance, often stealing some scenes as the at times existentialist protagonist. Scarlett Johansson also shows how well she can act as her seductive yet sympathetic character. I love the ending as well, which appeared to go into a cliche but then 180's wonderfully. Allen's direction and especially dialogue is great.

The Wicker Man (2006) **
(First Viewing)

A sheriff investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a small island discovers there's a larger mystery to solve among the island's secretive, neo-pagan community.

It had a pretty nice ending to it but other than that this movie is VERY forgetable. Does anybody else feel that Nicholas Cage doesn't act? Not to take anything away from the man because I do enjoy his work but it just seems like he plays himself in almost every movie. It doesn't seem like he's playing a character so much as he's playing Nicholas Cage.

Cage's problem is that like that at times with Brad Pitt or even the local space cadet, Tom Cruise.

When they give a total shit about the movie they are working on, you get good work from them. Just compare Nic Cage's work in say something like LEAVING LAS VEGAS, to that of WICKER MAN, and his upcoming shit-fest GHOST RIDER.

It happens.

Irish, go check out the original bad boy WICKER MAN from the 1970s. Unsurprisingly, its much better than the medicore effort you had to sit through.

I can't get ahold of a copy to do so (I'm interested to see Christopher Lee in the role)

Material Girls *
(First Viewing)

Two wealthy sisters, both heiresses to their family's cosmetics fortune, are given a wake-up call when a scandal and ensuing investigation strip them of their wealth.

I think this movie pretty much cements that fact that Hilary Duff (and perhaps Lindsay Lohan) will NEVER have successful movie careers.

Ouch Irish. Its not paying to see BATTLEFIELD EARTH in theaters(like moi), but I give you credit today for having to go through such a trainwreck.

Thank you ronnie. I like Hilary but da*n, that was torture. I also couldn't find you're review for A Scanner Darkly. Could you provide a link por favor?

First off Irish, I never submitted a review of A SCANNER DARKLY for BB.Net. I was busy, and I promptly forgot it. It happens. Hell, same with CRANK, THE PROTECTOR, and other 2006 titles.

Again, if you read the post that I submitted earlier, I did my sort-of kiss-up/catch-up review with my 2006 Honorable Mention thread that I posted days back.

School of Rock **
(First Viewing)

After being fired from his own band, the guitar player Dewey Finn (Jack Black) needs to raise some money to pay for his rent and his bills. When his friend and school teacher Ned Schneebly (Mike White) is called to a temporary work in an expensive private school, Dewey pretends to be Ned and accepts the job. He finds talented young musicians in his class, and he decides to form a rock-and-roll band with the students and win a competition called "Battle of Bands" to raise the prize and be recognized in the show business.

Not a bad film but not great by any stretch of the imagination. Jack Black has the potential to put together a REALLY great comedy and I'm still waiting for it. However, I was very happy to see Sarah Silverman cast as the girlfriend as I feel she's a very under utilized actress.

Forest Gump

Gump, gifted with a low IQ which lets him be adorably childlike even as he grows up, leads a very charmed life: a mother who loves him immensely and who sleeps with the school principal in order to make sure her child has the best education, a miraculous incident that eliminates the need for him to have braces for his legs, a childhood girlfriend who remains faithful to him till the end, surviving Vietnam with a medal, and, in general, a propensity for turning everything that happens to him into good.

I wonder what the movie is trying to say. From one perspective, it implies that intelligence (as measured by IQs and the general idea of what "smart" is) is a very unnecessary trait. But I think one can look beyond that and say that childlike innocence, which can be considered stupid, has its rewards. Throughout the movie, Gump is in situations where he is harassed by other people but he never takes offense (except, of course, when his girl Jenny is being abused) at any of the insults thrown at him. He is indeed not completely stupid, even though he is portrayed as such, since he can re-assemble guns at high speed, run like crazy, play ping-pong like a maniac, and so on.

The fact that Gump doesn't take offense, I think, is what keeps him content. He becomes a millionaire, but gives most of the money away. He is honest and open and this, along with his Alabama accent, endears him to the audience. But this gets tiresome after a while (especially after 2 hours). I thought the movie was overly long, but that's the only negative thing I have to say.

Gump rubs elbows with many famous personalities over the last half of the century including Elvis Presley and Nixon, thanks to computer technology (General Dan doesn't really lose his legs either---they are just erased and the background is then touched up by using computer graphics programs). The account of how Gump is responsible for the gyrations that is so characteristic of Presley is very telling of the motives of this movie. Gump is contrasted to the famous males, who are idols (in some cases) in today's society, and it appears as though he is better off in comparison: Gump's choices in life seem to determine his niceness (he goes to Vietnam, keeps his promises ("a promise is a promise"), harbours no ill-feelings or grudges, and is not greedy with fame or money) and successes. Contrast this to the choices his lifetime girl friend Jenny makes: she wants to be famous and rich, but ends up being a druggie. The people she is surrounded by are all of a dubious nature: a sexually-abusive father, a show audience more interested in her naked body than her folk-music playing, and an abusive hippie-boyfriend.

I'm tired now. I think I'm going home." --Forrest Gump

"Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get." --Forrest Gump

"Stupid is as stupid does." --Forrest Gump

"I guess sometimes there just aren't enough rocks." --Forrest Gump

4/5

Nice review DE NIRO, I am yet to watch this movie

What Forest Gump, it was on Uk tv last night,i think this film is great.

Should check it out,Good soundtrack as well

That's a good review, De Niro. You should comment more often!

Geri's Game
Jan Pinkava 1997 US 1st time; YouTube
An old man plays himself at Chess, almost loses, then has a "heart attack".
Funny, gaining from a likeable old chap who outwits his own alter ego. It's got that usual Pixar feel, from the very beginning, with an accordion soundtrack and lovely to look at visuals. The sound of the chess pieces slamming on and scraping along the board is nice and crisp, too.

Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait
Douglas Gordon / Philippe Parreno 2005 France/Iceland 1st time; big screen
April 23, 2005: Real Madrid take on Villareal at home in the Spanish football league; the cameras follow playmaker Zinedine Zidane for the entire match.
That's the selling point, but it is slightly misleading: there is, now and then, a detracting, rather unnecessary cut-away to the empty corridors of the stadium while the match goes on, and it is often caught at the awkward mid-way point between concentrating on Zidane alone, and placing him in the context of the match itself - the original televised coverage is mixed in too, and POV shots are even attempted at one point, with cut-aways to the scoreboard edited into Zidane looking at it. So it's imbalanced to begin with, and the half-time interval, a newsreel of events which happened around the world on that day, tries to give it a sort of existential weight it probably already had anyway. But this is fascinating. It might help to follow football as a sport, but Zidane is treated very much like a Herzogian genius, enigmatic and brooding, so that the film is very much a character study of loneliness, of being under pressure as an athlete, of being in and out of a game as part of a team. Its best moments are those in which the filmmakers refrain from cutting and let the camera watch in long-shot as Zidane stands and watches the game, in his own world, his white jersey contrasting against the green pitch, and thousands of fans watching on behind him; Mogwai's soundtrack compliments these moments greatly. It's one of those experiences that you only remember in fragmented images and tones, with a very weird, lingering feel of wanting to see it again. [The screening I saw missed an integral part of the film, which is Zidane's actual voice-over, or running commentary, at points in the match. The subtitles were there still, but for whatever reason, be it projection, speakers or print, the version I saw was devoid.]

Hard Candy
David Slade 2005 US 1st time; DVD
A 14-year-old girl meets up with a thirtysomething guy she met in an Internet chatroom, and, suspecting he is a paedophile, turns the tables on him.
Daring, challenging, certainly interesting film which must be admired - perhaps seen - for deciding to tackle such a difficult subject by grabbing it by the balls. That is not to say, however, that it does it particularly well, and it is interesting to see the limitations of representing paedophilia in Film; it is drastically miscast, for starters, and the script early on is interesting but possibly in the wrong way: we're cheering for the bad guy, because not only is the kid extremely annoying, but her acting and the lines she has to play with are flat. The camera is often static and the framing symmetrical, with its middle-class suburban house allowing characters to be shot against block solid colours - red, grey, white, pink, and so on. Besides visual sumptuousness, it's nothing less than ludicrous when you're watching; but upon reflection, it is probably worth revisiting again.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

Kazakhstani TV personality Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the "greatest country in the world." With a documentary crew in tow, Borat becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson than on his assignment.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius! I still don't get the whole histeria that's surrounded this film, but I did enjoy it.

Vulgar * 1/2
(First Viewing)

Will Carson is a loser who works as a children's party clown which takes a turn when he saves the life of a little girl from her abusive father which makes him an instant local celebrity. His rise to fame has him making headlines in local newspapers and even getting his own TV children's show as Flappy the Clown. But while Will has seemingly forgoten his past, his past did not forget him as a denerate, low-life psycho-sexual pervert/serial killer and his two dim-witted sons blackmail Will for money to cover up a humiliating sexual assault they did on Will a year earlier.

Pretty lame work from Brian O'Halloran and the Viewaskew crew.

The Last Kiss *** 1/2
(First Viewing)

Anxieties threaten the future of a domesticated couple.

Rachel Bilson's performance as the bubbly college sophomore was my favorite of the film. However, all actors were on from Zach Braff and Eric Christian Olsen to Jacinda Barrett. I recommend seeing this film when it comes out on DVD on December 19th.

Swingers **
(First Viewing)

This is a story about Mike, a guy who left his girl in New York when he came to LA to be a star. It's been six months since his girlfriend left him and he's not doing so good. So, his pal and some other friends try and get him back in the social scene and forget about his 6 year relationship.

This came recommened from a friend (same with Vulgar) and I'm really starting to question his taste in movies. Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn worked well together but this movie was hardly a comedy (a few funny moments but nothing extraordinary). Also, this film was anything but great, which is all I heard about it before viewing it.