I have never read the comics, so this may sound stupid. Are all these villians from the comics or are they created for the movie? And what about the endings? These are following something in the comics?

When Don Cardi gets back, I'm sure he'll be happy to fill you in. He's the resident Spider-Man aficionado.

Becoming? Wasn't she always? Oh wait, that's Kirsten Dunst.

Sadly, a majority of moviegoers (of all types) know of and acknowledge the importance of actors, directors, and screenwriters. Sadly, DPs get overlooked.

Zabriskie Point (Antonioni; 1970) ****

Another masterpiece from Antonioni. Although the dialogue in the film was corny at times, and the acting silted, I loved the anti-establishment aspect, the beautiful scenery, and the camera movements which Antonioni seems to have down to a science. The final scene is one of the most powerful, satisfying things I have ever witnessed. I can't wait to watch this again.

A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS 1/2
(First Viewing)

A melodrama about a traveling actor and his son, who thinks he (the actor) is his (the son's) uncle. When "Uncle" comes to visit with his struggling acting troupe, the 20-year-old son falls in love with one of the actresses under the uncle, which causes a lot of drama as actors are very low class in the Japanese society of the time and the father left his son specifically to keep him away from such a low-class situation.

Even though I'm not a fan of silent films, this really impressed me. First of all, the score was absoultely amazing. It terms of silent films, I think the music is just as important as the dialogue because in a sense, it is the dialogue. It helps make the audience understand what the characters are feeling by the tone. Secondly, you can really learn a lot by the body language of characters in silent films. I think today as a society, we are constantly bombarded with words from fellow workers, advertisements, news outlets, etc. This film seemed to be taking place during a simpler time when this was, fortunately, not the case.

WOMEN'S CAMP 119
(First Viewing)

A prisoner (Lorraine De Salle) is forced to serve as a doctor's assistant, giving her a front row seat for the horrible goings-on. There's the experiment to revive Nazi soldiers who have frozen to death by having nude women rub their bodies all over the corpse (that one works), and the experiment tries to "cure" homosexual men by having nude women dance for them. This is only some of the horrors that are going on there.

I haven't seen ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS yet but if it's anything like this film, sign me up. This is the first from the GRINDHOUSE EXPERIENCE 20 FILM SET that I bought last week. We all know I'm a sucker for these types of films and this one wasn't any different. There was a brief 10-20 minute period were some captives escaped and they were chasing after them, but other than that the film was a pleasant surprise.

FLOATING WEEDS 1/2
(First Viewing)

A troupe of travelling players arrive at a small seaport in the south of Japan. Komajuro Arashi, the aging master of the troupe, goes to visit his old flame Oyoshi and their son Kiyoshi, even though Kiyoshi believes Komajuro is his uncle. The leading actress Sumiko is jealous and so, in order to humiliate the master, persuades the younger actress Kayo to seduce Kiyoshi.

I really have a newfound respect for director Yasujiro Ozu. This is the first and only time that I am aware of, where a director made a movie and later (25 years to be exact) remade the same movie. We're all familiar with other directors remaking classic films, but again, I've never seen a director remake his own work. It'd be like Martin Scorsese remaking AFTER HOURS or Robert Zemeckis remaking BACK TO THE FUTURE. And what I respect most about Ozu is he basically makes the same story but in ways, improves upon it as well. Basically the man had a second chance to make one of his films better and he succeeded. What a delightfully rare treat for a director. For any other fans of Japanese cinema (svsg and Capo most notably), I would highly suggest watching both A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS followed by FLOATING WEEDS.

Persona (Bergman; 1966) ****

Visually stunning, deeply ambiguous, and wonderfully allegorical study of the human psyche. Bergman explores multiple themes of human relations and individual existence here, including the differences that lie between our internal and extrernal personae (thus, the title of the film), and our ability to know and reflect upon other human beings; two themes that have interested me for as long as I can remember. The film's form adds to this; there are multiple scenes where a still camera simply films a character (usually Alma) speaking, which is perhaps Bergman showing his internal persona, while there are also multiple scenes where Bergman abandons any type of dialogue/monologue in favor of a series of haunting, but seemingly meaningless images, which is perhaps Bergman's external persona showing through. Every scene in this film oozes with provocativeness, and a lot of the images Bergman creates will linger in my mind for quite some time. Incredible, incredible, incredible film.

Thanks for the reco, I12

Hitchcock made The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1934, and then again in 1955, with a different studio, bigger budget and James Stewart and Doris Day in the leads. Michael Haneke's currently remaking his own Funny Games (1997) with Naomi Watts, too.

I'm woefully unfamiliar with Ozu.

Good deal. Let me know what you think please

You learn something new everyday. Are those the only directors you know of that have remade their own work?



Whoa! No TOKYO STORY, LATE SPRING, EARLY SUMMER, etc? Ozu is my second favorite Japanese director behind Kurosawa.

Swordfish *
There is a scene where Halle Berry appears topless. There is another scene where a chopper lifts a bus full of hostages and they fly all over the buildings sitting inside the bus. In another scene, a hostage explodes and causes shockwaves to travel wide and far destroying policemen and their cars.

I take it you thought it sucked too................like me.

And Spielberg has had the urge to remake SUGARLAND EXPRESS.

Right!!

TORTURED ANGELS 1/2
(First Viewing)

A sleazy doctor is having an affair with both the star's mother and sister, even though the mother is married and the father is bed ridden due to illness. The woman is sent to a female correctional institution. The sleazy doctor gets the woman's sister pregnant but wants the sister to get an abortion. Instead, the sister commits suicide. The woman vows revenge on the doctor. She escapes from prison with another Asian woman and a "black" woman and goes gunning for the doctor. Meanwhile, the authorities are hunting for the women.

Wow, I can't believe an Asian women's prison movie and the only flesh shown is 1 a$$ shot. What is the world coming to? In all seriousness, this film turned into quite an enjoyable revenge movie.

RAW FORCE
(First Viewing)

A group of martial arts students are en route to an island that supposedly is home to the ghosts of martial artists who have lost their honor. A Hitler lookalike and his gang are running a female slavery operation on the island as well. Soon, the two groups meet and all sorts of crazy things happen which include cannibal monks, piranhas, zombies, and more!

I think the slow motion was a nice touch for the zombies as it added to their freighting appearance. I haven't seen ZOMBI 2 yet but this seems to be right up there with this like WOMEN'S CAMP 119 is reminiscent of ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS. And I'm not sure how many other people know this but director Edward D. Murphy was in Martin Scorsese's GOODFELLAS. Yup, he was Liquor Cop #1.

SAVAGE MAN/SAVAGE BEAST 1/2
(First Viewing)

Here's a National Geographic style documentary that's alternately exploitive and informative. The film presents a wide variety of ways that humans interact with nature. It depicts the actual footage of a careless man (Pit Dernitz) leaving the safety of his car to film lions close up and ends up being their dinner. Other highlights include natives humping the ground in hopes of bringing life to the land, various big game hunting and last but not least naked hippies.

One of, if not THE worst documentary I've ever seen. Yes I should have seen it coming being that it is a grind house film, but still. This documentary was sick, brutal and even torturous at times. I feel the directors tried too hard to pull examples to support their 'hunting instincts claim' and failed. As you can probably tell I was offended by the material and will probably never watch this again. Count me out for the CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.

1) I just saw "Sicko" and really found it very interesting. Well worth watching.

2) Remember how I said I kept falling asleep cause "The Bourne Identity" was on so late and I couldn't stay awake? Well, I finally saw it in it's entirety and loved it. I plan to rent Bourne Supremecy soon (maybe this weekend)so I can see the latest one.

TIS

DOUBLE SUICIDE 1/2
(First Viewing)

In 18th Century in Japan, the paper merchant Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) falls in love for the courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita), but he can not afford to redeem her from her master and owner of the brothel, since he spent all his money in the place with Koharu. Jihei's wife Osan tries to keep her husband with his two children and asks Koharu to leave him. The two lovers make a pact of double suicide to escape from the rigid rules of the Japanese society of 1720 and stay together after death.

Kind of a Romeo & Juliett story set in 18th century Japan. What impressed me most about the film was it seemed to be acted out as a play. The action would sometimes pause momentarily and a character would fill the crowd in to what was going on. I definitely need to view this again before I send it back because I'm sure I missed a lot. Also, the hooded figures were quite mysterious. Were they just stage hands moving scenary around or did they have some deeper meaning (angels of death perhaps)?

Glad you enjoyed it TIS

That's GREAT gal!

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, I argue, is better than the first film. If IDENTITY was a thriller disguised as an intense action movie, the sequel is a Revenge-Drama disguised as an intense action movie.

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

Of course, that ULTIMATUM is out this weekend as well.

RR,

I like the cat & mouse type plot line and all of the action. I don't know it's just entertaining to me.

Yesterday they went "behind the scenes" on one of the entertainment shows. In the previews of the Borne Ultimatum, if you've seen it, Damon jumps from a rooftop or another building into the window of a neighboring building. They showed it being filmed with a stuntman doing the jump (without any protection, just a straight jump) :o. However, jumping right behind him was a cameraman attached to a cable of some sort, shooting the jump. Man, the lengths they go to hu.

TIS

I watched Zodiac last night. I don't mean to bring up old debates, but I agree with Capo. I really really really REALLY REALLY enjoyed it! (Sorry Capo, I'm not as good linguistically). I have been thinking about it all day today. I think it was a little extra special to me because it took place in the Bay Area where I'm from.

David Fincher's filming style is so visually pleasing. I especially liked the time lapse filming of the construction of the San Francisco Pyramid to show how a lot of time had gone by.

I'm not sure this is a movie I could watch over and over again, but I will probably end up watching it again at least once.

Fucking groovy man.

Like THE FOUNTAIN, I am honored that I saw ZODIAC in theatres.

Masculin Feminin: 15 Faits Precis (Godard; 1966) ****

Godard's films are so complex, work on so many different levels, and encompass so many different things, it's difficult to talk about one of his films without mentioning another; and it gets to a point where you realize that he's created his own cinematic world, free of any type of criticism, wherein he makes the same film multiple times, though each film is radically different from the next in that he continues to introduce new ideas, employ new techniques, and use different tools each time. This leads me to believe that it is quite possible that Godard may be incapable of making a bad film. Obviously, the only way for me to test this would be to see every film he's released, which is something I'm planning on doing. But enough about me; Masculin Feminin is incredible. Visually and aesthetically it closely resembles Vivre sa Vie, although it covers a wider range of topics, introduces more characters, and is not as emotionally involving. I absolutely love the dialogue, the use of music, sound effects, on-screen text, and intertextuality; most notably references to Bob Dylan and Pierrot le Fou. The final scene is great; and the shooting of the letters in the word "Feminin" to create the word "Fin" is the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Jean-Luc GOD-Art

I saw it in theater and remember liking it, but it definitely did not have as much impact as with you guys. With all these debates, I feel like watching it again. Someday I will.

Surprised you found it on DVD. When I was watching this genre of movies, I tried looking for a torrent of this movie, but could find only one source. Now I don't feel like watching it.