Films: Rate and Discuss

The Return (2003) - 9/10​
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Original Russian title is Vozvrashcheniye. This movie is simply incredible. Debut film of director Andrei Zvyagintsev. It's a story of two young boys (roughly 12 and 14 or so) whose father returns after a mysterious and unexplained 12 year absence to take them on a fishing trip. The tension and conflict between the boys and their father culminates in a coming of age tale "of almost mythic proportions" to quote the wikipedia article. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't say more. The movie uses a lot of traditional elements of Russian cinema (think Tarkovsky) with slow pacing, ponderous cinematography and a lot of emphasis on environmental shots.​
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It's a very touching film... it affected me deeply and left me thinking for a while, not just about all the mysteries left unresolved by the ending but also about my own life and what the relationship between father and son means. The two child actors are absolutely phenomenal and are probably 80% of the reason it's such a compelling film. One of them actually drowned in the same lake the movie was filmed on just a few weeks after production ended.​
 
This Means War 7/10

Solid movie, my girl and I saw this but very predictable. There were some very funny moments and I think Chelsea Handler was very funny.
 
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - 8/10

This is one of my favorite Westerns in recent years. It took a lot of criticism for its length and slow pace but I thought it was a great film. It's supposedly (according to scholars and the James family) the most accurate and truthful depiction of James and Ford in all of the dozens of films that have been made about it in the past hundred years. It's interesting because it gives the idea that James basically knew what was going on and let Ford kill him for whatever reason - because he was tired of his life, or tired of being paranoid, or simply to ensure that his mythical status was forever guaranteed, betrayed and shot in the back by one of his friends. It's like three hours long and has a lot of contemplative cinematography and long shots but I loved it.
 
^ Agreed with the above. It also has really great music! I gotta watch it again when I get the chance.
 
Man now I wish I hadn't caught the ending a while back. I would have preferred to keep it a surprise!!

you see the joke is

sixteenth said:
I'm watching this now and am really hoping this doesn't end in some M. Night Shyamalan kind of way.

Edit:
GODDAMN'T.
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Yep. The more I think about the ending in retrospect, the more it bugs the shit out of me. It could have just been about one man's personal struggle with mental illness, and would have been perfectly poignant and powerful and touching with that alone as the crux of the story, but instead they have to constantly prod you with this is-he-isn't-he ending teaser bullshit and then juuuuuuuust when you think the movie's going to take the smart route it pulls the stupidest ****ing last-minute hack twist right out of its ass. And that last line. "Okay." WHAT'S OKAY?! EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVED WAS WRONG AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. WHAT THE **** DOES 'OKAY' MEAN IN THIS CONTEXT.

Edit: And the ending doesn't even make a shitstain of sense when you consider its implications for the rest of the story. He was receiving premonitions of some cataclysmic event, obviously paranormal in nature, most likely wide-scale, since he saw it approaching from the beach place... and his plan was to build a shitty little backyard storm shelter for his family? Noah he ****in ain't.
 
Bad^Hat said:
Man now I wish I hadn't caught the ending a while back. I would have preferred to keep it a surprise!!

you see the joke is



Yep. The more I think about the ending in retrospect, the more it bugs the shit out of me. It could have just been about one man's personal struggle with mental illness, and would have been perfectly poignant and powerful and touching with that alone as the crux of the story, but instead they have to constantly prod you with this is-he-isn't-he ending teaser bullshit and then juuuuuuuust when you think the movie's going to take the smart route it pulls the stupidest ****ing last-minute hack twist right out of its ass. And that last line. "Okay." WHAT'S OKAY?! EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVED WAS WRONG AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. WHAT THE **** DOES 'OKAY' MEAN IN THIS CONTEXT.

Edit: And the ending doesn't even make a shitstain of sense when you consider its implications for the rest of the story. He was receiving premonitions of some cataclysmic event, obviously paranormal in nature, most likely wide-scale, since he saw it approaching from the beach place... and his plan was to build a shitty little backyard storm shelter for his family? Noah he ****in ain't.
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Exactly. With the character depth I was expecting an ending that had something to do with the family's battle to stay together even after the father's most extreme psychotic episode. Since he gets diagnosed near the end and the psychiatrist reccomends institutionalization., I would have been completely fine with an ending scene that had the wife and daughter visiting him a month or two after the diagnosis signifying that even though the father has psychosis and caused his family a terrible time of emotional distress, the wife and daughter's love for their father perseveres. They still will visit him and support his rehabilitation. **** the gossip from the town. The importance of a platonic, loving family becomes the central theme of the movie. With an actual mental illness, the information gained from the brief sequences with/about his mother could have successfully foreshadowed his institutionalization.

I would have accepted cancer too.

But, I began to notice M. Night things pretty early on. The sequences where the father started noticing odd things just felt like something out of M. Night movie. Maybe it was just the ambience or cosmetic things about those shots. I actually paused the movie to make my previous post and searched IMDB to make sure M. Night wasn't a producer or something.
 
Ennui said:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - 8/10
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I also thought this was a great film when I saw it last year, though I never expected even to like it. The train robbery is always mentioned but it's an example of a simple scene elevated to excellence by its cinematography. Then you have Casey Affleck's portrayal of Robert Ford as the infatuated, tormented hero-worshipper, which forced me to reevaluate him as an actor. I love the unspoken elements of the relationship between him and James, the affection covered up with spite (on James' side at least), the subtle homosexual undertones and, as you mentioned, James' apparently willing death, for reasons only hinted at.

My own take is that James understood the brewing tensions and knew he would end up killing Rob and Charley, so he allowed them to beat him to the punch, as something in him rebelled against the idea of killing Rob, his perfect fanboi. I need to watch it again though, it's been a while.
 
I just saw The Raid, and it was ****ing awesome. The shoddy, digital shaking and terrible looking CG blood at the beginning worried me a bit, but as it went on it just got better. The various martial arts and knife fights just kept escalating, with the perfect amount of gore. Seeing these kind of flicks in the theater is best, because the reaction of the crowd makes it so much better. From the sharp intake of breath, laughing, an audible ''ooooh'' from everyone jn the crowd, and even applause after one of the best and longest fights ended. It was amazing, and I reccomend it highly, especially if you have the chance to see it in the theater.

PS New York is the best city ever. Ever
 
The Hunger Games - 9/10

I really liked it. It's not often I go to a movie which has such a well built plot people in the cinema are actually chatting to one another about what's going to happen (or rather, who will win the games). By about halfway, when it's done setting up the story, it really does feel like you're another spectator watching The Hunger Games (it actually surprised me how quickly this idea of violence and bloodlust (from children!) became normalised). It was rather phenomenal. The cast were excellent too, music was nice, camera shots were a bit annoying (look, someone's face from a thousand different angles in 10 seconds!), but that's the style. Only bad thing really was the ending, it just ends. I haven't read the book so I don't know where it's going, but I am excited for the future of this franchise.
 
The Hunger Games - 8/10

One of the best movies I've seen this year. The movie illegitimately draws you in and you begin to ask yourself, "how are these seemingly innocent (most of them) kids going to turn into savage killers when the time comes"? The Truman show like presentation was a welcome change in direction to most movies now days. The only thing I didn't like was the skipping over or should I say, short explanation to how and why the Hunger Games exist. I get it's to pay tribute to a long ago civil war, but I feel like they could have expanded on that part of the story a bit more. Oh and it was 20 minutes too long IMO. A MUST see either way!
 
Dead Set - 8.5/10...
Probably the greatest zombie TV series ever made, such a shame that it was technically a miniseries that only went on for 5 really short (pilot was 45 mins, the rest of the eps were 24 minutes long each) episodes.
Hell, I'd go so far as to say that it featured more character development and story than even The Walking Dead has shown in the 2 seasons it's run.(though, the last two eps of S2 showed some promise)
 
Avengers - 8/10
An excellent superhero film of a very different sort than Dark Knight. Great ensemble cast which works well, clever dialogue and finally the show-stealing Hulk I've wanted. Aims and plans of the villain are given short shrift, which would be confusing for those who have not seen the Thor film. If you have however it would be rather extraneous.

Whedon done us proud.
 
Yorick said:
I'm excited for that.

Love the new avatar, by the way.
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I realize this message is pretty old, but did you ever get around to watching the 4th and 5th seasons? I myself finished watching all of The Wire a couple of months ago, by far the best television series I have ever watched.

As for a favourite season, really tough to say. Season 4 and 1 are probably the best, though I loved all of them. Season 5 was all kinds of wtf though...
 
Oh, yes I did! I loved Season 4. Season 5 was good, but definitely felt rushed. I liked the lengths McNulty went to, and I liked how it ended, and I liked the way things went with Marlow and Chris and the others. The Wire isn't my favourite show of all time, but it's definitely in the top 10, perhaps even the top 5. (The top three spots belong to LOST, Twin Peaks, and Babylon 5, but the others are a bit more flexible.)

I'm not sure what my favourite season would be, they were all good for different reasons.

My only real complaint the entire way through was this:

Kima. After they didn't kill her off early on, it seemed like they didn't really know what to do with her anymore. I didn't like her being made a Detective or basically becoming another McNulty. I did like how it ended with Bunk teaching her things, but for the entire season or two before then she just sat at the desk in a suit with her feet up. It just didn't seem right to me.
 
Yorick said:
My only real complaint the entire way through was this:

Kima. After they didn't kill her off early on, it seemed like they didn't really know what to do with her anymore. I didn't like her being made a Detective or basically becoming another McNulty. I did like how it ended with Bunk teaching her things, but for the entire season or two before then she just sat at the desk in a suit with her feet up. It just didn't seem right to me.
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Looking back on it, I agree that they didn't really do anything interesting with her after that point. I did feel like that happened to a couple of characters (though not to that extent), that they were just kind of forgotten for a period or time.

I still have mixed feelings about Season 5. There came a point where I legitimately disliked McNulty for what he did. Before that he was just an asshole, then he became kinda twisted. Freeman's involvement in that as well tarnished who I felt was one of my favourite characters, along with Omar and Bunk. With that said, I guess I can commend the writers for invoking that kind of emotion in beloved characters, even if it left a bitter taste when all was said and done.
 
Eejit said:
Avengers - 8/10
An excellent superhero film of a very different sort than Dark Knight. Great ensemble cast which works well, clever dialogue and finally the show-stealing Hulk I've wanted. Aims and plans of the villain are given short shrift, which would be confusing for those who have not seen the Thor film. If you have however it would be rather extraneous.

Whedon done us proud.
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Mark Ruffalo played a really good Banner I thought.
 
He11raiser said:
The only thing I didn't like was the skipping over or should I say, short explanation to how and why the Hunger Games exist.
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I think they left the backstory of the Hunger Games short to really show how the people of Capitol have don't give a single **** about the people of the Districts. Instead of "well, you teenagers really have to do this now" it's more like "finally some more people to watch killing each other".
 
Saw Magnolia, and I really don't know about it. I'm a really big fan of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Cruise, John C Reiley and Julianne Moore, and the characters they played, plus some aspects. But I think it had what a lot of people didn't like Shame for, which is that ultra dramatic music that underplays all the various scenes. The intro and outro just seem kind of up their own ass, the frogs and biblical references were pretty apparent. That said, I did enjoy the movie quite a bit, the stories were compelling enough and the characters likable. Plus the 3 hour run time just flew past with the very fast pacing and constant cutting to other characters.

I also saw Silence of the Lambs, which doesn't need a lot said. Thrilling, compelling and a very creepy Anthony Hopkins. Any of the others in the series worth watching?

Valhalla Rising was very stylistic with not a lot of depth or story, and I really enoyed it for that. Only downside was the overtly fake looking CGI blood. Was there a reason for that?

Blow Out- Wow, I really liked this and was reminded of how much I like a young John Travolta. It made me want to check out more of his old ones and see Phantom of the Paradise, which looks ****ing wacky.

The Conversation- Gene Hackman made this movie and I enjoyed it. However, I didn't like it nearly as much as Apocalypse Now or the Godfathers, but it's a completely different type of movie.

High and Low- It get's harder and harder to choose my favorite Kurosawa flick or organize them in any way, as I watch each one and love it just as much as the others. It was great to see Mifune in a different role and he pulled it off awesomely. At about the 40 minute mark I was really curious as to what the movie could go for another hour and a half with, but it took such an amazing turn.
 
The Avengers 8/10

Great super hero movie, great cast, waiting for the sequel and omg most of the previews were amazing as well
 
Last week I saw Roman Polanski's new film, Carnage. Pretty incredible cast, and it was good to see Christoph Waltz again. It's a very funny movie, in a slightly off-kilter, claustrophobic way
Propels itself nicely to a slightly puzzling ending, very well shot despite the limitations of the single set, Kate Winslet vomiting, and Jodie Foster sobbing for half an hour.
 
It's Alive! 3: Island of the Alive - Michael Moriarty/10

I really could not figure out Michael Moriarty's character. One minute he is passionately defending his mutant freak monster baby in court, the next he's loathing it, then he's in a gathering making jokes about his baby. Then he shoots a scientist in the chest with a tranq gun, then he's on a boat to the titular island of the alive with a bunch of scientists who want to study the now 5 year old babies who are now Shaq sized walking oatmeal with claws and a face like Chunk from The Goonies. Then he's yelling at everyone else to run away menacingly from the creatures while calling them assholes while trying to find his horrifying oatmeal son. Then he comes across one creature tranqed up yelling at it and firing shots off asking "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!?@?!#$ vgg". Then people die. Then he's on a boat with the four creatures, one of them having given birth while he takes them to Miami because apparently the son wants to kill Moriarty's wife for giving birth to him. Then he's wondering why they are wearing human clothes and questioning whether his son was keeping him alive out of proection or just until they get to Miami. Then he's thrown overboard onto a raft where the Cubans pick up a deluded Moriarty and taken him to meet Fidel Goddamn Castro. Then he and two Cubans arrive and Miami and one gives him a gun. Then he finds the creatures have taken his wife to the top of her hotel. Then they find out the monsters have measles and are dying. Then the monsters die and he takes his son's kid, his grandson, and he and his wife having rekindled their relationship steal a car and drive through Miami laughing at the fact that they have no money, a mutant baby and a stolen car.

And almost 100% of his lines are delivered with sarcasm or some joking tone with a layer of disdain for everything. I mean the entire movie was like watching Al Bundy bumble around on an island full of horrifying mutant babies. It helps that Michael's character was a shoe salesman who hates his customers as shown in a scene I still do not understand what even.

WHAT ROLE IS HE PLAYING HERE????
 
Dark Shadows (2012)

Tim Burton is slowly ruining Johnny Depp's acting carer. This film is another example of that. Not worth seeing, don't waste your time.

It's meant to be a dark comedy I believe and yet there is nothing comedic or dark about it. If anything Burton is trying so hard to throw comedy in your face that, it not only fails, but he forgot about the narrative as well. The one redeeming feature is that Christopher Lee is it in for a matter of seconds. Just watch that clip on YouTube and your done.
 
Seen the first two seasons of Deadwood. Will watch the third shortly. Great, great show, but you really gotta pay attention to every single line of dialogue, lest you miss some vital piece of information. Al Swearengen is really a wonderfully complex character. The guy is a huge asshole, but you really end up rooting for him anyway. Really unique and well-written dialogue, and top-notch acting for the most part.
 
Chronicle
A really enjoyable and exciting concept with unusual pacing and various oddities. Not necessarily bad things; at least it didn't have hollywood cliches all over the place. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn't watch it again. The main character is kind of too frustrating to watch.
And the ending was... Ugh, not very good in my opinion.

Ides of March
Don't know why but ever since seeing In the Loop I've been interested in seeing movies about behind the scenes of political things. I like when they discuss the clever things like having a policy that nobody under 18 would vote for but they can't vote because they're under 18. Anyway, good performances by actors that I really liked, Clooney, Hoffman, and the guy from Drive.
I was expecting something more dramatic for the guy to do for 'revenge' due to the buildup, but eh.

I also saw Meet Joe Black which was really, really weird and unexpected. But I'd recommend it if you like Brad Pitt?
 
Vegeta897 said:
Chronicle
A really enjoyable and exciting concept with unusual pacing and various oddities. Not necessarily bad things; at least it didn't have hollywood cliches all over the place. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn't watch it again. The main character is kind of too frustrating to watch.
And the ending was... Ugh, not very good in my opinion.
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Ending was pretty lame. Final part was pretty much Akira though.

ANDREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW

MAAAAAAAAAATTTT
 
Drive: 9.5

Loved this movie. My cousin recommended it to me (lent me the bluray in fact) saying it was excellent. I usually trust his taste, and even still I was impressed by how good it was. There's not much dialog, so you have to be good a reading body language to kind of keep up. The soundtrack was phenomenal, fit perfectly with the sequences I thought. Surprisingly visceral. There's not a lot of violence but when it does get violent, its really intense and quite graphic. The whole experience just lent itself to being, I dunno, "real". Like, realistic in that way that only truly good movies achieve. Its directed by the guy who did Valhalla Rising, so if you liked that movie you'll probably like this one. If you hated Valhalla Rising... well its different enough that you still might like it. I recommend it to anybody honestly.
 
^^ That part of the song gets annoying really fast...
 
Adrift in Tokyo

Charming, quirky, funny, heart warming, bittersweet. This had just the right amount of everything, and it was all fantastic. I loved it.
If you ever want to see what Japanese humor is like, watch this.
 
George of the Jungle - 8/10

As ridiculously cheesy and sometimes annoying the film is, it made me laugh more times than I thought it would from back in the day. Havent seen this film in around 15 years, and there are still quite a few moments that had me chuckling and laughing well.

It knows it's ridiculous, and uses that knowledge to good effect in some scenes. Like 'are you arguing with the narrator?!'.

John Cleese as 'Ape' is frigging hilarious and has some of the best moments.
 
Krynn72 said:
Drive: 9.5

Loved this movie. My cousin recommended it to me (lent me the bluray in fact) saying it was excellent. I usually trust his taste, and even still I was impressed by how good it was. There's not much dialog, so you have to be good a reading body language to kind of keep up. The soundtrack was phenomenal, fit perfectly with the sequences I thought. Surprisingly visceral. There's not a lot of violence but when it does get violent, its really intense and quite graphic. The whole experience just lent itself to being, I dunno, "real". Like, realistic in that way that only truly good movies achieve. Its directed by the guy who did Valhalla Rising, so if you liked that movie you'll probably like this one. If you hated Valhalla Rising... well its different enough that you still might like it. I recommend it to anybody honestly.
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Have to link it.

sSJTz.jpg
 
Mostly that the film was divided up between awkward conversation between Gosling and Mulligan, the other half being...well, whatever the hell the rest of it was.
 
Jesus Henry Christ

Do not watch this movie. It is the most infuriatingly quirky, heavy-handed, Juno-spawned, oh-look-I'm-so-ironic twee bullshit I have ever seen. ****ing avoid.

Adrift in Tokyo

Watch at all costs.
 
A Seperation

An incredibly human drama that deals with themes like guilt, pride, honour and judgement in a very relatable way, without pandering to its audience or simplifying for the sake of emotional impact. I never felt as though the director was trying to manipulate me into feeling a certain way or rooting for one party or another, I just naturally sympathized with the characters because their situations felt so excruciatingly real.* The story is also wonderfully complex and unfolds at a very comfortable pace, I felt completely absorbed throughout. Highly recommended.

*I should note that it's an Iranian film so I'm not sure if it's completely true to the culture, but it seemed authentic enough based on my limited knowledge, especially in how family and religion played such a large role.
 
We Need to Talk About Kevin

****. I may never have kids, after seeing this.

If you want to feel awful, watch this film.

Bleagh.
 
Prometheus - 6/10...

Seriously disappointing, especially in the story front.
Felt like it was edited in a hurry and most of the acting was really quite bad save for Fassbender.
Made me jump a few times and it was pretty to look at though.
 
The Amazing Spider-man: 9/10

Damn good for a hero movie. Definitely loved Andrew Garfield as Peter, a nice breath of fresh air to the character instead of Tobey again. Biggest flaw I saw was the
villain basically was a guy with an identity crisis and the real villains (Oscorp people?) were more or less behind the scenes the whole time.
I understand that they want to keep some stuff for sequels and that this was more of an intro to a trilogy with Spider-man being born and getting used to his powers; but it's a little lacking as a single movie all by itself. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the rest of the story. The movie was 2+ hrs long so I can definitely see how they didn't want to (couldn't really) solve all the problems the movie introduced, so at least in that they used some tact.
 
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