MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES! ACK!

[YojimboMonkey]

My only regret is not working in the word tintinnabulation

[Babar]

I've accidentally been on a run of single-setting dialogue driven films with few characters.



This one.... had potential. It happens in real time and it was a lot of fun for the first 20-30 minutes and then it slowly started falling off and there were some absurd scenes along the way. I liked Cube a lot better within this sub-sub-subgenre.



This one on the other hand was great. I kind of went back and forth between the characters while they were conversing. Andre says something about living without fear and I'm like "yeah, you're totally right Andre" and then he ruins it with some new age mumbo jumbo, then the playwright says something about appreciating the little things in life and I'm like "great point man, and I loved you in Princess Diary" and then he ruins it by saying something motivated by fear. Very good film and great use of Satie's "Gymnopedie 1."



The concept of this film immediately reminded me of a certain Star Trek TOS episode so I looked it up, turns out it was written by the same guy. But c'mon IMDB users, this is not a good film. It has a wonderful concept but the execution is sadly mediocre in its bland mediocrity. It felt like a 90 minute television show (or a full length TV movie) with its dramatic music cues and awkward acting and delivery. Still, it was enjoyable and it's cool the filmmakers openly thanked torrent users for lifting the profile of this low budget film.

I watched these films in the span of two days and I only knew beforehand that My Dinner With Andre was a single-set film, not the other two. But I'm interested in checking out more of these films if any of you have recs.

[Greg Nog]

Just saw the Hunger Games!  It was great, it was better than the book, and I'm totally fucking jazzed for the sequel.

[G.C.R]

Rounded out two really great days in a row by ticking off a box in my imaginiary list of 'things I really should watch sometime' with Jules et Jim. I've watched a few Truffaut films this year, and this was definitely a favourite. What I really liked was how it feels essentially a film that works to show you what trying to actually have a long-term relationship with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl would be like (spoiler: it would be heartbreaking and difficult for everyone). But it does this without ever making you feel like anyone involved is a terrible person, and Catherine's MPDG-ness is never twee and awful; it seems exciting and fun, and evidence of why Jules and Jim both love her so much.

  

[G.C.R]

X-post - for real, Greg? 

[Greg Nog]

Indeed!  I think it works way better as a movie, indicting the audience for being invested in the violence on display for their pleasure, plus I thought it had a really good tempo of alternating between slow-lovey-moment and horrid-killy-moment, and a bunch of lovely stylistic flourishes -- the costuming in the capitol and the hallucination in the arena were both fairly great, I thought.  And the dogs in the film were way less jarring than the werewolves in the book.

Katniss seemed to have way less interiority in the film than she does in the first-person-narrated book, which I actually kind of liked, since I find the story of Panem way more interesting than the story of a single girl from District 12.

The only real downside to the visual presentation, I thought, was how much clearer it is that Rue plays the part of a Magical Negress, there almost entirely to ennoble Katniss.

Also I do kind of wish there'd been people with dyed skin in the Capitol, but I get that they probably thought that would be a little too jarring.

[Captain]

IThe only real downside to the visual presentation, I thought, was how much clearer it is that Rue plays the part of a Magical Negress, there almost entirely to ennoble Katniss.

Edit: sorry I can't figure out how to make the text match the background... so, avoid the different colored text if you don't want plot points ruined.
 Spoilers.

I never read the books, but I didn't come away from the movie with this outlook. Initially, I saw Rue as a rather transparent attempt by the writers to continue portraying Katniss as a "big sister/protector" character. Pretty weak. But Rue's death which led to insurrection was easily the most moving part of the movie for me. For this reason, Rue ends up taking on more importance and significance--even if she's more of a figure than a character.

[Anne the Man]

I objected to the Magical Negroes in the movie too, but my dad reckons that, while they are still figures not characters, they don't so much serve to personally ennoble Katniss but to show that she's a figure who can work with people of whatever race and bring them together, which is why she's such a threat. Hmm. Thresh is much more of a plot device than Rue, which is irritating.

[clare]

So *now* will you shave wanky patterns into your beard, Nog?

I'm halfway through the second book, but Mr11 has done most of the major spoiling for me already. It is interesting to see how they've pulled some elements from book 2 into the first movie, to set it up for the second movie. I feel like I oughta brush up on my Gibbons, but I suspect that's just a feeling (and I don't know if I have a copy anymore).

[elpollodiablo]

I'd highly recommend Chronicle! In addition to the cinematic gimmick and plot conceit both working *much* better than you'd think, it's one of the best high school movies I've seen in years. The performances aren't all great, but the main kid is pretty strong, and Wallace from the Wire is in it.

[elpollodiablo]

Oh man, the climactic scene was better than in just about any of the past decade's big franchise superhero movies, too.

[milly balgeary]

Yeah, I meant to watch that this weekend as it leaked on the net in decent quality. Instead I watched...

The Devil Inside.

Pretty decent demonic possession stuff, if you go for that, but rotten ending

[jebreject]

Think I'm going to go see Chronicle on Wednesday! Thanks for the push, Miles!

ALSO I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED FOR AVENGERS FUUUUUUCK

[peacocks]

Dog Day Afternoon just blew my mind! And it's a true story?! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

[Thermofusion]

say whaaaaaat

aw HELL naw

[Babar]

Dog Day Afternoon just blew my mind! And it's a true story?! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Let me blow your mind a bit more. John Cazale appeared in only six films in short career that was tragically shortened by bone cancer. These films were

The Godfather
The Conversation
The Godfather, Part II
Dog Day Afternoon
The Deer Hunter
The Godfather, Part III (archival footage)

What is remarkable is that all six films were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, three of them winning it. Quite a career, albeit a short one. When he died he was engaged to Meryl Streep. John Cazale, a true legend of the silver screen.

[auto-da-fey]

is that documentary about him worth pursuing? i've been on a bit of a doc-kick of late, and if ever there was a time for me to throw it on the queue, this could be it.

[Babar]

There's a documentary about him? Nice! Thanks for the heads up.

[auto-da-fey]

oh also any Bill Morrison fans in the house? i'm thinking about this tonight--have a lot to get done, but still very, very tempted...

http://ihousephilly.org/events/archive-fever-3-0-films-by-bill-morrison/

[auto-da-fey]

There's a documentary about him? Nice! Thanks for the heads up.

I guess it's only 39 minutes long? I dunno, people seem to dig it, but it really doesn't sound so particularly compelling as a documentary...do post if you see it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1352717/

[elpollodiablo]

So how was the big superhero movie made out of a bunch of mediocre superhero movies?

[Ignatius]

Whoa, buddy. Mediocre? Maybe one or two of em, certainly not all five.

[elpollodiablo]

There was one sort of remarkable movie in there, I guess, you're right. Two if you count separate movies in the same franchise.

[jebreject]

I thought the first Iron Man and Captain America were both great. The rest were good-but-not-great and thoroughly entertaining. I guess Hulk was mediocre though, because I honestly don't remember anything about it.

[jebreject]

I'd highly recommend Chronicle! In addition to the cinematic gimmick and plot conceit both working *much* better than you'd think, it's one of the best high school movies I've seen in years. The performances aren't all great, but the main kid is pretty strong, and Wallace from the Wire is in it.

Oh yeah, cosigning this. Saw it Wednesday night at the budget theater, and it's probably my favorite movie that I've seen so far this year.