Thread: Last Movie Watched

Did you say schmaltzy enough?

It really is a good movie though.

Originally Posted by orpheus

Did you say schmaltzy enough?

It really is a good movie though.

I'm sponsored

Wow...where to begin. Perfume The Story of a Murderer is a film based on the novel of a same name (which has bolted to the top of my reading queue). It is about a man who has an otherwordly sense of smell who becomes obsessed with making perfume. For the first time that I can recall, I really don't know how I feel about this movie. It is brilliantly crafted, and has great acting and a gripping storyline, but it's not a movie that you will enjoy. It's dark, revolting, shocking...honestly, I can't think of any words that can perfectly describe this movie. It gave me a feeling at the end that I haven't had after watching a film.

In all honesty, I thought this film was brilliant. I recommend that you all watch it for the unique and indescribable cinematic experience. Yes, some of you will hate it, from what I've read it seems to be a bit polarizing, but if you appreciate good, well-crafted cinema I think you'll agree with me that this is an amazing movie.

3 Women - What the ****, dude? I got this for X-mas. It had been on my wishlist ever since Criterion announced it because it has two of the weirdest looking women ever (Shelly Duvall and Sissy Spacek) and the description I read of the film included the words "chilling" and "surreal". So, yeah, that sounds pretty awesome. Let's pop it in.

Sissy Spacek starts her first job at a rehab clinic for old people. Shelly Duvall is already employed there and shows her around. Shelly Duvall is one of those people that is extremely confident, self-assured and know it all for no apparent reason. No one seems to like her. People ignore her while she's talking to them and barely even acknowledge her presence. When they do acknowledge her, it's usually with disdain. Sissy, though, latches on to her like a lost puppy. Eventually, they move in together, even though Shelly doesn't seem too pleased with her. Sissy keeps ****ing things up, as Shelly sees it. Things come to a head, Shelly starts yelling, and Sissy decides to take a swan dive off the balcony of the apartment complex. And that's when **** starts to get really weird.

Apparently inspired by a dream Robert Altman had while his wife was in the hospital, everything I've read about this movie since watching it makes me feel a little bit better about feeling like a lot of it went over my head. There's a lot of imagery and repeated actions that feel like they mean something, but I have no idea what. Surreal is an excellent word to describe it. I plan to listen to Altman's commentary on the film sometime soon, but I get the feeling it won't answer a lot of questions. Apparently, this is a movie he intended for the audience to "feel rather than understand". In that, he succeeded. It's a crazy, WTF head trip. I liked it. I'm just not sure how much.



Bedevilled - Still waiting for this to show up in the US, so last time I was at Amoeba I pounced on a bootleg. Had to wait until BoobyTrap was out of the house to watch it.

Hae-won is a bitch. She works for a bank, approving loans. She treats people like crap and after slapping one of her co-workers (for doing something the co-worker didn't actually do) in the middle of the office in front of customer, her boss puts her on a mandatory vacation. Hae-won decides to spend it on the remote island where she grew up and her childhood friend Bok-nam still lives. The island is so remote and undeveloped that there are something like 9 people on it and it takes a couple hours to get to by boat.

Upon arriving, the focus of the film slowly shifts to the friend, Bok-nam. We see her being mistreated and abused by everyone, especially her husband and his mother and brother. She seems to try to put up with it for the sake of her daughter, though, and tries to keep a happy face when Hae-won is around. It gets to be too much for her, though, and she asks Hae-won to help her escape the island with her daughter. Hae-won refuses and even accuses her of making stuff up in order to gain sympathy. Bok-nam tries to escape anyway, but is caught. And from there on, **** gets ****ed up. Bok-nam snaps, grabs a scythe and decides to murder everyone on the island. It's not going to be easy, though.

It's a pretty ****ed up, slow-burn of a movie. The director spends a lot of time giving you reasons to hate pretty much every character other than Bok-nam and her daughter. So that when the violence finally starts, you are fully on Bok-nam's side. To the point where I was a little disappointed that a couple of the killings weren't gruesome enough. At times, it gets a little too ridiculous, but overall I'd say that if you're at all into violent horror cinema, this is definitely one to watch.



Wait Until Dark - I bought a used copy of this at a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video going out of business sale. I remember seeing it on a list of scariest movies somewhere and my dad told me it was really creepy, so I picked it up. Audrey Hepburn plays a blind lady, who lives in an apartment with her husband in New York. At the airport coming home, her husband is handed a doll (filled with heroin) by a stranger who asks him to hold it for her. The doll, though, belongs to Alan Arkin. And he wants it back. He's convinced that it's somewhere in the apartment, so he and two guys he hires begin a plot to try and get it out of the apartment. Since Audrey is home, they are forced to resort to an elaborate deception.

I enjoyed this movie pretty thoroughly except for one thing: Audrey Hepburn. She was annoying as ****. She did a good job acting blind, but she was so shrill and was constantly over-excited. Anytime anything happened, she would gasp or cry out. I can honestly say I don't know if I've ever seen any other movies of hers, so I don't know if it was her or it was the character, but... man... Everything else about the movie I really liked, though, and the last 20-30 minutes are especially intense and well done, even with Hepburn's over-acting. Alan Arkin makes a really excellent, cool bad guy. And the film managed to be interesting and compelling even leading up to the finale.

I'd recommend it as worth a watch, but probably not a buy.

Watched Paul last night after seeing it referenced here. I can understand it not being everybody's cup of tea but it sure the hell was mine. Thought it was damn funny from beginning to end--and I wasn't even high!* Laughed a lot and smiled through the whole thing. Also loved all of the various Alien movie and TV references--did they miss ANYTHING? Even squeezed in a Twilight Zone near the end. But the best was the Star Wars canitna music playing in the redneck bar. Such an obvious gag but still slayed me.






*Note to self: watch this high.

Diehard...I may have to go back and rewatch Perfume. I remember I liked it enough but it(especially the ending) left me a little...cold. Gotta definitely rewatch it though, Rickman is just sooooooo good.

Adge, Wait Until Dark is an awesome awesome movie. It freaked me out as a kid. And yeah, Arkin was tremendous. You sound a little on the fence about Bedeviled. Yeah, that definitely sound like a movie that you do not even want Booby to know about much less watch.

And Otto, yeah it's an awesome and really sweet movie that would be fun to watch with a little bit of 'alteration'.

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

You sound a little on the fence about Bedeviled.

I am. A little. I enjoyed it, but... trying to figure out how to say it without spoiling anything... when Bok-nam goes nuts, she seems to develop an especially large amount of durability that pushed things a little too far. Not out of the realm of enjoyment, but... it had an effect. It's something you see a lot, but it doesn't always create an issue. It depends on the context and it just felt a little off in this.

I'd still recommend watching it, though. Definitely.

I finally made some time(at work tee hee) to catch a movie...



First off this is in no way related to that Craig/Weiss stillborn flick that came out a bit ago. This was, without a doubt, one of the single most gore-y Asian flicks I have ever seen. And it gives American/French/etc a run for their money too. It's a bit confusing because it is told in a circular fashion and you don't really get the full picture till late in the game(at least I didn't). When it comes together it pays off though. And really...some of the most uncomfortable killings, including a pregnant woman who is being strangled with one of those 'suck the air out of a storage bag' devices while her baby is running out between her legs(she falls face forward onto her very pregnant belly). Yeah, so there's that. There is a nice 'wah-wah' tag at the very end that is a little awkwardly presented, but still good. This was a tough watch but I grudgingly give it a thumbs up.