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DOGTOOTH
I finally got around to watching this a couple of nights ago. I'm still mulling it over. I can't quite put my finger on what the director might have been trying to say. I loved the movie, but I can't identify exactly why I was so captivated by it. Maybe the fact that I'm still thinking about it here 2 days later says it all. I haven't watched a flick that has done that in a good long time. I'll definitely give this a second viewing soon. Recommended.

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LE DOULOS
Last night wanted to watch something that wasn't too long so went through my Netflix queue and instant watched this French classic. Jean-Paul Belmondo is brilliant. Great noir film where you can't trust what you initially thought about any particular character lest they be revealed to be something altogether different. Recommended.
 
I saw these 4 movies in the last few weeks.

Meloncolia:

The other big blue planet

Disclaimer! This movie made me motion sick. Maybe it was because I saw it at the Lemlie in Pasadena, and the only seats available were in the 3rd row, or because the camera was moving too much. I don?t know. Anyway, the movie was alright. It?s a 3 for a couple of reasons.
1) The director should have consulted an astrophysicist before coming up with the storyline. There is no way the bigger blue planet would have come back after missing the earth the first time. The earth would have been pulled in the direction of the larger mass, not the other way around. Johannes Kepler would have spontaneously vomited if he watched this movie.
2) The story had a lot of unneeded and strange scenes that made me say W T F? The opening limo scene was odd. The fact that they were 3 hours late to their own wedding reception was not believable. She has time to take a bath during the reception dinner and then they have soup catered from a soup truck on the 12th hole. Huh? Dunst has sex with some guy that?s been given the task of getting some advertisement slogan out of her in the sand trap on the 5th hole. Holy WTF Batman? All of this on her wedding night?
/me shakes his head?
3) I get the ?I?m depressed and don?t want to live? thing when Dunst doesn?t know when ?the end? will happen, and then she?s a normal person when she realizes that the earth is going to be demolished by a rogue planet the size of Jupiter. Her sister is the normal person when Dunst is depressed and then goes ape-**** when the end is coming. BTW, Jack Bauer is a p***y in this movie for taking the easy way out with cyanide pills.
4) Dunst gets naked. Three thumbs up! We?re not talking nip-slip. We?re talking full body (and a very nice one I might add) shots.
5) And finally, the opening scene. I think it?s Bethoven?s 5th or some junk, but it was loud and just foreshadowed the entire movie in a few seconds. It made me sick. Literally.

I give it a 3 out of 5.

Mission Impossible- Ghost Protocol:

Popcorn? nom nom nom?

I?m a sucker for these movies. I?ve liked all of the previous ones, and this is no different. Cruise is the usual corny acrobatic bad-ass as he was in the others. The story line is a little better in this one than the previous with Morpheus, but the corn was still a plenty in this movie. Electronic breakdowns and conveniently placed gear make it easy for the viewer to know where the movie is going. Pegg does a good job as the bumbling accessory/comedic relief. Lots of tech use for stuff that I?m sure the US Govt. has in the works, but we don?t know about. So I?m cool with it. It?s your typical action packed holiday popcorn flick.

I give this a solid 4 out of 5

Dangerous Methods:

Cocaine, pshychosexual models, nip-slips and nonsense?

Aragorn and Magneto battle it out over what is and what isn?t considered ?crazy?. One insists that everything is sexual and the other believes in fairies and stuff like that. Fran?ois Toulour of Ocean?s 12 fame does a bunch of coke and bangs anything that walks. Elizabeth Swan gets naked (I think she needs to eat a sandwich or two?) and likes to be spanked. Mash together until your head hurts and you want to call your therapist, and hilarity ensues.

If you don?t have a reasonably strong background in psychology (i.e. Freudian and Jungian methods) you might be lost. Since my wife IS strong with these two schools of thought, she was able to tell me the behind the movie story. Because of this I think I got more out of the movie than the average viewer.

A couple of scenes were really funny if you know the personalities of Freud and Jung. Nips, nips and more nips make this movie pretty good.

I give it a 3.75.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:

Apparently everyone in Sweden is a child molester.

Ok? first off, the guy who wrote these books is effing brilliant and insane at the same time. He must have used a bunch of his experiences as a child growing up in Sweden to come up with this crazed piece of literature.

The movie flat out kicked ass. It was a fast paced thriller that you had no idea could get more twisted as it progressed. Rooney Mara was amazing in this movie. I had no idea that she was this good as an actress. You really believe that she is the character she plays. I know that sounded kinda dumb, but Cruise as Ethan Hunt is Cruise with a different name. You don?t really see any change in him between character and real life. Mara on the other hand? woah. She flat out stunned me. In this roll, she was easily one of the best actresses in 2011. As a bonus, you get to see her naked in this movie. WOO HOO!!

Ok, James Bond is a p***y in this movie. He?s afraid of a little gun fire and can?t handle the pain when a skinny goth chick sews his eyebrow back together with dental floss. Wuss. The same guy who goes nuts in the Meloncolia movie when he can?t smash his soup bowl (I?m lost there too) goes nuts here and likes hang chicks up in his basement and dismember them after banging the bejezus out of them. Apparently he takes after his dad. Weirdo. He takes a 6-iron to the chompers though, so I?m cool with that.

The only thing that made me go ?huh? was when they tracked down every piece of film on this small island from 40-years earlier and pieced it together seamlessly without any trouble.

Anyway, there are some exceptionally graphic scenes in this movie, and a brass dong that makes me cringe thinking about it. OUCH!

My recommendation, GO SEE THIS EFFING MOVIE!!1! It was flat out amazing.
Since there is no true perfect movie (well ok, Month Python and the Holy Grail was perfect), I give this a 4.75 out of 5. It was docked .25 points because of slight telegraphing and a bit of over-the-top child abuse stuff. But other than that it was fantastic.
 
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Uruguayan film that takes place in the early 60's. I wouldn't call this a great film by any means, but it was a solid bit of work that entertained me. Gary Piquer's performance as the impresario stood out. And if you're into World's Strongest Man stuff you'll maybe recognize Jouko Ahola in the role of ex-wrestling champ Jacob van Oppen here. There isn't anything in the film that will twist your mind, but it was well done and the performances and story make it another film I'd recommend.
 
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Student Bodies - I'd never heard of this movie before stumbling upon it one day on TV. I watched part of the shower scene and thought it was kind of funny, so I DVR'd a later showing of the whole thing. It's a horror parody, much like Scary Movie, done back in 1981. How is it that I'd never heard of this movie before? Anyway, it had some funny bits and was worth watching, but it wasn't anything special beyond that. Worth a rent if you've never seen it.


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Naked Lunch - Wow. Uh. Peter Weller plays an exterminator who starts ingesting the substance he's supposed to be using to kill bugs and the bugs start talking to him and all kinds of weird, ****ed up **** happens. I tried to read Naked Lunch in high school and couldn't get through it, but seeing this movie makes me want to give it another try. I guess the movie isn't based directly on the book, but is more based on William S Burroughs' life, but maybe this time I'd at least have an inkling of what the **** was going on?

I really liked the movie. Very Cronenberg. Very weird and enjoyable. I'd buy it right now, but I think I'll hold off for a while in case Criterion decides to release it on Blu-ray.



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Paul - I saw this in the theater and liked it, but on second viewing I liked it even more. I think I liked all the characters a little more. It's nowhere near the level of Hot Fuzz or Shaun Of The Dead, but it's still really funny. The Aliens reference near the end is still my favorite part, too. Recommended.


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Dick - Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams are airheads who somehow find themselves given positions in the Nixon White House as official dog-walkers. And, of course, they end up influencing the events that lead to Nixon's downfall through slapstick, madcap comedy! I guess.
I watched this because I had seen it before a long time ago and had thought it was funny, but this time around I didn't really care for it. It had some brief moments of comedy, but mostly I was just bored with it. Lots of SNL alumni in this and Dan Hedaya is always pretty awesome, so I didn't hate it or even really dislike it. It was just kind of... there. I recommend not bothering with it unless you're on a quest to see every single movie Will Ferrel has ever been in.


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Four Lions - Wow. They went there. A bunch of British Muslims decide that they're going to go Jihadi and blow something London **** up, but the fact that they're all completely incompetent makes it easier said than done. ****ing hilarious. There's a lot of hard Brit accents and slang, so it can be difficult to follow at times, especially if you're not paying close attention, but man... it's worth it. Very funny.


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Mona Lisa - Bob Hoskins plays a recently released ex-convict who is given the job of chauffeuring around a high end prostitute. Bob and the pross don't get along at first, but eventually they start to like each other and when she asks him to look for a friend of hers that she used to watch out for back when she was a street-walker, he has no idea the problems it's going to cause. A pretty good movie, but nothing special beyond Bob Hoskins. I can watch that dude in anything.


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Tucker And Dale Vs Evil - As per JerseyDevil's demands, I made sure and squeezed this one in before the year was over. Tucker and Dale are two nice guys who just happen to be rednecks. They're just hanging out in the woods minding their own business when a group of kids come across them. Bad things start happening to the kids and the kids blame our heroes, who are not in any way, shape or form to blame. Hilarity ensues. Very ****ing funny. I don't think I liked it as much as JD, but it's a damn good time.


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Jane Eyre - Bought this for BoobyTrap for X-Mas. We saw it twice in the theater and I thought it was great then. Seeing it on Blu-Ray did nothing to diminish my opinion. I LOVE the look and feel of this film. It's got a suspenseful vibe running through it and some fantastic atmosphere. The lighting is fantastic and the score is beautiful. Fassbender is always great and after this film, I call myself a Mia Wasikowska fan, too. Highly recommended.


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The Town - Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner and a couple of guys are a team of robbers. They hold up banks and armored money transport. On one occasion, they decide they need a hostage, so they take Rebecca Hall and let her go when they get away from the cops. Renner feels uneasy about leaving a witness, though, so Affleck decides he'll take care of her to make him feel better. Of course, instead of wasting her, he ends up falling in love with her and now has to balance his two lives which inevitably intersect.

This movie got a lot of love when it came out, but I thought it was just ok. Parts of it were a little silly. It was well made and it wasn't a bad movie at all, but I'm not entirely sure what everyone thought was so great about it, either. Rental.
 
You probably would have liked Tucker & Dale better if you had seen it cold...and with an audience. Big mistake on the distributors part for not rolling this out slowly as a sort of midnight movie. I got about 3/4's thru Four Lions and it just was kind of boring. I have to go back and rewatch, i could be wrong. Maybe it just hit me funny because of the subject matter and the basically unlikable characters. Think the Town was mildly overrated, still it's a very good film. Not sure why Affleck gets all the hate...guy is relatively talented. See Reindeer Games Adgy, you missed the Xmas window, but still...
 
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adgy, i can AND can't believe you never heard of Student Bodies... there's a few more of these forgotten treasures around... i'll think of some for you.


the better compendium for the Naked Lunch movie is the book Interzone, if you can find it... i don't know if it's still in print. but it's a lot of the working stuff prior to to Kerouac and Ginsberg helping him through the actual novel. the movie is sort of a metatext type deal in that Interzone and Burroughs' real life are kind of fused together and you get this story about a junkie who goes to Morocco to write a novel about a junkie who goes to Morocco to write a novel... etc. and the motif of killing Joan twice is the impetus for and proof of his being a writer bookends the piece because he himself cited that he'd have never become a writer had he not killed her.

i'm still torn on whether or not i think this movie is any good. it's Cronenberg... it's VERY Burroughs in it's soul... but it isn't EXACTLY Naked Lunch. but then again, this sort of m?bius frame is far more compelling than the original book.
 
I loved The Town, not sure why you thought parts of it were silly. Was one of my favorite films of that year. Four Lions sounds hilarious, I'll have to check it out

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I've always loved films centered around hitmen/assassins, and these two flicks did not disappoint. Very entertaining and engrossing. It just sucks that there aren't a ton of good movies in this genre. Hopefully I can find some more.
 
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

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This movie will **** your **** up.
 
Indeed. Not the highest quality documentary, but the story more than makes up for all its flaws. Such a powerful and sad story. I loved it.

I have no idea how I feel about it. I don't think I've ever had such a visceral reaction to a movie before.

It's been a few hours and I still feel a little sick to my stomach.
 
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After seeing the trailer a few months ago I was excited to finally netflix the disc. It was Chinese, mysterious, epically shot, looked like some good action choreography, decent rotten tomatoes rating, etc., typically something I'd love. Sadly the infatuation was short-lived.

They forced too many characters into the mix too quickly--all suspicious; all stiff and uninteresting, all with the exact same voice and facial expressions--and I got lost and went numb 5 minutes in and ejected and sealed it for return. Decided the next day to give it another shot and after carefully peeling it back out managed to make it through to the end--but on the fastest speed that still carried sound. It was too long, too stuffy and serious, never fun or interesting, and with emotionless characters that were impossible to like, know, or care about even to the end.
 
I watched the 'preview' version of this.

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Honestly, the only difference that I noticed from the theatrical cut was the ending. Nothing too different. Anyways, it's still one of my favorite Hitchcock movies and I have been meaning to read the novel, which was written by the same author who wrote the novel that served as the basis for The Talented Mr. Ripley film.

Hahaha! I know want to re-watch the Ripley movie.
 
You probably would have liked Tucker & Dale better if you had seen it cold...and with an audience.

I actually had that thought while I was watching it. "This would probably be better with a big group."

Think the Town was mildly overrated, still it's a very good film. Not sure why Affleck gets all the hate...guy is relatively talented. See Reindeer Games Adgy, you missed the Xmas window, but still...

I'm pretty indifferent to Affleck. I mostly find him likable because he's so willing to make fun of himself with Kevin Smith. Both of the movies he's directed I thought were good but not great. I'll watch Reindeer Games eventually.

adgy, i can AND can't believe you never heard of Student Bodies... there's a few more of these forgotten treasures around... i'll think of some for you.

Please do.

the better compendium for the Naked Lunch movie is the book Interzone, if you can find it... i don't know if it's still in print. but it's a lot of the working stuff prior to to Kerouac and Ginsberg helping him through the actual novel. the movie is sort of a metatext type deal in that Interzone and Burroughs' real life are kind of fused together and you get this story about a junkie who goes to Morocco to write a novel about a junkie who goes to Morocco to write a novel... etc. and the motif of killing Joan twice is the impetus for and proof of his being a writer bookends the piece because he himself cited that he'd have never become a writer had he not killed her.

i'm still torn on whether or not i think this movie is any good. it's Cronenberg... it's VERY Burroughs in it's soul... but it isn't EXACTLY Naked Lunch. but then again, this sort of m?bius frame is far more compelling than the original book.

Good to know. Yeah, I'm really interested to listen to Cronenberg's commentary for this film, which is why I'm tempted to just buy it now. I will check out Interzone, as well. I don't suppose you saw that Burroughs documentary that came out last year (I think?), did you? Anyone else see it? I've never really been able to get into Burroughs. Tried listening to some of his spoken word stuff in high school, too, thanks to his working with Ministry and Kurt Cobain, but it never really did much for me. I think I still have "The Priest They Called Him" somewhere, though. Might give it another shot.

I loved The Town, not sure why you thought parts of it were silly. Was one of my favorite films of that year.

It was just little things. I don't want to make it sound like I didn't like the movie. I just feel like I knew what was going to happen before any of it happened (which I blame on the trailer and seeing it fifty times or whatever) and felt like I've seen the same story done better. Even though I can't tell you where.

I've always loved films centered around hitmen/assassins, and these two flicks did not disappoint. Very entertaining and engrossing. It just sucks that there aren't a ton of good movies in this genre. Hopefully I can find some more.

I really like the original Bangkok Dangerous, too. Never seen Beyond Hypothermia, but glad you liked it. I see it used pretty frequently and have been curious about it.

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After seeing the trailer a few months ago I was excited to finally netflix the disc. It was Chinese, mysterious, epically shot, looked like some good action choreography, decent rotten tomatoes rating, etc., typically something I'd love. Sadly the infatuation was short-lived.

They forced too many characters into the mix too quickly--all suspicious; all stiff and uninteresting, all with the exact same voice and facial expressions--and I got lost and went numb 5 minutes in and ejected and sealed it for return. Decided the next day to give it another shot and after carefully peeling it back out managed to make it through to the end--but on the fastest speed that still carried sound. It was too long, too stuffy and serious, never fun or interesting, and with emotionless characters that were impossible to like, know, or care about even to the end.

I enjoyed that movie. Thought it was kind of over-the-top ridiculous fun.

I watched the 'preview' version of this.

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Honestly, the only difference that I noticed from the theatrical cut was the ending. Nothing too different. Anyways, it's still one of my favorite Hitchcock movies and I have been meaning to read the novel, which was written by the same author who wrote the novel that served as the basis for The Talented Mr. Ripley film.

Hahaha! I know want to re-watch the Ripley movie.

I haven't seen that yet, but I bought that two disc edition at Big Lots for $3 a year or so ago. :)
 
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The Man From Nowhere is an absolutely BRILLIANT film! Top notch thriller/crime drama about a man trying to rescue a little girl. I don't think there was a second where I wasn't engrossed.

Man, I ****ing love Korean films.
 
also, I was stunned when I realized that the main actor also played the son in Mother (another brilliant Korean movie). Bin Won really is a great and versatile actor.
 
I enjoyed that movie. Thought it was kind of over-the-top ridiculous fun.


Sorry m'man. Was in a bad mood that first night which is why I gave it another try. Honestly tried both times to buy in but just couldn't. Liked the characters even less the next day. lol


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The Man From Nowhere is an absolutely BRILLIANT film! Top notch thriller/crime drama about a man trying to rescue a little girl. I don't think there was a second where I wasn't engrossed.

Man, I ****ing love Korean films.


SWEET. Netflix has this on streaming and was wondering about it. Will watch the first chance I get.
 
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