Schoolio's Movie Corner

[Alchemy]

I saw Cloud Atlas and I really, really liked it. Although, reading Gabe's review, I have to admit that he's right on all accounts. I wasn't bothered by a lot of the things in the film that should have bothered me, but the one thing that did get me was the casting. Very rarely did the casting races into other races not look... weird. Also, while I thought Tom Hanks was fine in the Sloosha's Crossing storyline (the post-apocalyptic one) and the Half Lives: A Luisa Rey Mystery, I thought he did come off very sketch comedy-ish in the others... Some of the casting gimmicks did work for me, though. I loved that Hugo Weaving played the mean nurse in The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish. I was also surprised to see that the young Sixsmith and the old Sixsmith were played by the same actor. That old person make-up sure fooled me... Also, I though Hugh Grant was pretty good in this.

As far as the content of the stories, I wasn't bothered by their inconsistency and problems, because, well, the same can be said of the novel. This is what I was expecting. Just like in the book, my favorite story (one that I love, actually) was the Letters from Zedelheim (the music storyline), because it was very straight-forward, and it wasn't trying too hard to fall into a genre . I love David Mitchell, and this book got me into him, but I have to admit that it isn't his best work. The Luisa Rey Mystery comes off as a badly-written detective fiction, and even though we learn in the Timothy Cavendish comedy that it is supposed to be a badly-written detective fiction, it is still as fun to read (and watch) as a badly-written detective fiction. I mean, I admire what he was doing, but I don't like that section. I also don't really like the Orison of Somni-451 and Sloosha's Crossing stories, because the former is way too cliché and the latter is quite confusing. That being said, I loved the visuals in the movie for Somni-451... I did enjoy the Timothy Cavendish storyline (the old people one), but it isn't exactly an amazing story. It is supposed to be a movie-comedy, and I think it works all right... I also enjoyed the Pacific Journal storyline, as I also did in the book. I think the twist in that story is creepy and good, but I don't like Tom Hank's casting in this one.

All in all, I really want to go watch it one or two more times at the theaters. I loved the visuals and the music. Sometimes it was weird, but I like that they presented all the stories at once, instead of how Mitchell did it (first half of 1,2,3,4,5, all of 6, last half of 5,4,3,2,1). Mitchell's presentation worked in the novel, but it might have been oddly paced in the movie. There were so many times when the gimmicks pulled me out of the movie, but then, Mitchell's gimmicks do the same for some of his books. Despite its faults, there were moments in the movie that got me quite emotional and moved.

[guedita]

I saw Skyfall in IMAX last night. I'm not going to write up a full critical review or anything but I will say that Javier Bardem's character acting is superb and pretty much carries the film. But there's one thing that deeply perturbed me (spoilers, I suppose):

In the scene where they are in the underground tube and the bomb goes off and Bond is like "was that for me?" and then Javier's like, "no but this is" and then the train comes crashing through WHY ARE THERE NO PASSENGERS ON THE FUCKING TRAIN DURING RUSH HOUR? WHEN ALL THAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR THE PRIOR 10 MINUTES IS HOW GOD DAMNED CROWDED THE LONDON TUBE IS DURING RUSH HOUR?

If anyone can coherently explain how I'm supposed to make logical sense of that scene I'll be much obliged.

[TallGuyCM]

In search of a good film to watch with a few cocktails tonight, I randomly stumbled upon Peter Weir's The Last Wave (just one entry in the massive Criterion library streaming on Hulu Plus). I hadn't heard of the film itself, nor of the director before, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. With the sudden drop in temperature, I think I also might have been subconsciously seeking something that was also cold and dreary, and this did the trick in that regard as well.

[xuclarockerx]

Caught most of Exorcist II: The Heretic on cable Friday evening. Aside from dozing off a bit because I was genuinely tired...not as terrible as I've heard it's supposed to be. Cool African flashbacks, way better special effects than Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 10 years later, and Regan's kinda hot

[bmack86]

Yesterday I watched 24 Hour Party People. Fuckin' great film, and whoever played Martin Hannett was just absurd in all the best ways. The scene where he and Joy Division are recording She's Lost Control is priceless.

[VigoTheCarpathian]

How about when they fed those pigeons rat poison. That scene inspired me to soak bread with whiskey and feed it to the crowes outside my office. They were nose diving and crashing and everything. You shoud try it some time

[atom heart]

Cloud Atlas made me cry.

Same here.

[atom heart]

Skyfall was just baffling. It had elements of old-style Bond films (crazy villian, casinos, large dangerous animals, random sexual encounters, the Aston-Martin) but they were all juggled inexpertly with the new style thug-Bond elements. Tonally it was alllll over the place. It throws some emotional beats at you with minimum set up, and then goes to the next random Bond trope. Some of the fights were pretty neat, including one brief encounter that played with 2D and 3D space in a really interesting way. But this was a tiny fraction of the film, most of it was pretty forgettable. The film seemed to both want to say something about Bond but also not say anything about him at all. He gets a past of a kind but it's almost like the movie wants to ignore that it ever brought it up in the first place. Judi Dench's M is again the best part of a Bond film, and here she's more than ever Bond's advocate as she tries to save the 00 program from the march of time. For a film that's supposed to sell Bond to future generations it does a surprisingly poor job at highlighting what could be interesting about a Bond in the modern world. Craig's Bond is a dead-eyed, going-through-the-motions Bond, an attitude the film shares. Where Connery revelled, Craig is closed down and seems to derive no joy or even a sense of accomplishment from anything. He delivers innuendo laden quips with no levity. He's an old, loyal bulldog with no spark, and no one in the film or outside of the film seems to know what to do with him.

[CrimesceneCookie]

I didn't read the book or anything, but I hated Cloud Atlas. 10 minutes into the movie I was lost (possibly because I had to scold the dick sitting in front of me to turn off his phone and possibly missed whatever crucial line of dialogue I was supposed to hear), and the "future-speak" was annoying and nearly incomprehensible, for true-true.
The end was something like a jumbled montage with corny voice-over lines saying dumb things like "we're all connected..."

[roberto73]

Fuckin' great film, and whoever played Martin Hannett was just absurd in all the best ways. The scene where he and Joy Division are recording She's Lost Control is priceless.

Believe it or not, that's Andy Serkis, of Lord of the Rings/Gollum fame. This reminds me that I need to watch Burke and Hare, a recent straight-to-video John Landis movie that he stars in with Simon Pegg. I'm guessing it sucks, but still.

[bmack86]

Oh wow. Everyone connected to it would make me believe it doesn't suck, but straight-to-video suggests otherwise.

And that's incredible. I can't see Gollum at all. I just love his first real scene. "What are you doing up there Martin?" "Recording silence."

[lehorne]

period piece A Royal Affair last night, which was nice for the costumes and grandeur and stoned. "Go play with your negro slave!" (King then grabs African boy's hand and leads him away). The age old "duty and religion" vs. "free thinking idealists" plot line with some madness clouding up the distinction and lines. Worth watching.

[zircona1]

I watched The Hunger Games last night. I had never read any of the books. It was a pretty decent, competently made film - good action, nice set design. I'll watch the next one.

Also watched a straight-to-DVD film called Excision. I highly recommend it if you like disturbing horror comedies. Check it:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/excision,88135/

[TomServo]

Caught "The Man with the Iron Fists" at the Drive-In in Vegas, because it seemed like the right kind of place to see that flick.

Turned out I was wrong. Too dark, the action just looked like blobs flying around quickly.. and the RZA should never act in anything, ever, at any time. He can direct some, but he needs an editor to explain to him that any story is too much story in a kung-fu flick, if it causes the entire fucking film to make no sense. Still, kudos for landing Crowe, Liu, etc. for this this, and the sequences with Liu's hookers on the prowl were pretty competent.

It should be noted that "Skyfall" (playing next to us) was defective more than it worked. The film stopped about three times in the first hour... to the point where the 007 Adele music beginning didn't play till 45 minutes into the other films. I would've been pissed.

[mountmccabe]

I finally saw The Master yesterday so I'm going to try to back date this to 6 weeks ago when folks might've cared.

The film looked and sounded amazing. The sets, the costumes, the choreography were all stellar. I am very glad I saw it in 70 mm. The performances were mind boggling; Joaquin Phoenix showed so much control.

That being said it wasn't that good as a movie. I am OK with a lack of spectacle if there is a story, character arcs but we didn't get that. Yeah, it's a great formal exercise to make such an even toned film about The Cause but the result was something that didn't do anything for me emotionally. That much tension led to basically nothing.

I've seen talk of the master/apprentice (or servant) relationship but, again, I don't think it went anywhere. The Phantom Menace may have had more insight on the subject.


I have been puzzling over the film since seeing it yesterday, trying to figure out what PTA was doing. His last two (amazing) films have also focused on dudes with rage issues; what does putting two of them in parallel in the same film accomplish?

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

In search of a good film to watch with a few cocktails tonight, I randomly stumbled upon Peter Weir's The Last Wave (just one entry in the massive Criterion library streaming on Hulu Plus). I hadn't heard of the film itself, nor of the director before, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. With the sudden drop in temperature, I think I also might have been subconsciously seeking something that was also cold and dreary, and this did the trick in that regard as well.

Peter Weir has quite a filmography. I'd be surprised if you hadn't seen a couple of his movies, albeit unknowingly. i highly recommend The Mosquito Coast, written by Paul Schrader. Harrison Ford plays a wide-eyed inventor that moves his family (Helen Mirren and River Phoenix) to Central America to build an ice factory. Essentially it's a story about obsession and how it can drive a man completely insane. it's quite a movie.

[AlecEiffel]

Second Mosquito Coast, you should also see Picnic At Hanging Rock as soon as possible.

[TallGuyCM]

Tight, thanks guys.

[JorgeC]

Is anyone going to the LOTR Trilogy showing on 12/8? I really want to go, but don't know if I can handle 13+ hours of sitting on my ass with nothing but bon bons, jujubees, popcorn and soda to keep me alive. What kind of breaks/intermissions are there?

[schoolofruckus]

Peter Weir has quite a filmography. I'd be surprised if you hadn't seen a couple of his movies, albeit unknowingly. i highly recommend The Mosquito Coast, written by Paul Schrader. Harrison Ford plays a wide-eyed inventor that moves his family (Helen Mirren and River Phoenix) to Central America to build an ice factory. Essentially it's a story about obsession and how it can drive a man completely insane. it's quite a movie.

I still think The Truman Show is fantastic. I also remember enjoying Master and Commander, and also thinking Green Card was better than it should have been. I've been meaning to check out these 70's titles, especially the ones that Criterion has.

[roberto73]

Peter Weir has quite a filmography. I'd be surprised if you hadn't seen a couple of his movies, albeit unknowingly. i highly recommend The Mosquito Coast, written by Paul Schrader. Harrison Ford plays a wide-eyed inventor that moves his family (Helen Mirren and River Phoenix) to Central America to build an ice factory. Essentially it's a story about obsession and how it can drive a man completely insane. it's quite a movie.

Yeah, Weir is great and didn't really misstep until the late 80's. Gallipoli, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, The Truman Show ... he's got all kinds of fantastic stuff in his filmography. You just sort of have to ignore Green Card and Dead Poets Society.

EDIT: I totally forgot he did Fearless, one of my favorite Jeff Bridges films.

[xanman86]

Second Mosquito Coast, you should also see Picnic At Hanging Rock as soon as possible.

[xanman86]

I still think The Truman Show is fantastic. I also remember enjoying Master and Commander, and also thinking Green Card was better than it should have been. I've been meaning to check out these 70's titles, especially the ones that Criterion has.

I remember really disliking The Truman Show in theaters but I was 13 when I saw it.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Yeah, Weir is great and didn't really misstep until the late 80's. Gallipoli, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, The Truman Show ... he's got all kinds of fantastic stuff in his filmography. You just sort of have to ignore Green Card and Dead Poets Society.

EDIT: I totally forgot he did Fearless, one of my favorite Jeff Bridges films.

Oh yes, Fearless is fucking amazing.

[AlecEiffel]

I also thought his most recent one, the Way Back, was pretty good despite getting no attention and quietly disappearing.

[xanman86]

Two more B&N pickups

[TallGuyCM]

Ohhh, yeah I've seen some of Weir's stuff. Didn't know all that was him. The Truman Show is great, I didn't care for Master and Commander, and Dead Poet's Society I had to have watched in at least two different classes back in the day.

[stinkbutt]

Wreck It Ralph was probably the best kids movie I have seen since Fantastic Mr. Fox, it was funny, smart, well cast, and very original. Not that my opinion means anything in this thread, but I would recommend if you have a child or young relative or even if you don't. The movie totally exceeded my very low expectations and made me have a little bit of hope for future Disney films, although I am still skeptic as this is their only good movie since the 90s besides maybe Meet the Robinsons.

[CrimesceneCookie]

Hmm. For some reason movie tickets are all $5 at LA Live today on the website, no matter the time.
It says "Economy" tickets when it redirects you to Fandango. I'm going to check out Skyfall in a couple hours.
Does anyone know if this is some sort of recurring sale? I can't find any infos.

[Miroir Noir]

So late to the party on this, but we now live in a world where Ben fucking Affleck directed perhaps the best Hollywood film of the year.

Two small details I loved: the use of the '70s era Warner title cards, and mining Warner's music rights to play "Sultans of Swing" and "Dance the Night Away."