Schoolio's Movie Corner

[iv3rdawG]

Tarkovsky. Have yet to see Soderbergh's version.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Tarkovsky or Soderbergh?

It was part of the LACMA Sci Fi after Kubrick series

[schoolofruckus]

Coincidentally, I re-watched Soderbergh's version on Friday night. It's pretty strong for a Hollywood version of the same story, but at nearly half the length (and, as with most films by other people, half the genius) of Tarkovsky's version, it felt incomplete.

[HowToDisappear]

Caldera, the independent, animated short my daughter worked on, made the festival rounds last year (and won awards ), and has now been posted online:



This is a young group of filmmakers/animators. So proud of them. It is gorgeous.

[schoolofruckus]

That's great - I can't wait to watch it. Congratulations to them!!!

[TallGuyCM]

I continue to have a tough time with non-A Woman Under the Influence Cassavetes. It's difficult to pinpoint what it is exactly. I watched Husbands tonight and liked it ok, but wasn't overly enamored by it.

[bmack86]

Have you watched The Killing of a Chinese Bookie? I prefer that to A Woman Under the Influence.

[ods..]

Yeah you gotta watch Chinese Bookie. I love Cassavetes though... straight genius.

Have you seen Rosemary's Baby, Chris? One of my alltime favs, great Cassavetes acting.

[TallGuyCM]

Bookie was the first Cassavetes film I saw, and I really didn't like it.

Husbands had its moments, but some of the scenes were excruciatingly long to endure...that bar scene (and the bathroom scene that followed) in particular. I'm glad I stuck with it, but I considered turning it off after those two scenes.

[bmack86]

If you're going thru the Cassavetes Criterion stuff, I think it works best to go through them chronologically. He definitely gets more control over his craft as he goes along. I think you'd probably appreciate Killing more after having seen the others.

[xanman86]

I've only seen Shadows so far. He was excellent in Rosemary's Baby.

[schoolofruckus]

The trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn's new film looks pretty awesome:
http://movies.yahoo.com/video/only-g...212241045.html

Hoping I like it more than Drive, which I intend to revisit one of these days to see if my opinion has softened.

[TallGuyCM]

After laying dormant in my queue for years, I finally watched The Spirit of the Beehive tonight. I'm most likely going to resort to my naturally hyperbolic self here, so I apologize in advance, but that was, without a doubt, among the ten best films I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Initially a wonderful exploration into various themes of childhood including imagination, wonder, fear, and curiosity; the virtually dialogue-free second half is some of the most hypnotically paced, lushly pensive filmmaking I've witnessed. The minimal score was absolutely divine, the little girl said more in her facial expressions than most actors do ten times her age with dialogue.

I'm kicking myself for just now watching this.

[KungFuJoe]

2013 - Snowpiercer (passport 1).jpg

[schoolofruckus]

Joe, did you see that The Grandmasters got a wide release date of August 23rd?

[KungFuJoe]

Joe, did you see that The Grandmasters got a wide release date of August 23rd?

I did not see that. Thanks for the heads up! That is awesome news! Can't wait much longer for it.

[xanman86]

Determined to catch Upstream Color and hoping to catch To the Wonder in between Coachella weekends while in LA.

[lehorne]

jeez, how long has Tony Leung been around? He was in Hard Boiled.

[KungFuJoe]

jeez, how long has Tony Leung been around? He was in Hard Boiled.

As was Chow Yun Fat and he's still around. Not sure what your point is. There are actors still working today that have been around for way longer. I do have to say Tony Leung has been much smarter with his career choices than Chow Yun Fat and I still love the actor. Red Cliff, the two part version, is one of the most under appreciated films he's been featured in IMO. It's not perfect and gets a bit silly in the second part, but I still love it.

[schoolofruckus]

I did not see that. Thanks for the heads up! That is awesome news! Can't wait much longer for it.

Yeah, I'm excited. It has to at least be fun to watch, even if it's not top-shelf Wong.

[TomServo]

Tarkovsky. Have yet to see Soderbergh's version.

Your avatar sucks.

[KungFuJoe]

May have to buy this before we get the Weinstein cut http://www.yesasia.com/us/the-grandm...0-en/info.html

Hoping it's the first cut they screened of the film. I heard they made more cuts for the international release and from the reviews I've read it sounds like it would benefit from having more footage put in instead of taken out.

[zircona1]

I saw The Skin I Live In for the first time recently. I thought it was solid for an Almodovar movie (though I prefer Volver and Talk to Her from what I've seen of his work). I was also surprised by the plot, I thought it was going to be similar of Eyes Without A Face but it goes further.

[TallGuyCM]

To the Wonder was an excellent if not pessimistic study on the transient nature of love, life, and faith, although it definitely suffers from similarities to The Tree of Life (virtually identical whisper-y, ponderous monologues) and having been released in such proximity to it (in Malick time, anyway). It was absolutely gorgeous on the exterior, as one would only expect from Malick, but with so much less substance and thematic content beneath the surface it's hard not to view it as rather slight compared to the aforementioned film that preceded it.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I was just walking down Ventura blvd and saw this poster and got super excited



But it's a charity event and costs $75. ARGH.
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5958...ef=ebtnebtckt#

[nine00]

Robocop was one of my favorite movies as a child! I grew up and found out that there was an unrated version and fell in love with this movie all over again.

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

[zircona1]

I never saw Robocop when it was on video, never saw it on HBO (the only cable network my parents would get), never really had a strong desire to seek it out and watch it. But, about 9-10 years ago I found a used copy of the Criterion DVD at a record store and bought it, thinking that I should watch it (plus, the DVD is out of print).

It was a good decision. Great story, well-acted, some good dark humor, and lots of quotable lines.

[Grandma]

[TomServo]

Saw "Trance" yesterday, because I'm a sucker for Danny Boyle. *Spoiler Sorta* The main character was a typical Boyle archetype, alienated from society to the point of madness, and the "heist" was a lot less interesting than I'd hoped, but it's a nice mind-bender with quality performances by the leads.

Go for the hipness of the art house, stay for the full frontal nudity. lol.

[flaminggodlikecreature]

I saw Trance last weekend as well.
I thought the storyline was interesting enough, it may not be as good as other Danny Boyle films, but i'm glad I saw it.
It kept you watching from the beginning to the end.
I do think however that there was too much violence in the film, and that they should have focused more on the hypnotism part and mind games instead of the violence.
It's no where near as good as Millions or Slumdog Millionaire, but it's a worthwhile film at least.
Grade: B-

This past weekend I also had the privilege to see The Place Beyond the Pines.
Surprised nobody is talking about that film here,
it was a great one.
It didn't feel like 2 in a half hours long,
everyone on the movie gave great performances, especially Bradley Cooper as the cop.
I thought the film was going to be about something else then what it was, it's more about the relationship between fathers and son.
A very well done movie, i highly recommend it!
My grade: B+

Hopefully Elysium won't be this August's Total Recall.