What (movies) are you watching? (2007)

Arts & Sciences Arts & Entertainment
1

Couldn’t find a general discussion of current movies thread, so:

[quote=“Toe Save on TaiwanHO”]

[color=black]Children of Men[/color]

Can Clive Owen make a bad film? Well, if you can say no to that question, then you are in for a treat. Children of Men is his best effort yet. By far. Absolutely brilliant yet possibly the bleakest film I’ve ever viddied. The most haunting vision of futuristic England since Clockwork Orange. Michael Caine pops his charming old head in as an aging-hippie, retired, political cartoonist living the life I’d love to be living in 2027 (just replace the English copse with a South Pacific aerie and the total despair with joy and peace). What a perfect life he leads when England has all Hell for a basement. Julianne Moore steps up as Owen’s past come back to shake him into action.

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But it is new-comer Claire-Hope Ashitey who steals this show as she represents humankind’s only hope, England’s little ray of sunshine as once again we see that Rule Brittania will yet again, rule the waves.
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It’s such a great movie, I’m going to watch it again. If only for the Pink Floyd hommage. Given that uniquely British reference, imagine my surprise to see it was directed by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Great Expectations) and not someone like Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later). When the avid-movie (ha, I was gonna say goer, but who are we kidding, I ain’t “goin’” anywhere) buff stops to consider that the most hotly-anticipated film in decades is directed by fellow Mexican Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and that the Golden Globe winning, Academy Award nominated, Brad Pitt starring Babel was directed by yet another Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, well, he is gonna have to just scratch his Toe and wonder what in the name of Diablo is going on south of the border, down Mexico-way.

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The Prestige
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Another actor I have been impressed with lately is this Hugh Jackman fellow. Sure, he’s Wolverine, arguably the coolest superhero ever, but I caught him hosting SNL a couple of weeks ago (repeated from a few years back) and this boy’s got chops. He’s not just another model that landed an acting contract. This boy’s a triple-threat, musical theatre kinda talent. Like a completely able to carry Phantom sorta guy.

Matched with another blossoming talent in Christian Bale (tough sell with the mostly unwatchable American Psycho* and a mundane performance in an even more mundane Shaft left me thinking he didn’t have it, was just another model/actor/future tabloid headline) in that he stood right up and grabbed my attention in Batman Returns. Come on, that was a sure sign that the franchise had gone on too long, taking such an obvious B-List actor as the lead. But win me over he did.

So I am not surprised to see the two of them team up to spin this superior tale of illusionists. A craftily woven script with enough twists to keep you watching the birdie (do watch the birdie closely, it’s more than a trick, it’s the damn metaphor for the entire movie), and a great supporting cast including Michael Caine (again) and a great walk-on by my favourite Rock Icon/Actor/Model, David Bowie as Nikola Tesla (great coils), Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. Did I mention Hugh Jackman?

So there you have it folks. Toe’s Top Flick Pix for January.

I am guessing that February’s pix will more than likely be Pan’s Labyrinth, Babel and Blood Diamond. See you in another 28 Days…

*Loved the book, don’t get me wrong. actually tought about turning it into a play at one point way back when.[/quote]

2

Agree with the Mighty, with the exception of Blood Diamond, which someone told me last night is absolutely awful, in a typical generic “Africa-for-dummies-as-portrayed-by-Hollywood-bash you-over-the-head-with-a-mallet-that-DIAMONDS-ARE-BAAAAD!!!-dude” kind of way. Avoid.
If I’d seen Pan’s Labyrinth, which OF COURSE I haven’t as it’s not out yet, I’d say a review I read that it’s the “first film masterpiece of the 21st Century” is a bit hyperbolic, but really not far off the mark.
I watched Titus the other night, which was pretty good despite having Alan Cummings in it.

3

Blood Diamonds wasn’t bad at all, I liked it. Sure, more action-oriented than thought-provoking but still entertaining. And it has Jennifer Connelly in it. :howyoudoin:

Children of Men looks interesting. Is it screening here already?

4

Well, that would depend on your definition of “here” now, wouldn’t it?

It is certainly capable of screening here, my 42" flatscreen.

Plausible? Pausible.

:smiling_imp:

5

Flags of Our Father with my son to be followed up by Letters from Iwo Jima.

6

Well, that would depend on your definition of “here” now, wouldn’t it?

It is certainly capable of screening here, my 42" flatscreen.

Plausible? Pausible.

:smiling_imp:[/quote]
42" only? Pah. :raspberry:

:wink:

7

Agreed. Unlike you, I did find it thought provoking. I strongly recommend it, but (a) bear in mind that it is l-o-n-g (two and a half hours) and (b) don’t take your kids - it is full of adult-on-kid and kid-on-adult violence.

I also went to see Apocalypto. Again, I recommend it, but it is a feel-bad movie, and definitely too violent for children to watch.

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Well, that would depend on your definition of “here” now, wouldn’t it?

It is certainly capable of screening here, my 42" flatscreen.

Plausible? Pausible.

:smiling_imp:[/quote]

LCD?

I have to 19" LCD’s. Does the trick. Any bigger would cost a lot more, but then again I spent over 1000 bucks on the weekend on partying. Hmmm.

Blood Diamond was ok. Children of Men was pretty interesting. Watched Smokin’ Aces last night. It was entertaining enough. I don’t know if I would suggest seeing any of those in the theater though.

9

Agreed. Unlike you, I did find it thought provoking. I strongly recommend it, but (a) bear in mind that it is l-o-n-g (two and a half hours) and (b) don’t take your kids - it is full of adult-on-kid and kid-on-adult violence.

I also went to see Apocalypto. Again, I recommend it, but it is a feel-bad movie, and definitely too violent for children to watch.[/quote]

Apocalypto was excellent and would be good to see in the theater.

10

[quote=“sandman”]Agree with the Mighty, with the exception of Blood Diamond, which someone told me last night is absolutely awful, in a typical generic “Africa-for-dummies-as-portrayed-by-Hollywood-bash you-over-the-head-with-a-mallet-that-DIAMONDS-ARE-BAAAAD!!!-dude” kind of way. Avoid.
If I’d seen Pan’s Labyrinth, which OF COURSE I haven’t as it’s not out yet, I’d say a review I read that it’s the “first film masterpiece of the 21st Century” is a bit hyperbolic, but really not far off the mark.
I watched Titus the other night, which was pretty good despite having Alan Cummings in it.[/quote]

Yeah, Blood Diamond was ok. Not great, but not overly terrible.

11

any thoughts on iwo jima?

it is in two different films, one from the japanese and the other the american viewpoint. i was wondering what the subtitling here of the japanese one would be like. is it even in japanese or in english?

and i think that apocalypto and labyrinth are another two worth going to the cinema for. are they on dvd already? i thought they were still showing. but then i don’t get out much…

12

Letters from Iwo is all in Japanese, since it was nominated for foreign-language awards.

Apocalypto and Labyrinth are still showing, as you say, unlikely on DVD yet.

My favorite movie of the past weeks was Stranger than Fiction, a modest effort but ok for people who liked stuff like Being John Malkovich and Memento.
I like it when over-the-top comedians tone down the hysteria, like Will Ferrell in this one, or Carrey in Truman Show.

13

Saw “The Queen” yesterday. Seems to be nominated for some oscars-emmies etc.
Theater was filled 10% ay 9PM, so no big succes here in Taiwan.
Was not bad, even though the Prince of Wales came out more annoying inside the “establishment” than most of us assume (but that is another thread )

14

Saw “The Messengers” last night on camcorder. Not so great, but passed the time.

15

Idiocracy. Made by the director of Office Space, it was supposedly shitcanned by the studio (completely unpromoted, released in a very few theaters.) Which is a shame, because it was hilarious.

The premise of the movie is that in the distant future, pop culture becomes so crude and dumbed-down that an ordinary schmuck cryogenically frozen in the present becomes the world’s smartest man when he wakes up in the future. In many ways, it was similar to South Park the Movie. You could enjoy the fart jokes on two different levels, both as a critique of the crudeness of pop culture and the farting being funny in and of itself. If there’s one thing I would change about it, though, I would would have added a fundamentalist Christian angle to the future. And I guess there’s a bit of irony in satirizing how dumb pop culture can be but then having the trajectory of the plot stick so firmly to a traditional Hollywood comedy.

Unfortunately, the love interest was not nearly as hot as Jennifer Anniston.

Welcome to Carl’s Jr.! F*ck you, I’m eating!

16

aldibarc - I bought that movie and am yet to watch it - sounds like fun :slight_smile:

I like the lowbrow dumb comedies like Office Space, the Adam Sandler films etc…

I just came back from Bangkok and went a bit crazy buying movies. I figure it will get me through the next 6 months if I watch one every week or so…

Did see Blood Diamonds on recommendation of a friend - and enjoyed it for what it was…

Pans Labyrinth sounds interesting - is it playing here? Sounds like a movie better suited to the big screen as opposed to my current ghetto setup (34cm SD TV, mono sound)

God I miss my home theatre room back home :frowning:

Yesterday I saw a nice 22" LCD widescreen monitor which I plan to buy and hook up to the xbox 360. It will do a good job until I decide whether to stay here long term or not…

17

A Prairie Home Companion. I doubt more than a couple of dozen people in this entire country saw it. Thoroughly enjoyed this slice of Americana. Very nostalgic. Meryle Streep can actually sing–very well I might add.

18

Not far off the mark at all. Definitely see this on on the big screen. I’ve already seen it at a preview,and I will probably pay to see it again when it opens here. Five out of five thumbs up from me.

19

Yeah, Idiocracy was entertaining enough. Good, mind-numbing film.

I don’t know about Pan’s Labrynthe. I downloaded it and watched the beginning. It’s in Spanish. I was like “I don’t know”, so I fast forwarded it to see some creature talking to the girl and right away I knew it wasn’t for me. For little kids. Didn’t look too good. Maybe with a doobie or something.

20

Oh good god, no. NOT FOR LITTLE KIDS. You misunderstood. Have that doobie and watch it again. Seriously.