Recent theatrical viewings

[oxode]

THE WHITE RIBBON [DAS WEISSE BAND] (2009): A doctor's horse is tripped by a wire strung between two trees, and other "accidents" start happening around a German village on the eve of WWI.  We get to know the villagers and their sordid secrets quite well in 2.5 hours, but not the solution to the mystery.  Well acted and crafted but a bit obscure, both in plot and purpose. The Cannes Palme D'or Winner (shouldn't have been, in my view). 4/5. 

The problem is, "Das Weisse Band" is a very German movie. It is an excellent film, but I was not surprised, that it didn't take the uncivilized world, like the U.S.A., running. I'd say, that even the most germans don't get the point, they only feel by instinct, that it touches an essential part of the German soul. (Do Germans have a soul? I doubt it, but if they have it is dark grey, with some bloodstains on it.)
O.K., back to the movie. In fact, it doesn't tell a story at all. It pictures a state of mind, the state of mind heading to Auschwitz. Ideals turn to principles and principles turn to absurdity and murder.

[oxode]

Hard to know where to put this, so I'll put it here.

In honor of Halloween, our local library showed "Carnival of Souls." While I knew of the film, this was my first time to see it. And to whit . . .

(1) A period piece
This was made in 1962 and it shows. As it was a time when people still communicated by letters. People still smoked. And people still rode the bus and train.

(2) A mood piece. Even if you know the story, from the first moment of the film, there is a mood that something will be seriously wrong, and--surprisingly--the film manages to keep up this mood throughout the film, till the end.

(3) Funny
While not a comedy by any means, it is seriously funny in several places.

(4) A simple story
The problem with alot of filmmakers is that they try to make the story too complex, while some of the best films have the simplest stories, as in this case.

(5) Amateur hour.
You can tell that alot of the people in the film had never been in a film before, and for many of them this would be their only film, including the producer and director, Herk Harvey. One would have liked to have seen his encore film, but this would be his one and only feature film. Perhaps because . . .

(6) Unprofitable
While the film cost only about $15,000 (in '60's dollars) to make, Harvey would still lose money on the film.

(7) Too long
This may be an odd thing to say about a film that lasted only 75 minutes and was able to work throughout the length of the film, but as a couple of episodes of "The Twilight
Zone" showed, the story works even better at 30 minutes.

That's the good news. The bad news is that in honor of Halloween, our local library also showed "Twilight," which I did not see.

You're wrong, it was not the directors only film . . . they just had titles like "Foil packaging for fresh productes". He did industrie films before and after.

And by the way, yes all actors have been amateurs . . . but I've seen "professionals" (Ben Affleck, Keanu Reeves, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc.) doing much worse.

[oxode]

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS  (2009)   **** out of ****.  A truly amazing film and Taratino's best since Pulp Fiction. I have no complaints here. Pretty much flawless filmmaking of the most entertaining order.

Weeeeeel, I have to say, I'm one of the few people who didn't like it at all. I was in fact totally disappointed. Every Tarantino flick had something to remember, but this one was nearly gone before I left the cinema. After a bit trying I just found Mr. Walz as quite nice Nazi and because it had enraged me, a ridiculous so called "Nazi propaganda movie", that even didn't look in any way like a german movie and not a f***ing bit like a Nazi movie. I expected at least Mr. Tarantino to have seen one Riefenstahl movie.

[Rev. Powell]

THE WHITE RIBBON [DAS WEISSE BAND] (2009): A doctor's horse is tripped by a wire strung between two trees, and other "accidents" start happening around a German village on the eve of WWI.  We get to know the villagers and their sordid secrets quite well in 2.5 hours, but not the solution to the mystery.  Well acted and crafted but a bit obscure, both in plot and purpose. The Cannes Palme D'or Winner (shouldn't have been, in my view). 4/5. 

The problem is, "Das Weisse Band" is a very German movie. It is an excellent film, but I was not surprised, that it didn't take the uncivilized world, like the U.S.A., running. I'd say, that even the most germans don't get the point, they only feel by instinct, that it touches an essential part of the German soul. (Do Germans have a soul? I doubt it, but if they have it is dark grey, with some bloodstains on it.)
O.K., back to the movie. In fact, it doesn't tell a story at all. It pictures a state of mind, the state of mind heading to Auschwitz. Ideals turn to principles and principles turn to absurdity and murder.

Oxode:  I get that the movie's a meditation on the rise of fascism, but I guess one of my complaints is that I didn't find it to be German enough.  Change a few details and you could set the same story in the USA in the 1910s.  If Haneke's trying to say (as he appears to be doing) that a morally rigid, patriarchal society set the ground for the rise of Nazism... well, that's a small part of the puzzle.  But the same types of societies existed all over the Western world.  If, on the other hand, he's trying to say something more universal about human societies and their capacity for institutional evil, I think his point gets a little bit lost by placing the story in such an incredibly specific time and place.  It's an extremely well-made movie but it left me a little dissatisfied thematically.     

[Hammock Rider]

  I saw Cop-Out because I've been liking Tracy Morgan lately on 30 Rock. It was better than I thought. I actually laughed out loud several times. It was a bit of a light tribute (or Homage as Morgan's character would have called it) to 80's buddy cop movies. It even featured a soundtrack by Synth King Harold Faltermeyer. It's not great but I did have fun watching it. That Stiffler fella was funny too. If you see it, stay through the credits.

[Sleepyskull]

Last night I saw Shutter Island.

It was decent.  I give it 7.4 out of 13 stars.

It  had some creepy and suspenseful scenes. However, there was so much going on that I'm not even going to try to describe the plot.  I'm not good at describing plots anyway.

[BoyScoutKevin]

As for "Carnival of Souls," I know the director made industrial films, before and after he made "Carnival of Souls," and I should have been clearer on that point, The only thing I found disappointing about "Carnival of Souls," which is one of the best films I've ever seen, is that the director did not make more films like that instead of just making more industrial films.

As for more recent theatrical viewings . . .

"Alice in Wonderland"

First, this is not Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," but Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," but having said that, and having read both "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," Burton (IMHO) comes closer to the wierdness inherent in the books than any other film version I've ever seen.

There are a number of other reasons to see it (IMHO)

It is a beautiful film. Even before Alice falls down the rabbit hole, it is a beautiful film. One of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.

It allows Burton to show his feminine side.

Great action. For 29 years, the best battle between man and dragon has been in "Dragonslayer," that I've seen. This one tops that one.

The musical score does more to support the storyline than most film musical scores that I've heard.

The lack of true villains. While the film is populated with fools, both before and after the rabbit hole, few of them are truly villainous.

A good cast. Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Crispin Glover. And the voice talent is not bad neither. Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Michael Gough, and the great Christopher Lee.

But, 116 million reasons, which was the box office take on opening weekend. I'm still trying to digest that nugget of news.

Then, while there was a decline of 45% in the box office for the second weekend, which was less than expected, the film still managed to make almost as much as the next nine films combined, or $64 million. Can you say steamroller?

[Rev. Powell]

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010): About to be proposed to by a doltish fop, Alice excuses herself to tumble down a rabbit hole where she learns she has been chosen to slay the Jabberwock[y]. Seriously: in this sequel, the poem "Jabberwocky" is a prophecy that predicts Alice will find the vorpal blade and snicker-snack it into the neck of the dreaded Jabberwock[y] on Frabjous Day. Burton's non-nonsense epic fantasy plays like an original concept by Lewis Carroll that's been script doctored by J.R.R. Tolkien, then sent back by the corporate suits to add more fight scenes to appeal to boys and a feminist moral about self-actualization for the girls.  The visuals are impressive and Helena Bonham Carter is good as the Red Queen (which is a meaty role that many actresses have been able to go to town on), but overall I found it a bit of a disappointment.  I don't mind changing up Carroll's story if you replace it with something interesting and original rather than a generic "find the magic sword, kill the dragon" plot.

Plus, in my nerdy way it really got under my kin that the characters kept referring to the Jabberwock as the "Jabberwocky," even though Johnny Depp actually read the poem out loud so everyone can hear that the monster is called the Jabberwock.  "Jabberwocky" is the name of the poem and Jabberwock is the character, just like "The Odyssey" is the name of the poem but the character's name is Odysseus.

I guess I disagree with BoyScoutKevin.  2.5/5.

[nilbog]

I went and saw Mao's Laster Dancer the other day. Quite entertaining. It's based on a true story about a Chinese Ballet dancer who is allowed to go to America for a little bit, and then decides he doesn't want to go back to China - of course the Chinese government try to get him back to China.

Also in the past few weeks I saw ALice in WOnderland (in 3D) - it was fairly average, and also SHutter Island - which was quite good.

[oxode]

THE WHITE RIBBON [DAS WEISSE BAND] (2009): A doctor's horse is tripped by a wire strung between two trees, and other "accidents" start happening around a German village on the eve of WWI.  We get to know the villagers and their sordid secrets quite well in 2.5 hours, but not the solution to the mystery.  Well acted and crafted but a bit obscure, both in plot and purpose. The Cannes Palme D'or Winner (shouldn't have been, in my view). 4/5. 

The problem is, "Das Weisse Band" is a very German movie. It is an excellent film, but I was not surprised, that it didn't take the uncivilized world, like the U.S.A., running. I'd say, that even the most germans don't get the point, they only feel by instinct, that it touches an essential part of the German soul. (Do Germans have a soul? I doubt it, but if they have it is dark grey, with some bloodstains on it.)
O.K., back to the movie. In fact, it doesn't tell a story at all. It pictures a state of mind, the state of mind heading to Auschwitz. Ideals turn to principles and principles turn to absurdity and murder.

Oxode:  I get that the movie's a meditation on the rise of fascism, but I guess one of my complaints is that I didn't find it to be German enough.  Change a few details and you could set the same story in the USA in the 1910s.  If Haneke's trying to say (as he appears to be doing) that a morally rigid, patriarchal society set the ground for the rise of Nazism... well, that's a small part of the puzzle.  But the same types of societies existed all over the Western world.  If, on the other hand, he's trying to say something more universal about human societies and their capacity for institutional evil, I think his point gets a little bit lost by placing the story in such an incredibly specific time and place.  It's an extremely well-made movie but it left me a little dissatisfied thematically.     

Hmpf, . . .  I must admit, . . . You put the finger on the dead spot. It seems to be a downpoint, that the picture is too specific. But, maybe only because I like the movie, I'd option, that it was in a manner wise, to stay in Your own pool. The story hits the mark in german history for sure. In american, french or italien it might . . . but it could have also missed.

[Rev. Powell]

THE GHOST WRITER: A ghost writer (Ewan MacGregor) is assigned to write the memoirs of a retired British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) who is immediately engulfed in a scandal; the previous ghost writer died under suspicious circumstances.  Very twisty script requires you to pay attention, but there are lots of dry spots where your mind will be tempted to wander.  3/5.

[Psycho Circus]

but I was not surprised, that it didn't take the uncivilized world, like the U.S.A., running. I'd say, that even the most germans don't get the point, they only feel by instinct, that it touches an essential part of the German soul. (Do Germans have a soul? I doubt it, but if they have it is dark grey, with some bloodstains on it.

Wow, that's probably one of the most disgustingly arrogant comments I have ever had the displeasure of reading on this forum. Who crawled up your butt?

[nilbog]

I went and saw How to train your Dragon the other day. It's a great movie - definitely better than your typical Dreamworks Animation film. The 3D experience was amazing - right up there with Avatar.

It has a great engagfing story. Really a great animated film.

[Rev. Powell]

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: A misfit boy tends to a wounded dragon, the ancestral enemy of his Viking race.  A bit light on character and comedy, but spectacular dragon flights and battle scenes more than make up for any deficiencies.  Another DreamWorks winner, likely to end up as the best children's movie of 2010.  4.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

GREENBERG: Released from the hospital after a nervous breakdown, 40 year old Greenberg (Ben Stiller) takes care of his brother family's dog and romances their shy and awkward personal assistant while they are on vacation.  Semi-comic character study of an unpleasant but believably damaged adult adolescent; the script sometimes is as unfocused as the character itself.  Greta Gerwig upstages Stiller in both the acting and likability departments as the love interest with pathologically low self esteem.   3/5.