That's out already?!

screener version hit the net a couple days ago, my source got a copy last week

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watching murderball at the moment, these guys are hardcore

I've recently been watching a lot of old TV shows, Northern Exposure and West Wing. Both are only really good for the first 4 seasons, but for those seasons they were wonderful! Nice length too, half as long as a movie; perfect length for the time inbetween when the kids go to sleep and when I do.

I have a list of recommendations for those who are searching for Movies to fill their Que:

Old Films:

The Big Sleep - Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the classic film noir style, this film never gets mentioned. I like Casablanca, I love The Big Sleep.

A Touch of Evil - Because he ticked off a real world titan when he made Citizen Kane, said titan sabatoged Orwell's career; which included pulling strings to re-edit this masterpiece. Fortunately, even though his film was taken away from him, he outlined how to put it back together in a 40 page memo to the studio. For this DVD release it has been re-edited per his direction for the first time, and makes for the greatest film noir classic of all time (well, my opinion). Be sure to note how long the first sceen goes without a cut; that's before Altman or PT Anderson.

Rope - I saw a lot of Alfred Hitchcock nods earlier in the post, and everyone who likes him should see Rope. Now, this is not an action thriller, but a display of artful subtlety. Of special interest is that this is filmed as one continuous take, meaning no cuts or edits. Back in the day they were limited to the size of the reel at 20 min. or so. The camera is almost continuously in motion, and aligned with the reel switches it passes behind a chair. Tremendous suspense for a film that takes place inside a single city apartment.

Foreign Films:

Rashomon - I saw several mentions of Kirosawa, and anyone who likes his films should see this one. It's basically 4 short films of the same event filmed from each character's perspective. Ahead of it's time... just right for now.

In the Mood for Love- Wong Kar Wai, probably the slowest film you'll ever love. This is not about the plot in the least. It is an exercise in visual poetry. I've never seen such amazing cinematography, attention to color and detail. A work of art that your significant other will fall asleep to and then ask what happened. You'll have to tell them "Nothing", and smile because the pleasure was all yours. Makes me look forward to seeing 2046.

Antonia's Line - Antoina awakes, greets the morning and says "Today is a good day to die!" The film then goes back over her century and the generations she spawned to tell an engaging story of strangely fantastic people, as they find their way through a non-traditional yet moral world of their own.

Sleepers (why didn't I see these in the theater?!):

Miller's Crossing - I saw it mentioned previously but not adequately addressed. This is without a doubt the greatest gangster movie ever made. I'm not talking about Ice-T or $.40 now, this film was set in the days of the Prohibition, and makes for repeated viewings where you can find something new each time. It's a testament to what brilliant young auteurs can accomplish when a sugar daddy foots the bill (uh, the Coen Brothers, not the plot). How many people saw this in the theater? About 14.

Fight Club - I had finally warmed up to Brad Pitt in 12 monkeys, but totally misjudged this film when released to the theaters. Hey, I'll judge a book by it's cover with the best of them, and then I'll pay the price. From the anotomically correct opening sequence following the creation of a drop of sweat to the collapse of civilization as we know it set to the Pixies. This film engaged me in an eye-opening way that has yet to leave me (uh, notice my picture?).

OK. I'm all done with work for the afternoon, I'll have to add to this later...

R30.

Roman Polanski - The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck
1967
w/ Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061655/

Little Big Man | Arthur Penn

Watched 2 Fast 2 Furious last night. Will there be number 3?

yeah- Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift (no joke)

Been watching the Back to the Future trilogy lately. Robert Zemekis is the man.

Madagascar- Great movie. Good movie for all the kids.

Some old favorites:

tonight - Vivre sa vie (My Life To Live) - Godard's muse Anna Karina is absolutely exquisite, as always
last night - The Scent of Green Papayas - understated, richly colored
night before - The 47 Ronin - the great Kenji Mizoguchi
before that - Ame Agaru (After The Rain) - Kurosawa's unfinished last project, great cast

I just bought the Directors cut of Alien VS Predator. I was never a fan of the theatrical version, and even the directors cut sucks. I love the original aliens and predator movies. AVP really does a big disservice to those movies. AVP is essentially aliens and predator meets jurrasic park, by that I mean that humans never manage to kill anything, especially not with firearms, even though they had lots of them, which allowed it to be PG13 so they could maximise short term profits. Its pretty much an hour and a half long alien and predator fist fight, or perhaps more accurately a spiked tail and knife fight, where humans fail to score even one kill. Some people don't mind all that, but its not faithful to the original films, and it just plain annoys me.

"shooting gallery" 2005 with Ving Rhames

Kung Fu Hustle, South Park Season 3, Underworld (getting ready for part 2 to hit theaters) and Master & Commander.

Some old favorites:

tonight - Vivre sa vie (My Life To Live) - Godard's muse Anna Karina is absolutely exquisite, as always
last night - The Scent of Green Papayas - understated, richly colored
night before - The 47 Ronin - the great Kenji Mizoguchi
before that - Ame Agaru (After The Rain) - Kurosawa's unfinished last project, great cast


great post :beer:

The Santa Clause 2 - Micheal Lembeck
Helps that I like Tim Allen, I guess. Cutesy, but not overpoweringly sweet. Of course, that might only be because "'tis the season...."

An Ideal Husband - Oliver Parker
Started watching it this morning. I'm a big fan of Moore and Everett. Based on an Oscar Wilde play so it can't be bad, right? Well, I guess I'll find out.

Mobsters and Mormons
Goal
Cake
4 brothers

...I mean that humans never manage to kill anything, especially not with firearms...

Well, she killed the one alien with the spear that was dropped by the Predator, and took the lead in killing the queen at the end. This story wasn't so much about humans kicking *ss, as opposed to kind of being along for the ride. I thought it was a good entertainment value as long as it wasn't asked to stand alongside I & II in a critical sense.

The wife and I have been watching DVDs of the 1st season of Six Feet Under...

- But the best movie I've seen lately on DVD was probably The Third Man.

http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/96/59/61m.jpg

The Scent of Green Papayas - understated, richly colored
^ good one.

The wife and I have been watching DVDs of the 1st season of Six Feet Under...
But the best movie I've seen lately on DVD was probably The Third Man.

love SFU, the ferris wheel scene in The Third Man is great

good picks :beer:

La Strada - Federico Fellini

I love this film. I think this is only Fellini's second, but consider it his masterpiece. Guilietta Masina's range of facial expressions and emotions is amazing. I don't even bother with the sub-titles anymore as they tend to get in the way. Something mindless up next, maybe Home Alone.

havoc----------worth watching just for the up front glimpse into middle class street life

into the blue---pulp, but entertaining anyway

I hate to admit it, but I am re-watching all five seasons of the Sopranos. The only problem with me watching that show is that my language gets really, really bad for a while after I watch two or three hours.


We watched Cinderella Man the other nite..not a bad flick.

havoc----------worth watching just for the up front glimpse into middle class street life

into the blue---pulp, but entertaining anyway

I’m so sorry that Havoc went straight to DVD. I have a strong preference for seeing movies in theaters, but I’ll have to break down and see that one on DVD.

We watched Grave Of The Fireflies last night. Its something that everyone should watch at least once, with subs hopefully.

The house of wax starring Paris Hilton.

Dukes of Hazzard | Jay Chandrasekhar

Jun-hwan Jeong - Save the Green Planet

excellent Korean Sci-Fi drama!

RAN (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9cmFufGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc= 1;ft=163;fm=1) (Criterion Collection) - Akira Kurosawa


Recieved my copy yesterday. Had some doubts as to whether or not I was ready to watch it again having seen it countless times in the theater, and owning both the Fox/Lorber and the Wellspring-Masterworks discs. Revisiting RAN was a reminder as to the greatness of this film, and as expected this is a big improvement over both earlier versions. Its colors are still oversaturated in many scenes but all in all its a beautiful remaster, and the sound quality is fantastic. There are some scenes where the subtitle translations have been changed slightly to where the intent seems to have been muddied a bit, but this is a great release and a purchase well made.

Interestingly enough, five from the cast of RAN including both Meiko Harada (Lady Kaede) and Yoshiko Miyazaki (Lady Sue) were featured 15 years later in Ame Agaru (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181960/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9YW1lIGFnYXJ1fGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5t PTE_;fc=1;ft=22), an unreleased script by Akira Kurosawa produced and released after his death. A beautiful film, it is not available in R1 but the Japanese DVD has english subs, and there are good boots floating around here and there. Akira Terao (Taro) has the lead role opposite Yoshiko Miyazaki. Tatsuya Nakadai (Lord Hidetora) makes a cameo appearance, and Shiro Mifune (The Son) has a supporting role. A personal favorite, Ame Agaru is also highly recommended.

Ghost in the Shell | Mamoru Oshii

Arrested Development, Season Two - Disc One | Mitchell Hurwitz

In the Heat of the Night | Norman Jewison

Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology - Criterion Collection (2000)

Tonight:

Tenchu (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200710/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dGVuY2h1fGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_ ;fc=1;ft=23;fm=1) - Hideo Gosha - A powerful historical-based action/drama starring Shintaro Katsu, Tatsuya Nakadai, and (author) Yukio Mishima. Lots of great sequences in this film including a seppuku scene by Mishima, who himself was to commit seppuku within the year.

The Men Who Tread On The Tiger's Tail (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038182/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9VGhlIG1lbiB3aG8gdHJlYWQgb24gdGhlIHRpZ2VyJ3MgdGFpbHxmdD0x fG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=1;ft=20) - Akira Kurosawa - An important historical work by this director (his second film) and one of my favorites. The story is a famous one: the flight of General Minamoto No Yosh*tsune from his brother Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate. The acting and music are often stylized in the traditions of both the Kabuki and Noh theater.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Doug Liman


lol, this was actually pretty good

got akira, force of evil, murderball and kurosawa's stray dog in my queue :beer: (not netflix, the one on top of my dvd player)

Tim Burton - Big Fish

Just watched Word Wars (http://www.wordwarsmovie.com/) and seasons 1 and 2 of Mr. Show.

John Huston et al - Casino Royale

Bond spy spoof. Psychedelic Cinema! Great actors and sets, hot babes, english humor...highly recommended!

Fantastic Four - Tim Story

*shrugs* I've seen worse...and better.

Murderball | Henry Alex Rubin & Dana Adam Shapiro

The Skeleton Key - Iain Softley

Crash - Paul Haggis

RedvsBlue Season 1, 2 and about to start 3. Woohoo! :beer:

Just finished 40 yr old virgin and american pie band camp!!!

Soap, seasons one and two wild funny stuff!!

Currently...South Park Seasons 3 & 4.

Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki

Rashomon | Akira Kurosawa

Yojimbo | Akira Kurosawa

I just *bought* (with some xmas gift card money) 3 DVDs.

Four Rooms (Quentin Tarrantino)
The Outlaw Josey Whales and Pale Rider (Eastwood)

"The Long Good Friday"
This is a classic British gangster flick. Stars Bob Hoskins.

Just watched the documentary Grizzly Man.

Akira | Katsuhiro Otomo

Hell on Wheels, this documentary about cycling in France got it for Xmas.