It's Back: Exceelent Movies I've Seen Lately

[revo]

I saw World War Z and liked it a lot. The following night we (attempted) to watch The Great Gatsby, but after 45 minutes I just couldn't go any further with it. I didn't get the dance scenes with modern music, WTF was that all about? The cadence, the dialogue all were irritating. This is the first DiCaprio movie I really disliked.

[johnnya24]

The following night we (attempted) to watch The Great Gatsby, but after 45 minutes I just couldn't go any further with it. I didn't get the dance scenes with modern music, WTF was that all about? The cadence, the dialogue all were irritating. This is the first DiCaprio movie I really disliked.

Yeah it was pretty bad, plus I can't stand Spiderboy. I did struggle through to the end though.

[johnnya24]

Anyone else seen Caché? It's a strange little art cinema thriller by Michael Haneke. The one thing that jumped out at me watching it the first time was when the main character described an Algerian protest in 1961 when 200 Algerian's were supposedly drowned in the Seine. I had never even heard about that incident before. And then that ending, which I totally missed. Was still a bit dumbfounded when I saw it, because it still didn't really explain anything regarding the plot ... the Internet didn't help much, because there are dozens of theories. Then I read this which seems to make perfect sense, and pulls everything together ... well in a manner of speaking.

http://mubi.com/topics/unhidden-camera-the-real-sender-of-the-tapes

Not a thrill ride, and not one to watch if you aren't prepared to do a bit of digging and re-watching ... but a brilliant little movie about national guilt and the sins of the father.

Though I'm still wondering why the son was so upset at the mother for what he perceived to be cheating, while maintaining a more genial relation with the father? Maybe because the mother was still denying what she had done, or blind to the fact she may have done something wrong, whereas the father's was facing up to his crimes in a roundabout way?

The more you think about it, the deeper it gets. The more answers you get, the less real it becomes.

Really impressive.

[heyelander]

I'm pretty sure I saw Cache when it was in first run here in the states... I remember it having a really odd ending, but not too much else about it.

[Controller Jacobs]

Holy crap I haven't seen this but has anyone else? Danko Jones, Lemmy and Mike Watt are all in it! (not too mention Elijah Wood, Ralph Macchio and Selma Blair,)

Best concert I every saw was 15 years ago at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto with The Smugglers, DuoTang and Danko Jones (in a purple zoot suit).
It looks pretty stupid, but I like Danko Jones, Lemmy and Watt so much I bet I'd enjoy it anyway:

[BuckyBuckner]

Holy crap I haven't seen this but has anyone else? Danko Jones, Lemmy and Mike Watt are all in it! (not too mention Elijah Wood, Ralph Macchio and Selma Blair,)

Best concert I every saw was 15 years ago at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto with The Smugglers, DuoTang and Danko Jones (in a purple zoot suit).
It looks pretty stupid, but I like Danko Jones, Lemmy and Watt so much I bet I'd enjoy it anyway:

The Smugglers! I saw them almost 20 years ago at CBGB's, great show. They opened up for the Magnolias, who I was there to see, and stole the show.

[Controller Jacobs]

The Smugglers! I saw them almost 20 years ago at CBGB's, great show. They opened up for the Magnolias, who I was there to see, and stole the show.

I think this is actually the show I was at:

[TranaGreg]

The Horseshoe here in town??? cool ... it's definitely an "if these walls could talk" kind of place.

[BuckyBuckner]

I think this is actually the show I was at:

That's pretty cool. Thinking back, that album (Selling the Sizzle) was out in 1996 so it was probably over 20 years ago that I saw that show. I remember it being like 3 or 4 years from when I saw that show and Selling the Sizzle came out.

[johnnya24]

Philomena - This is a really good little "oscar" type movie. Judy Dench will surely get a nomination, and it's the kind of movie that sometimes finds its way onto the best movie lists in a weak year. That's not to say it's a weak movie, it's actually funny and moving ... and based on a true story. It's about naive seeming Irish woman who enlists the help of cynical poncy disgraced journalist Martin Sixsmith to help find her son who had been sold to America in 1959 by the Magdalene Sisters while she was an "indentured servant / slave" in one of the many Magdalene laundries (one of the many huge scandals that destroyed the credibility of the Catholic Church in Ireland). Probably not a movie you'd go out of your way to see, but it's worth it.

[Controller Jacobs]

my wife queued this up on netflix (currently a free download):
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan

so great, and they got huge names to talk about him at length. made me want to go order all his old filmsfor my kids (he did the stop action stuff like th sinbad movies with the awesome skeletons)

[johnnya24]

Hunger Games - enjoyed this more than part 1, probably because I had diminished expectations. Same problems as the first: on the one hand, a 1950's Broadway interpretation of poverty (lots of scraggly Victorian looking people with dirt on their faces ... because poor people never wash their face). On the other hand, in the opening scene a chiseled handsome poor bloke appears, looks like he's just walked out of the salon, only to announce that he spends 6 days a week down a mine. Obviously they want to set a contrast between opulent rich and desperate poor, but I think they could do this a lot better.

Aesthetic issues aside, I thought this movie worked better. Older cast and no kids, so the whole death match thing is slightly more plausible on the big screen. Important message being delivered (albeit crudely), so whatever works to get young people interested is good by me.

[TranaGreg]

Important message being delivered (albeit crudely), so whatever works to get young people interested is good by me.

read an interesting interview with Donald Sutherland on this & how critical he feels getting this msg to the young is. will try to find a link to it if I have time.

[johnnya24]

The Hobbit 2 ... almost as bad as the first. It's basically a cartoon of a computer game. These Hobbit movies are so bad, it's hard to believe they are made by the same person who made the LOTR trilogy ... I'm almost tempted to re-watch the LOTR just to make sure I'm not missing something.

[DMT]

Seems like there's a lot of possibly good movies out right now, we'll probably only get to see 1 of them, so any feedback would be appreciated. I had Hobbit 2 on this list but I thought the first one was awful and it sounds like the 2nd one is just as bad.

Anchorman 2 - preview clips have been mixed
American Hustle - great cast but sounds like the script is too sterile
Nebraska - Alexander Payne hasn't penned a bad movie yet, and he went to my high school
Her - Spike Jonze wrote & directed, and I think Joaquin Phoenix is extremely underrated
Wolf of Wall St - Scorcese and DiCaprio and the sociopathy of Wall St, could be great or awful
Inside Llewyn Davis - Coen Brothers are usually excellent and this one is getting great reviews