Many films ive watched recently

[JJHards]

YO!

There's many films ive watched recently that id like to discuss with whoever would like to discuss them, but i didnt feel the need to start loads of seperate topics for them all, so ive bundled them into one -

The Woodsman
The paedophile as the good guy - i thought it was really brave of the (kinda) first time director to do this, it really showed a side to the person that a lot of people dont want to know exists, because it doesnt make any sense why a person who has actual feelings and is intelligent could molest children.  but i spose thats the way it is.  Kevin Bacon was brilliant, i used to think he was some crappy b actor but recently ive been really impressed by him, most of all in this.  Actualy all the actors were good.

Ray
I seriously went into this expecting (and a bit wanting) to be crying by the end! it didnt happen, it wasnt necesarily overly dramatic or factual, in my opinion just lost somewhere between the two!  Enjoyable but forgetable.

Secrets and Lies
I wasnt expecting anything, and i didnt really get anything, but it was a really good film.  Very simply brilliant.  Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn were both amazing.  Really funny in places but always incredibly realistic.

Oldboy
THIS IS AMAZING. Please go and see this now, i'll lend you the dvd if you give me your address, everyone should see this.  A brilliant thriller/mystery/romance/comedy everything, amazing story, amazingly shot.  Seriously one of the best films of the last few years.  You might need a strong stomach for some of the scenes, but well worth it.  If this was down mainly to the director, i cant wait for his next work.

A very long engagement
Hmmmm, i so so so desperatley wanted so much more, but it was basically amelie goes to war - as all the reviews i wanted to ignore had said.  Brilliantly made and shot -as usual from Jeunet - but overall i just wasnt impressed.  Really good, but just not what i had hoped for.

The life aquatic
I actually saw this quite a while ago, but it deserves a mention, I havnt laughed out loud in a film like this ever - every other line was so hilarious, maybe it was the mood i was in -but i was laughing for about an hour.  If you like Wes Andersons other film (rushmore, the royal tenenbaums) you'll love this, like the others but better, funnier, everythinger.

Casshern
If theres one film you purchase on dvd this year, then get it home smash it up nd throw it away, Casshern is it.  Looks ok, but just an almagamation of so many other films (and the final fantasy games especially), couldnt find a story line, didnt like the wayit was shot, average acting, just generally bad.  Although i did like the overall message, but it was conveyed in the worst possible way. hurrumph.

so there you go, take your pick...

[aphronben]

i also enjoyed the life aquatic, very good indeed

[DaveShearn]

There's many films ive watched recently that id like to discuss with whoever would like to discuss them, but i didnt feel the need to start loads of seperate topics for them all, so ive bundled them into one
 

very good point. i apologise.

[Cedric]

Oldboy
THIS IS AMAZING. Please go and see this now, i'll lend you the dvd if you give me your address, everyone should see this.  A brilliant thriller/mystery/romance/comedy everything, amazing story, amazingly shot.  Seriously one of the best films of the last few years.  You might need a strong stomach for some of the scenes, but well worth it.  If this was down mainly to the director, i cant wait for his next work.

i saw this with zooey.  not to take away from how incredible the movie is...i wouldn't recommend it to very many people if any.  It's the sort of movie that if you see a preview, then you go see it, it should be on your own shoulders that you saw it.  the cinematography is great.  the acting is great.  the story is really twisted and well thought out, except for the part where there is no reason for the story to exist.  it doesn't evoke any emotions other than, "fuck."  that is a weighted 'fuck' in this circumstance.  like when you say, "fuck, i can't believe that just happened."  my stomach was bitching at me after we left the theater.  if i'm not mistaken, zooey's was also.  we talked about it in comparison to Sin City, which is also a really hard-to-stomach film, but incredible.  Sin City, being the grotesque 'sin' it makes no apologies being, is amazing to watch.  Oldboy is psychologically, emotionally,  and visually fucked up.  it is one of the most disturbing films i've ever watched.  point being: i believe there is a line.  on one side there is a movie like Sin City on the other Caligula.  Caligula is a piece of shit.  If you don't know anything about this film, don't bother.  it's not even one of the films that you heard is so fucked up that you want to go see it.  it's not well done.  it's over done.  old boy, is in no way like Caligula, but leaning towards the idea of what it is.  the needlessness of it.  the only excuse is that it was well made.  i am not complete in my whole idea of this theory or subject.  and so at that, i hope a discussion will start.

[JJHards]

Firstly...what are you apologising for Dave? my only assumption is that you thought i was making some untoward comment about you writing about induvidual films...if i am correct in my assumption, please correct your assumption that it was an untoward comment, the only thing untoward was your assumption.  Lets call the whole thing off.

Secondly...Cedric, im not sure if i understand what your saying...are you basically saying that there was no point to the film? like the numerous episodes of(insert random sci-fi tv show title here) where (insert captains/leaders name here) touches the engine core/goes through a wormhole/gets hit by a meteor and s series of events take place, only for (captain/leader) to go back to the exact point at the start of the show and not do the misdeed that he/she did in the first place - thereby not actually doing all the stuff that took place in the episode? is that what you mean?  or do you mean something else entirely?  Like someone has an idea for a film, an idea which makes sense for 90%, but then the other 10% is the biggest botch job in the entire history of cinema?

? confused a bit?  

[DaveShearn]

deal. thanks for clarifying  

otherwise, i'm lost now.

[Zooey]

I think he meant that OldBoy was really violent -physically and psychologically- and that, even though he liked it, he wasn't sure if it wasn't stepping a bit close to the line.  

And then I think what he was saying was, where, when, and why is the line drawn.  Because he was pretty sure there had to be some sort of line.  Which he probably knows is a matter of opinion, but still thought (as do I) was worth discussion.

And I think he was also recommending (humbly, I'm sure) that you perhaps not recommend such a violent and disturbing movie, even if it's good, to everybody.  Like, for example, to his mother, who probably wouldn't like the film.

I think also (as it appears I've started thinking) that his reference to Sin City was to show an example of another very violent and disturbing movie, although one that (while he probably still wouldn't recommend it to his mother) was of course a more pulp sort of violence, and perhaps not as psychologically disturbing as OldBoy.

Although I could be wrong.


 

[JJHards]

I think that im begininnining to understand something now, although im not sure.

Isnt Guest list by the eels a great song?

So lets summerise...its a great film, but is very close to said line in is graphic depiction of violence and its psychological affect of the viewer - so dont recommend it to everyone.

If this a resonably accurate assumption...i agree...i shouldnt recommend it to everyone - but i made two horrible assumptions when i made the post

1)That most of the people reading  would appreciate a great film (violent or not)
and
2)That most people reading it would (somehow) know me and my choice of films to realise that if I was calling it violent, it was gonna be pretty messed up.  

So yes I was wrong in my assumptions.  I used to work in a cinema and had a fairly good knack for guessing what type of films a person would like...when they used to come up to the box office and ask what was good, i obviously wouldnt suggest the princess diaries to a group of 'lads'.  I always made a point of steering people clear of 21 grams and Lost in Translation, because chances are if they didnt come to watch it, they probably wouldnt want to (obviously with exception)

I suppose my saving grace is that i said i would led the DVD to anyone who gives me thier address..so any of you so dead in the head that you would give me your address, would also be suited to such a film.

Conclusion, some films arnt for everyone...and some films arnt for anyone (Salo)

[rcjohnso]

Sorry, what are we talking about?

[JJHards]

I think...

Not recommending certain films to certain people
and
Where 'the line' is drawn when it comes to exxxcessive things in films (or maybe just violence)

I think...

[anna]

I just saw Team America, and thought it was absolutely (one of) the funniest films I have ever seen, despite its gratuitous violence and graphic sexual content. I recommended it to my Mum.

And also (note punctuation)

I just saw Team America, and thought it was absolutely (one of) the funniest films I have ever seen. Despite its gratuitous violence and graphic sexual content, I recommended it to my Mum.

   

[JJHards]

I never learn...here comes another assumption.

Anna, either

a)you know that your mother would be offended/not like it so as to purposefully offend her, you've recommended a film that would do the job,
or
b)your mother is the type of person who would enjoy such a film.

Point being that youve judged her and recommended the film accordingly, or were my assumptions once again wrong?

[anna]

I never learn...here comes another assumption.

Anna, either

a)you know that your mother would be offended/not like it so as to purposefully offend her, you've recommended a film that would do the job,
or
b)your mother is the type of person who would enjoy such a film.

Point being that youve judged her and recommended the film accordingly, or were my assumptions once again wrong?

Learn JJ' learn!

If you believe a) to be true, then you are making a major, and extremely offensive assumption of my disdain for my own mother; unfounded and untrue.

 :angry:

 

[anna]

She'll love it!

[rcjohnso]

I'd just like to high-five Anna, not least for giving props to the funniest film since... well, since the South Park movie, really.