CS Film Club

[JBond]

I'll go with Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

*edit* Which isn't on DVD until the 20th. Could this be On Demand yet?

[MovieBuff801]

Originally Posted by JBond

moviebuff801

Primer (2004)
Up in the Air (2009)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
Project Nim (2011)

I'll go with Primer.

Originally Posted by JBond

I'll go with Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

*edit* Which isn't on DVD until the 20th. Could this be On Demand yet?

DVDs that are delayed by Netflix are still On Demand the same day as the Blu Ray or DVD, so yeah.

[PG Cooper]

Still waiting.

[PG Cooper]

Um, JBond, should I be assigned a new partner or something?

[JBond]

This is typically the day I usually start a new round when it's a 2 week long one. Let's give a few more days. I sent him a PM for when he returns.

[PG Cooper]

Okay.

[Justin]

I'll go with Reds out of convenience. I didn't know it was on Netflix Instant.

[Dhamon22]

Originally Posted by PG Cooper

Dhamon

Magnolia
The Crow
Rachel Getting Married
Mean Streets

Dammit, sorry.

I'll take Magnolia, about time I finally see it.

For you:

Prometheus
The Cabin in the Woods
A Seperation
Klown
House of Pleasures

[PG Cooper]

Originally Posted by Dhamon22

Dammit, sorry.

I'll take Magnolia, about time I finally see it.

For you:

Prometheus
The Cabin in the Woods
A Seperation
Klown
House of Pleasures

No worries. Hope you like Magnolia.

[Dhamon22]

Originally Posted by PG Cooper

No worries. Hope you like Magnolia.

Me too.

Hope you haven't seen all the choices I gave you.

[PG Cooper]

I haven't seen the bottom three. I'd choose now, but I usually get films from the library and the site is down right now.

[Dhamon22]

Gotcha. Can't go wrong with any of them.

[MovieBuff801]

So, I watched my movie the other night, but I REALLY need to think out what I want to say about it.

[JBond]

Yep. :p

[Hollywood]

Will have review up for Unforgiven tomorrow. Just finished it. Very good movie.

[Hollywood]

Unforgiven

You cant really go wrong if Clint Eastwood is director. Every movie i seen of his has been great. Lots of great actors i didnt know that were gona be in this film. The dvd was scratched up when i rented it so i am glad it played well and didnt stop cause i was really into the film.

The acting is superb. Its about a prostitute that gets mistreated violently and then the guy responsible is a wanted man thats worth a good money amount. And Clint and his partners are on a search for the 2 men responsible for revenge.

I like how it grabbed your attention right at the very start of the film and the movie grows on you the more you watch it, and the memorable characters have stood the test of time. Morgan Freeman, as always, brings a knowing weariness in his role as Eastwood's partner. Richard Harris has a terrific role as an English gunfighter who hires a writer to build his own legend, but has it totally taken apart by the sheriff of the movie's central town. And Gene Hackman deserves his Oscar as the sheriff who is somehow portrayed as the bad guy when most of the other lead male characters are in the plot for the sole purpose of committing murder.

**** and half/*****

[JBond]

I watched mine. Will post a review soon.

[shained]

I still have my documentary from a while back sitting there on Bluray, exit through the giftshop, will get too it as soon as I can.

[Doomsday]

Glad you liked Unforgiven, Hollywood. It's one of my all time favs, although your rating is off by about half a star in case you did that on accident.

Watched Moonrise Kingdom tonight, will post review tomorrow morning.

[Doomsday]

Moonrise Kingdom

Love conquers all might be one of the better yet more cliche taglines for Wes Anderson's latest quirky comedy about adolescent love and angst.

From the first shot of the film you know this is a Wes Anderson film. With his stock company cast down to his Mark Mothersbaugh music (Doomsday aside: I remember seeing Mark Mothersbaugh's name on the Rugrats credits every time I watched an episode as a kid and it blew my mind when I saw he did movies!) It's not a bad thing, I rank Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums all as some of my favorite movies from the past 15 years. Does this movie rank with those? No, but there's still much to enjoy. Some of the best parts of the Royal Tenenbaums were watching Ben Stiller interact with his detached children. Now imagine a whole movie of that. The movie shows Sam, a 'Khaki Scout' who escapes his island summer camp and meeting up with Suzy, a girl he met at a school play a year earlier. Suzy's family and the Khaki Scout troop conduct a sweep of the island until they're found. They're separated and are told never to see each other again, but they escape amidst a howling storm with the police, scouts, and social services on their tail. It's certainly an enjoyable movie with staple Anderson quirks. There are many laugh out loud moments and it's fun watching the film play out the way it does. Bruce Willis and Edward Norton are the highlights of the film and the supporting cast does a good job too.

I was thrown with mixed emotions though. When watching a romance movie or even romantic scene, if done appropriately the audience feels moved as they feel how the characters must feel. The passion reaches a climax (no pun) as the two twelve year olds dance on a beach and kiss for the first time. How cute. Then they talk about French kissing. Hm, well ok. Sam then starts to feel her up. Alright, now I'm feeling uncomfortable when I should be turned on. I also wasn't sure what Sam was refering to after the first time they tried to French. He states 'it's hard.' Was he refering to French kissing, which really isn't hard at all? Or...something else? I'm unsure if Anderson was going for the discomfort zone or what, but I was a little weirded out. The pacing of the movie also hurt the final product. The first act involving Boy Scout escape and evasion techniques was funny and enjoyable with lots of standard Anderson one-liners (Day one of the search: Morale is extremely low). Then as the movie shift gears, it slows considerably with a few unnecessary plot twists (the affair, getting struck by lightning come to mind). But as in all his movies Anderson manages to wrap it all up in a nice and fulfilling conclusion.

Not the best Anderson has to offer but it was an enjoyable movie all around. Will I pick it up on dvd anytime soon? Probably not, but I'm sure I'll watch it again down the road.

B so says Doomsday

[JBond]

She's was refering to something else. It was an awkward scene.

[Dhamon22]

Magnolia - 10/10

I don't have much energy to write a big review but I'm so glad I finally saw this. Fantastic. John C. Reilly gave my favorite performance but everyone was great and every story line pulled me in. Loved the game show stuff. LOVED the ending. A big WTF but so well done. Holds up visually 13 years later. Theres just so much to dig your teeth into here. Loved the one shot scene going through the game show offices, loved the Phillip Seymour Hoffman stuff, Tom Cruise of course. This just solidifies PTA as my favorite filmmaker. I still need to see Hard Eight but I've loved everything hes done. Boogie Nights is my least favorite I guess but its still great.

Count me in for next round.

[PG Cooper]

Originally Posted by Dhamon22

Magnolia - 10/10

I don't have much energy to write a big review but I'm so glad I finally saw this. Fantastic. John C. Reilly gave my favorite performance but everyone was great and every story line pulled me in. Loved the game show stuff. LOVED the ending. A big WTF but so well done. Holds up visually 13 years later. Theres just so much to dig your teeth into here. Loved the one shot scene going through the game show offices, loved the Phillip Seymour Hoffman stuff, Tom Cruise of course. This just solidifies PTA as my favorite filmmaker. I still need to see Hard Eight but I've loved everything hes done. Boogie Nights is my least favorite I guess but its still great.

Count me in for next round.

Nice! Glad you dug it.

[JBond]

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this. I don't remember what was in the trailers, just that I was disinterested by them. The movie opens up with how a sequel to Armegeddon might start had the crews of the shuttles failed horribly. Steve Carell is in his car with his (real life) wife when they hear the news that the Earth will be destroyed in 3 weeks and to stay tuned for updates...and to hear "all your favorite classic rock tunes." Then "Wouldn't it Be Nice" by the Beach Boys starts as his wife bolts the hell out of the car. Suddenly, I knew I was in for a good trip.

Unfortunately, this would be my favorite joke of the movie. The first half of the film is a dark, perfectly-tuned comedy, while the second half is a bit more of a romantic-drama which didn't settle as well with me. It didn't hurt the film, but it wasn't as good. There's a couple of sweet scenes such as the time they come across a beach of people who are at peace with the end of times. More than that, they seem to be living better than we ever have. There's also a good line where Carell says "You were the love of my life" to Keira Knightley's character. (Who turned out to not be as annoying as I had feared.)

I was a bit dissapointed with the ending. It was funny how earlier in the movie I was thinking there would be a mistake and the world wouldn't be destroyed, but as the film goes on it seemed much more likely the world really would end. I wasn't dissapointed with the choice they made, but instead of how dark it was when the world ended. There's a difference between a dark comedy and a movie where a person is crying because life is about to be extinguished. This would have been solved most easily by having both Carell and Knightley being at peace and happy to have met each other.

Overall, I would recommend it, but mostly for the many great laughs in the first half.

***/****

[MovieBuff801]

Primer

This movie...yeah...

The best way to describe this movie is a mystery wrapped in an enigma trapped in a Rubick's Cube. The plot of this thing is complicated, make no mistakes about it. Basically, it's about two engineers who accidentally invent a time machine, and then have to grapple with the consequences of using it. And those consequences are almost the very definition of the term "mindf***".

I watched this movie four nights ago, and ever since, I've been mulling this thing over in my head. I even had to go online and find a plot summary that detailed what happened, and here's my conclusion: the movie is interesting and overall good, but the fact that it plays out the way it does sort of keeps you emotionally distant from everything that's going on.

I have to give this movie credit for portraying time travel in such an interestingly low-key fashion, and the fact that it was made on a modest budget of $7,000 is even more impressive. I respect and appreciate the fact that this is more about the ideas behind time travel than most other movies are, and while it ensures that your attention stays with the story, the movie (at a brisk 77 minutes) doesn't really have time for anything else. I was always interested to see how the story would develop, but at the same time, I can't really say I ever cared that much about how it would affect the two main guys.

This brings me back to my criticism about lack of exposition. Am I really supposed to care about the well-being of two main characters whom I know very little about? Also, the script's use of complicated technical jargon was part of how hard it was to follow the plot at first.

Can I call this a bad film? No, but at the same time, its complicated plot structure hinders itself. At least, it did for me. Still, I'm glad I saw it and I may re-visit it again.

Oh, and JBond, if you say you understood it after the first time, then respectfully: bull. ****.

***/****

I'm in for the next round.