What DVD / Video did you watch last night ?

[shoddysolutions]

Stalker
Impenetrable yet mesmerising commie-era sci-fi allegory from Russia, directed by cinematic poet Andrei Tarkovsky. Sparse dialogue and eerie visuals create an unsettling atmosphere in which the viewer feels sucked in to the strange happenings in 'the zone'. It's either a profound journey into the human psyche, or a film about three grown men going down the overgrown bit of the local park to make a den and have a bit of an adventure. Oh, and it's three hours long, and in Russian.

Room With a View
Turgid period drama starring a twelve-year old Helena Bonham-Carter in the role that has since seen her forever typecast as an annoying upper class bint. Lots of bodices, summer lawns and homo-eroticism guarantee that this film will forever be enjoyed by a self-referential clique of emotionally constipated ex-public schoolboys with their heads stuck in the nineteenth century.

 

[Juice Terry]

Originally Posted by goldenecitrone
I saw 21 Grams yesterday. What utter pap! I suppose I should have guessed as it starred Sean Penn but I was fooled by the presence of Benicio Del Toro. Never again.

Thats a great movie. You are misguided.

Ditto, one of the best movies of 2004.

 

[Juice Terry]

I Robot, formulaic in the extreme but not as bad as I feared.

The Cooler, I really enjoyed this, B Movie pap but good fun. WH Macy always good value and Maria Bello is well sexy.

Fahrenheit 911 - Strangely a bit disappointed by this, maybe because I'd heard it all before and nothing was a surprise. Chilling and depressing all the same.

 

[Choc]

on christmas - elf.....okay sometimes funny!

the godfather - wicked, can't wait for no 2 and 3! i have got a huge weakness for the handsome italian actor (who's name has escaped me just this minute), mmmhhhh!

the tenant - pretty good

the 10 dogmatisms (?) or sth by kiesslowski - pretty good.


the virgin suicides a while ago - was okaaay, kind of watchable but not outrageously good.

on saturday, mystic river - i didn't like it very much to be honest.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Room With a View
Turgid period drama starring a twelve-year old Helena Bonham-Carter in the role that has since seen her forever typecast as an annoying upper class bint. Lots of bodices, summer lawns and homo-eroticism guarantee that this film will forever be enjoyed by a self-referential clique of emotionally constipated ex-public schoolboys with their heads stuck in the nineteenth century.

i've cleaned the windows of the house in that, takes fucking hours and hours.

 

[passenger]

i robot what a pile of shit

 

[stdPikachu]

Ditto, one of the best movies of 2004.

Agreed, although Amores Perros is far better IMHO.

Managed to watch the entirity of the Back to the Future trilogy over the past few days (again), and I'd forgotten how stonkingly excellent they were. Considering the complexity of the plot, there are remarkably few holes and continuity errors, and I just love the way Biff, Doc and Marty interact throughout the ages. Glad I bought 'em, and thanks to red rose for reminding me about them all!

 

[hayduke]

Local Hero. Much duller than I remembered.

 

[oi2002]

Supersize Me. A rapier of a film, incisive, legally clever, and funny. Far from the asinine polltical incontinence of Moore.

I have high hopes for Spurlock but that moustache worries me.

 

[shoddysolutions]

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Period piece Britpop 'homage' movie, gives a nod to the 60s cool of The Italian Job and takes the piss out of Tarantino. Shot on a minimal budget with a bunch of ex-Grange Hill actors and starring Vinnie Jones stretching his acting abilities to the limit by playing a nasty, violent thug. Brings Brit humour to the gangster genre in a way no Hollywood movie could.

 

[Dubversion]

Lock Stock.. is a close runner with AMerican Beauty for my most hated film

 

[shoddysolutions]

Lock Stock.. is a close runner with AMerican Beauty for my most hated film

I'm with you on American Beauty. Admittedly, Lock, Stock intially does come across as a pastiche of some CBBC Drama (Dexter Fletcher FFS), but the story kind of sucks you in after a while and there is some clever camerawork.

There are many, many, many, many worse films than either Lock, Stock or American Beauty. Is it the fact that people are supposed to like these films that bothers you? I was astounded at the praise heaped upon the predictable non-drama of American Beauty.

 

[Dubversion]

There are many, many, many, many worse films than either Lock, Stock or American Beauty. Is it the fact that people are supposed to like these films that bothers you? I was astounded at the praise heaped upon the predictable non-drama of American Beauty.

of course there are elements of that - i'm sure 'Beastmaster 11' or something is probably the 'worst' film ever made. but things irritate/anger me in proportion to how

1) dishonest
2) over-blown
3) how much of a missed opportunity is is..
4) how much bullshit (critical, directorial etc) is involved..

 

[shoddysolutions]

You mean like ...

1) dishonest ... BLACK HAWK DOWN

2) over-blown ... LORD OF THE RINGS

3) how much of a missed opportunity is is. ... er, TANK GIRL

4) how much bullshit (critical, directorial etc) is involved ... OCEANS 11

 

[Sunray]

Lock Stock.. is a close runner with AMerican Beauty for my most hated film

I think both of those films require a relaxed sense of humor to be enjoyed.

Neither are shit.

Lock stock is admirable in many ways, from its script to the distinct style.

American beauty is a more predictable US hollywood afair, but again it still has a lot of qualities that make it a good film.

 

[Dubversion]

I think both of those films require a relaxed sense of humor to be enjoyed.

no.. a relaxed sense of quality, maybe

Neither are shit.
.

yes they are.

Lock stock is admirable in many ways, from its script to the distinct style.

no it's not

I but again it still has a lot of qualities that make it a good film.

no it doesn't

 

[akirajoel]

hmmm... whats your idea of a 'good' film then dub?

Not that i'm defending American Beautoy or Lock, stock mind...

Just curious.

 

[DaveCinzano]

i've cleaned the windows of the house in that, takes fucking hours and hours.

and iirc england's tallest tree ('wellingtonia') is in the grounds of the house

 

[starfish]

We watched Spirited Away at the weekend which i had bought for the ms for xmas. Beautifully animated, with a completely bonkers surreal storyline. Magnificent.

 

[Sunray]

no.. a relaxed sense of quality, maybe



yes they are.





no it's not



no it doesn't

This from a man who thinks Gross Point Bland as a good movie. I suggest sticking to music. You more convincing.

 

[Dubversion]

This from a man who thinks Gross Point Bland as a good movie. I suggest sticking to music. You more convincing.

why thank you. glad to see my years as a video reviewer weren't wasted


edited to add: my point, sunray, with those rather facetious responses, was that of COURSE It's just my opinion. couldn';t be anything else. but you do seem to be arguing from some absolutist point where there is such a thing as a 'good' or 'bad' film.

and there isn't.

 

[Sunray]

Watched Down By Law again last night.

What a totally superb piece of cinema that is, humourous in so many different ways, from subtley visual through situation to spoken. Its wanders from urban decay through prisons and swamps to a fork on a lonely highway.

The humor tho is mainly from knowing the characters and that takes some time, a brave decision by Jim Jarmusch. He could so easily have bored the audience, but at the exact moment you are wondering whats happening he changes speed ever so slightly.

 

[Sunray]

why thank you. glad to see my years as a video reviewer weren't wasted


edited to add: my point, sunray, with those rather facetious responses, was that of COURSE It's just my opinion. couldn';t be anything else. but you do seem to be arguing from some absolutist point where there is such a thing as a 'good' or 'bad' film.

and there isn't.

I totally disagree.

Film making is more concrete as to good and bad. I suggest you take a look at Lake Placid. That's clearly a shit film. There is no getting around it, anyone with 1/2 a brain and eyes that work, would concede that its a steaming turd which hungry flys avoid.

There is something called the grammer of film. This is for film makers to understand before they can go and create their masterpieces. Break the rules in a creative way and you are a film god, do it with wanton disregard and you will create somethings so bad its physically painful to watch. While not all there is to movie creation by a long shot this and many other cavets divide the shit from the great.

Obey all the rules and you can come up with something that watchable (tho hardly ground breaking) and then personal differences come into it to a degree.

Interestingly Irreversable trashes the rules and this film utterly divides the critics. I'm left totally divided as to its brilliance/shitness.

 

[Dubversion]

if there is a single person who thinks a film is good, your argument is bogus.

there are no absolutes, sunray. you can make arguments on technical grounds or talk about the grammar of film all you want, but if somebody genuinely loves Beastmaster 12, then it means it's all subjective. and it is.

personal differences come into it to a degree? it can ONLY be personal differences, sunray. it can't possibly be anything else.

there can be a consensus, a shared understanding of certain qualities likely to be present in a film. but nothing more absolute than that. to claim otherwise is illogical and untenable (and we did this to death in a mega-thread last year didn't we?)

 

[R.I.C.O.]

...

I watched Ghostbusters 2 last night. It has some cracking one-liners...

Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray): Y'know, I've met some dumb blondes in my life, but you take the taco, pal! Only a *Carpathian* would come back to life now and choose New York! If you had brain one in that huge melon on top of your neck, you'd be living the sweet life out in southern California's beautiful San Fernando Valley!

Louis Tully (Rick Moranis): Your Honour, ladies and gentleman, I don't think it's very fair to call my clients frauds. Sure, the blackout was a big problem for everybody. I was trapped in an elevator for two hours and I had to make the whole time. But I don't blame them, because one time, I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you

Doctor Egon Spengler: Vigo the Carpathian. Also known as Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Despised, and Vigo the Unholy.

 

[DaveCinzano]

it's all gone a bit high-falutin'

 

[Sunray]

There is always one nutter! Are you basing your argument that there are nutters in the world. I am basing my argument on general consensus, rather than on some tiny minority.

Where can this argument go, are you saying that a series of random shots in no particular order is good because someone with mental difficulties in an institution thinks they are a great and watches them constantantly.

 

[R.I.C.O.]

...

I also like this quote....

Doctor Raymond Stantz (Dan Ackroyd): You think this river of slime has anything to do with this Vigo character?

Doctor Egon Spengler: Is the atomic weight of cobalt 58.9?

 

[Dubversion]

There is always one nutter! Are you basing your argument that there are nutters in the world.

oh come on, sunray, you know that's not what i mean.

there might well be a MAJORITY who hold that certain technical or narrative standards are necessary for a film to be any good, but it doesn't always apply and nor should it. i'm sure we've all seen films that are regarded as groundbreaking or classic which we thought were a piece of shit.

factor in
time
cultural differences and narrative traditions
just simply different tastes/worldviews

and you must see it's ALL subjective. has to be, by it's very nature.. it's like claiming that there's such a thing as good music or bad music. it can't be done.
there can be popular music, or unpopular music. or difficult or easy music. but anything more absolute than that won't wash.

i mean, how many people will actually ENJOY or like a piece by Stockhausen - a series of clicks and whirrs? and yet we're repeatedly told that this stuff is unequalled in its brilliance by people who are supposed to know.

see what i mean?

it's not even that complicated. it's simply that to claim anything is good or bad is always to take a subjective stance.

surely you get that?

 

[Dubversion]

There is always one nutter! Are you basing your argument that there are nutters in the world. I am basing my argument on general consensus, rather than on some tiny minority.

you've just scuppered your own argument.

you concede you're talking about consensus, majority vs minority.

so is celine dion better than mogwai, Notting Hill better than Down By Law?

Where can this argument go, are you saying that a series of random shots in no particular order is good because someone with mental difficulties in an institution thinks they are a great and watches them constantantly.

what if a series of random shots in no particular order is by Bunuel or Cocteau or some other film 'artist' and is acclaimed by loads of cultural talking heads?

sunray, you really can't win this argument