Phait, that has got to be one of the most hilarious things that I have read in ages. There is a whole lot of finger-pointing and excue making going... YOIKS!

That is an example of denial on parade. 

Be good lads and add an "s" in that last post of mine... would ya'?

No excuse in spelling sexcues worng wryte? 

Kagemusha - Big, epic scaled film from Kurosawa that is very similar in style to Ran. In fact, a lot of it seems like practice for Ran. It's not quite the masterpiece that Ran is, but on its own is quite a good film. Quite overlong at 180 min, it sometimes gets a bit too bogged down, but is a refershing change from the modern hollywood epic.


Heavenly Creatures - The movie that put Peter Jackson on the map, even though nobody really knew who he was until LOTR.

It's easy to see why, its an inventive look at a disturbing true story with impressive peformances. However, I thought a lot of it was overdirected and many scenes could have done with more understatement/subtlety. The last 20 min are lyrical in their simplicity, and chilling in their effectiveness. More of the movie could have done with that sort of direction.


Down by Law - A strange, raw, familiar and languid film from Jim Jarmusch. Gloriously shot, extremely moody and impeccably acted with some clever humour, it's hard not to like even though there is absolutely zero plot. 

Ready?
http://www.impawards.com/2005/doom.html

Christ... 

Rififi - French film noir by Jules Dassin and a pretty good one. Well made and acted, the only thing that stopped it going into the very good - great category was the fact that noirs have cool dialogue and in this case, it didnt have the same impact since I was reading it rather than hearing it.

The Innocents - Gloriously gothic and filled with atmosphere. But the script (I understand its adpetd pretty well from a book) is not that great. There is zero mystery and barring one or two scenes hardly any suspense. And the ending (or rather the execution) is very silly. Pity, because it's well made, acted and shot.

Also, its influence on many films, especially The Others is easy to see. 

I've had one or two courses of french at high school, and it's surprising how much you understand out of movies if you have the text there to help you out. I don't know if you speak much french, but if you don't and like that movie stuff, I'd recommend taking a few courses so you get the basics. After all a lot of english and latin words are the same as in french so it's easy to deduce what they speak, and you learn some more if you have your native language text and the original speech there. 

I know a fair bit of french from school but when people converse in their native language, they talk a lot lot faster! 

sorry, I didn't know if you knew french. But I think watching with subtitles where you see the thing before they say it makes understanding easier / remotely possible in some instances where they don't talk so much. Although it might hurt the feeling a bit. 

Even knowing very little Japanese gives me a little more insight into subtitled Japanese movies. Especially when the subtitles are not a literal translation, I think you get a little more out of it by seeing one and hearing the other. 

...why is there an 'Alien' in the Doom movie poster? 

distrans: you're right: there's an 'Alien' in the Doom movie poster !! God, there're back as well... 

how alieny of an imp.. 

id's hellknight head design for that 

The Talented Mr Ripley - Ok, its overlong, a little overdirected in parts but I still found it to be quite enjoyable thanks to the performances, the settings and a smart enough script.



Rio Bravo - Also overlong, has quite contrived plot points and fairly stereotypical characters, but this western from Howard Hawks is still quite entertaining.



Cinema Paradiso - I just didnt like this. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I thought this was just overly-sentimental tosh. I'd bought the R1 DVD to check out both cuts but since I saw the shorter theatrical and didnt think much of it, I'm not going to bother with the director's cut.

Also, I should mention, that despite all that I didnt like about this movie, the ending is a perfectly judged and executed scene. 

Cape Fear (1991) - I dont know if it was entirely deliberate but I found this to be gloriously campy and if it was all intentional, it was a masterstroke to go over the top in every department. I havent seen the original but this is not strictly a remake, it's more of a semi-serious parody.

If, on the other hand, this was not intended tongue in cheek, I dont know what Martin Scorsese was thinking. 

Worth seeing? 

at the time, he meant it to be over the top in every way. I loved it, that lurid, EC comics feel . The camera work feels like it was shot using gamma rays. Half the cast should be dead from cancer mutations by now. 

good to hear.

And yes, quite a lot of it was shot on acid. 

Through a Glass Darkly - Part of bergman's loose trilogy along with The Silence and the far superior Winter Light. This one had some good acting and cinematography but the direction was too heavy handed and despite being 87 min, it felt 10-15 min far too long.

Above average fare from the great director.


La Dolce Vita - Once I'd gotten over the shoddy sound design and the dodgy dubbing used for some actors, I started enjoying it a bit more.

But, I dont get it. There's some memeorable sequences and nice scenes but, as a whole, this just didnt work for me. And at 160 min, it began to get frustrating 

Extremely well made and shot, with very good performances. It also features a script with a bit of a copout last act.

Luckily, the limp finish doesnt completely detract from the rest of the quality on offer and it still ends being a decent film overall. 

The Scarlett Empress - Heavily flawed but very watchable movie with Marlene Dietrich as Catherine of Russia. Most notable aspect and drawcard are the very impressive costume designs and sets that put a lot of recent productions to shame. 

anyone seen it?
the trailer looks interesting... 

La Dolce Vita is one the best movies ever
maybe not for everyone. old but gold


Nochnoy Dozor (night watch) is bleh, honestly
casting sux, script is a mess (based on quite good but very legthy book)
picture is nice, some cool camera\directing
Its ok-ish, nothing more

whatever I watched lately..
blade3 (got this by accident) - sux big time, boring and very forgetable

closer - unconvincing, clive owen fails

The Island (with mcGregor) alot of nobrainer/commonplace in the plot, but really entertaining with good stunts and chases, prolly best action Iv seen this year 

Amores Perros is very good indeed.

Tarkovsky` stalker movie has nothing to do with action really. The game could borrow only some ideas for the setting. It�s quite a philosophic flick, Im afraid a lot of it is lost in translation.

Speaking of Solaris - I love the original, but the american version is not bad, surprisingly.
(And the book did nothing for me - I dont even remember much of it) 

Serenity:

Saw one episode of Firefly and didn't like it. Decided to give the movie a try and it bloody ruled. Definitely one of the better sf movies I have seen in a fair while and has inspired me to give the series another chance when I see it cheap on DVD.

Pride and Prejudice:

*sigh*, yeah I know, but I got dragged along with my girlfriend. Never actually seen any previous version of this so can't say how it compares, but there are some truly hideous edits and camera shot choices. I'm not a cinematography buff at all but even I cringed at the cheesiness of how some of the shots were filmed. Guess most of us wouldn't like it but your historical romance buffs (ie women) will lap it up.