Boogie Nights > The Corruptor, of course 

I would actually put the predictable but well made We Own the Night ahead of The Corruptor too. If only for the spectacular rainstorm car chase. But its also a decent movie :) 

Los abrazos rotos by Pedro Almod�var is a movie I watched today and liked very much.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913425/

A blind screenwriter finds out that his archenemy is dead, so he tells the story from his past to his protege, and strives for some closure. 

Shutter Island (2009) - not sure how much of the flawed narrative is the book's fault but even if it is, I think some changes were warranted in the adaptation to film. Plays its cards way way too early and then the eventual resolution is so logically flawed, it takes away quite a bit from the reasonably well crafted film that otherwise takes place.

Scorsese the film buff is on full display, skilfully homaging many of the great noirs, particularly the works of Jacques Tourneur, and some of the sequences are from his heyday as a director, but the whole is definitely less than the sum of its parts.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/

5.5-6/10


Dexter Season 3 - the show's writers have a history of creating intriguing and morally ambiguous setups and then letting themselves down with an easy and morally simple resolution. And they are at it again this season, but this time with probably the worst example of the above. The setup for this season is brilliant, with Jimmy Smits excelling in his role as Dexter's new friend and secret sharer, but the denouement just gets silly and features leaps of logic that just should have been better through.

6.5/10


Young Torless (1966) - Volker Schlondorff's disturbing debut is a pre WWI drama set in an Austrian boarding school at which a young boy becomes a target for humiliation and torture by a group of other boys, each of whom have different reasons for participating. It works as both a claustrophobic drama that unfolds with uncompromising starkness and also as a thinly veiled parallel of the rise of nazism in civilised society.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060574/

7.5/10


A Prophet (2009) - Jacques Audiard has made a string of fine films but his latest is a modern crime classic. The rise of a young arab man in a french prison to mafia kingpin is not the most original of plots but Audiard's direction and Tahar Rahim's central performance elevate this to a much higher plane. Frequently brutal, always menacing, immaculately constructed and absolutely compelling from start to finish.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235166/

8/10


Genova (2008) - the new film from Michael Winterbottom takes more than a few cues from Nicolas Roeg's classic Don�t Look Now, having a grieving family looking to an italian city for solace and sharing supernatural overtones. Its nowhere near the quality of Roeg's film, suffering from a rambling script and being repetitive in both form and content, but it makes a fascinating use of its backdrop and is blessed with some fine performances, particularly from its young cast.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0791303/

6.5/10


Germany Year Zero (1948) - I cant believe this was allowed to be shot in Germany 3 years after the war. Roberto Rossellini's neo realist depiction of post war life in Germany is hardly a flattering view, featuring a demolished landscape and also a demolished society. The film centers on a handful of characters, all of whom move around Edmund, a 12 year old german boy who takes on responsibilities that you would not wish upon anyone anywhere.

The location shooting and use of non-professional actors lends it a remarkable authenticity and although I found it to be a little predictable narratively, its never less than engrossing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039417/

7-7.5/10


Che Part 1 (2008) - this is as unconventional a biopic as there has ever been. Steven Soderbergh is not exploring Che the man, but Che the icon and his approach seems to be to analyse his subject by comparing his leadership during two of his campaigns, the successful revolution of Chile, which is this film, and his unsuccessful attempted revolution of Bolivia, which is Part 2. Its not quite as narratively simple as that description because, in Part 1, he also goes back and forth between Che's 1964 United Nations General Assembly address.

Its not an easy film to watch, the first 20-30 min are particularly confusing but once you cotton on to what its trying to do, made easier by Benicio Del Toro's fantastic acting, its utterly compelling. Very keen to see Part 2.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892255/

7.5/10 

Yeah I agree, it started so strong but it seems that the show follows a formula that you can pretty much expect that Dexter's new buddy is going to get killed in the end, which was okay for the first 2 seasons (actually liked season 2 the best) and the last 2 episodes of season 3 especially I felt were backwards. It's like they ended the season an episode early, realized their mistake, and then put in the last episode just before airtime.

Hope season 4 is better when it comes out on DVD. 

yeap agree on season 2 being the best but even the end to that was too neatly and easily resolved.

Have heard John Lithgow is great in season 4. 

Ghost Dog: Pretentious.

Downloading Le Samourai, I trust nitin's recommendation. :)


Watched all of The Big Bang Theory now. It went quite downhill after half the third season. You gotta watch it from the start, I remembered watching a random episodes months ago and not liking it at all. Watching from the beginning I highly enjoyed most of them. Had some great laughs. 

Le Samourai can also come off as pretentious, but its also feels a hell of a lot more classy, cooler and natural than Ghost Dog 

Predators: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u8vZwvP57Y 

amazing, such strong impressions. Of course the fact that the music is so well known and recycled played a big part in making it even more immersing (I think that one likes music better the more familiar it is, guess why there are always the same songs on the radio). Dragged a bit near the end. Some bits were hard to understand (language issue mostly). Easily one of the best movies I ever saw. 

class film, does drag a bit but I love the opening sequence and the music is indeed ace. 

indeed. Meh. 

http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-hollywood-please-stop.html 

makes the picture look more glossy and clean.

Its not particularly attractive IMHO, but most modern films use it to appear big budget or show off their budget. Plus it then looks very clean and smooth on blu ray for all the "grain is bad, I need everything pin sharp" videophiles. 

to match the movie posters! 

Avatar - Thought it was great, definitely one of the sexiest films I've ever seen. The 3D was great, hopefully most films from now on will use it!

law abiding citizen - Starts off very well but flounders at the end. You start off sympathizing with the main character, but by the end you despise him =)

AvP Requiem - I was surprised by this as I was expecting absolute rubbish, instead it was merely mediocre. Starts off a bit slow and dull, but speeds up a lot in the 2nd half. I think they may have gone overboard with the whole pred-alien thing, and some things just don't feel right to me. Some of the creature effects are quite dodgy in places also, but overall its fairly passable. 

Spirited Away last night. Still brilliant. The creatures are hilarious especially the small ones. The train scene is still beautiful. 

I agree with Daz.

Traingle

Saw this film Triangle. Awesome film, very clever plot and screenplay. Good ending.
Dont want to spoil it but it's very very good.
IMO. 

Traingle; http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2006-06/triangle-train-china.jpg 

that train looks straight out of Quake 2 / Stroggos 

that is the train vondur takes to work each morning. 

You start off sympathizing with the main character, but by the end you despise him =)

i think this is pretty much the point. it's how i interpreted the main theme anyhow; really liked how the moral shift between the two sides was spread across the whole film - the hero becoming the villain and vice versa. great movie

i saw freddie got fingered earlier. i'm sad that i will never get those ~2 hours back :( 

I remember having a lot of fun watching it. Might have been the influence of the shrooms and coke though. 

3D is taking over the world, even shot for 2d stuff will now use it. Keep those glasses. 

Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones Review by that slow talking guy. It is actually pretty good (except for the very ameteurish humour in the "outside" sequences of course, that is just silly).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBhi6qqFLA