2007 Film List - Page 5

Holadem · 08-27-2007, 03:06 PM

Eh... I fet the same way about that one. A relative "meh".

About your recent screenings:

The Passion of Joan of Arc probably tops the list of best movies that I never want to see again.

Quote:

Vertigo - How many time can you see this for the first time

10/10
The Insider - One of Mann's very best, also 10/10
Young Frankenstein - Didn't work for me too much, but that might be me 7.5/10 I have no criticisms of it...I didn't laugh as much as I had hoped, but then I haven't seen the original Frankenstein.

I feel the same way about these movies. I hadn't seen Frankenstein and Bride "thereof" at the time either but I doubt it would have made a difference.

--
H

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Seth Paxton · 08-31-2007, 01:18 AM

Passion is a beautiful film, masterful direction. I've watched it several times and enjoyed it each time. It and Sunrise are signs of how silent films were just peaking when sound rolled through.

The Simpsons
7.5 of 10
I got enough laughs out of it and thought the story was decent enough to enjoy it, but I was disappointed for the most part. Too many misses, not enough clever humor, at least to be the best of what The Simpsons can and has been. I'd prefer to watch 2 hours of season 4 or something. I suppose I'll buy the DVD. Too bad this wasn't what it could have been.

Stardust
9 of 10
The Princess Bride comparison is pretty good, except the humor is reduced. But it's inventive, lightly romantic and full of tons of varied settings. At worst it might be a little stiff in spots, hardly enough to detract from enjoying the film though. The characters are likeable, Gervais is hilarious in his small part and the fantasy logic all comes off as pretty sound despite being more outrageous than Potter's world.

It also seems to hide the adult humor enough to remain family friendly I think. As a non-parent I can't say for sure but it never stuck me as overt or blue. The natural comparison is to the latest Potter film and on that count I thought this was definitely better (I enjoyed Potter 5 too).

Chris Atkins · 08-31-2007, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer

North by Northwest - and I didn't love it

It was a very good film (as if it needed my stamp of objective approval), and Grant was AWESOME, but I only enjoyed it. It didn't hit me like Vertigo. But nonetheless, I'm very happy I saw it.

I gave it a full 2 points for the last shot alone!

Seth Paxton · 09-03-2007, 11:32 PM

Superbad
8.5 of 10
Similar in plot and humor as Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin (including having sex in order to get good at it for when it matters), the film falls just short of those 2. The raunch didn't bother me but it was over the top and unhelpful in many instances. What makes it a great comedy is the strong blend of outrageous situations and truly sincere emotions behind the lead characters, again similar to the 2 previous films.

The result can best be described as a quality version of American Pie or a 2000's version of the classic "one night as a teenager" formula comedy. Seth Rogen again steals the show along the way.

Chuck Mayer · 09-04-2007, 07:37 AM

Chris,
I did laugh at the last shot of NxNW. Hysterical.

A new one:

Ali
Enthralling and fantastic to look at, the film never really explores the subject or the times too deeply. I understand the criticisms, but I still found it fairly powerful. I thought Will Smith was good, if not spectacular. The filmmaking was top-notch. Some outstanding sequences. And the boxing bouts were incredible. 8/10

Adam_S · 09-17-2007, 01:33 AM

Across the Universe - 9 of 10

There are four films opening this weekend that I want to see, and I managed to work in this one, I may catch up with the others during the week.

Across the Universe is a terrific film. It's not just a blend of songs in an extended music video, as some feared, there is a real story involved here and it develops the characters beautifully through song and their interrelationships and dialogue. Standouts include I Wanna Hold your Hand, I Get by with a little help from my friends, I've just seen a Face, Let it Be, I am the Walrus, For the Benefit of Mr. Kite (omg!), While my Guitar Gently Weeps, Blackbird, Hey Jude, and All you Need is love, but the many other songs used or referenced in the films are quite brilliant. I think only one song fell flat for me, and I can barely remember which one it was (there are a TON of numbers. The choreography and design of the film are nothing short of sensational, but it'll piss off some people (like my brother) that can't stand anything wildly out of place with reality (which the film only does occasionally with some of the design elements which have the flavor of theatre to them).

I really want to see this film again if only because the reworking of I want to hold your hand and Let it Be (my two favorites in the film) are so incredibly fucking good as to almost be new songs, it doesn't replace the beatles originals, by any means, but instead illustrates how versatile and powerful their art truly is to be open and enriched by new interpretations.

I really want to see it again, best movie about/involving music since Almost FAmous, and since that's a top ten film for me, that's high praise indeed, after one viewing I wouldn't go putting this in my top hundred, but it's definitely under consideration, and there's room for improvement. I spotted what I felt were about two, maybe three cuts where numbers were abruptly shortened--I very much want to see the full original cut Taymor delivered, so I'm hoping for an extended version on dvd.

I cannot get the sound of Bono's I Am the Walrus out of my head, or the visuals of for the benefit of Mr Kite (and Izzard's GENIUS performance of it) clear from my minds eye. Those were incredible.

A short run down on the story. Jude is from England, the bastard child of a US serviceman he's never met, he quits his Yards job and heads for America to meet him, where he's a Princeton janitor. Max is a disaffected Princeton student, who isn't a very good student, his younger sister Lucy is still in high school (something the movie seems to forget), and when Jude runs into Max they hit it off, and Jude and Lucy fall hard for each other. meanwhile, they head to New York, where their landlady, Sadie, a nightclub singer, gives them a bargain apartment. Also converging on this spot of real estate is Jimi, (I honestly can't remember what his name is 'supposed' to be, it's easier simply to call him Jimi--because that's who he is), leaving Chicago (I think, maybe Atlanta) after his little brother was killed in a riot, and to top things off, one evening Prudence comes in through the bathroom window to escape the man she'd been shacking up with. Right about this time Ken Kesey (Bono) and his magical mystery tour shows up, just as Sadie is about to get a record deal, Lucy arrives to live with Jude and Max in NYC and Max gets his drafted letter (since he dropped out), they taste the koolaid and trip it all the way out in the country to Mr Kite/Leary (Eddie Izzard). They make their way back to NYC, and as Jude continues to drift, Lucy starts getting all righteous and radical. Things tumble and converge and develop from there quite naturally, the film is immensely fun, and a lovely story to boot, the use of the songs is superb, and almost always successful.

Seth Paxton · 09-17-2007, 01:16 PM

Hey Chuck, I'm not dissuading your participation here, but I wanted to make sure you know that this is the 2007 Films list, not Track the Films You Watched. I'm fine with you still commenting on these other films, especially since it kicks off some discussion among the few of us that hang here, but in the end you might try to mark 2007 films different from new viewings of older films ala the Track thread.

At first I thought a new film called Ali was on the radar. And I do love that film for Mann's style. I think it was a little underappreciated. Foxx and Mann are a great pairing so far.

Hot Fuzz
8.5 of 10
To be honest the rating was running a bit lower than this simply because the sarcasm is laid on so thick that it's easy to mistake the film for being somewhat sincere in it's action aspects. I thought it was light parody but with a more serious underlying story until the final 20 minutes roughly. At that point it got so silly that I realize the whole thing had been in no way serious. The quick editing was more referential than I realized, the situations, the whole thing.

It might seem like "well duh" in terms of a moment of insight but it's consistant with some reviews I saw except that it never did hit some reviewers I think. I think the issue is that the lead role is played very serious here with little room for comedy, but that this is in fact the joke. Instead of being serious in mind but foolish in action, here the parody plays it tight to the joke and has him serious in action as well. He's made fun of, but it's by fools who don't know better.

Only at the end did I really get that joke and then reflected on just how heavily referential the whole thing had been all along; I started identifying all the differnet cop flick scenes it had used (beyond the Point Break and Bad Boys references that it clearly presented). That bumped the score up a bit, and from that view I think a 2nd screening would be funnier to me.

Chuck Mayer · 09-17-2007, 01:56 PM

I absolutely screwed up that connotation between the threads. I was just throwing everything in here. I'll get in the right threads from here on out.

I'll put Syriana in the other thread, and the right film in this one.

The Kingdom - 8/10
I had high hopes for this one, so I took in the sneak preview on Saturday night. It's decent, and above average for a Hollywood thriller. But at it's heart, it's pretty much only a well-done Hollywood techno-thriller. Good performances by the major players, solid direction from Berg, and an OK script. It does have an incredible title sequence, one of the better ones I have seen. I do recommend the film, but it's more standard than you expect. With a few surprises.

Adam_S · 09-19-2007, 04:34 AM

Away From Her - 8 of 10

Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent are superb in this film about seperation enforced by a nursing home and the startling rapid progression of alzheimers. Sarah POlley does an outstanding directing job, the film is far more compelling and watchable than the relatively slight story would suggest, a very intimate film that is finely put together.

Holadem · 09-19-2007, 12:33 PM

Forgot to add No End in Sight

A bleak, unflinching look at the conduct of the war in Iraq. The doc does not question the decision to go to war, rather, posits that the current quagmire is a result of a series of bad decisions by the Powers That Be. Interviewees are almost exclusively administration officials and military brass who were on board at the beginning, and have since become disillusioned with the realization that the war was being run from the very top by a handful of clueless ideologues stubbornly blind and deaf to the advice of their subordinates on the ground. The rest of the interviewees are a couple of soldiers and Iraqi civilians. With perhaps the exception of the latter, there were no anti-war interviewees that I can recall. This is a point worth making, lest this thing be lumped with the more partisan and inflammatory treatments of the subject matter.

While there is little here in terms of big picture that will surprises news junkies, the thoughtful analysis and poignant interviews from insiders will shed a new chilling perspective onto old facts and highlight the deadly mix of naiveté and incompetence which lead to the title of the feature.

Of note is Philip Glass's haunting score which serves further to elevate the material beyond what you would see on PBS.

--
H

Adam_S · 09-21-2007, 01:21 AM

Once - 8 of 10

It's clear to see why this film has been such a critical darling, it has wonderful music and a lovely romantic story, but the leads aren't terribly compelling and the story is kind of slight, so it's saved by the excellent direction and standout music. I wasn't the biggest fan of the photography, it felt on the fly and cheap, even though this is a film about downtrodden folks playing roughshod music it could have used a little more polish, and while I know women that will melt at the abandoned-and-wounded-puppy-look perpetually on Glen Hanssard's face, a little variation in his face and demeanor would have helped the film tremendously.

I was very annoyed that the barnes and noble next to the theater didn't have a music section, I would have bought the soundtrack.