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Post by xandra on Mar 29, 2010 0:19:21 GMT -5
Alice in Wonderland 7/10
Meh. Entertaining enough but nothing spectacular.
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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 30, 2010 21:28:47 GMT -5
El Topo 9/10
A Mexican film on LSD alternating between surrealist scenes and dark humor. A must see if you're into alternative retro movies.
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Post by Ganbare! on Apr 2, 2010 6:37:00 GMT -5
Chan-wook Park's Thirst - 8.5/10
Not his best work to date but it easily dwarfs the bulk of the past 20 years Western horror flicks. Korea is where the heat is at, glad to hear I'm not the only one acclaiming it.
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Post by Ganbare! on Apr 4, 2010 11:32:56 GMT -5
The Founding of a Republic or how to ruin one of the greatest conflict of modern History: the Chinese civil war. The actors portraying Zhou Enlai, Chiang Kai-shek and the all-stars cast performance save the picture from being a total sinking ship. 6/10
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maow
Full Member
Posts: 363
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Post by maow on Apr 6, 2010 4:52:00 GMT -5
Little Miss Sunshine 8.5/10
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Post by xandra on Apr 11, 2010 0:46:12 GMT -5
Up 8.5/10
Really cute, sweet movie although somehow I wasn't able to stretch my suspension of belief to accommodate dogs flying planes.
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palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
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Post by palavore on Apr 13, 2010 21:34:53 GMT -5
Love Me If You Dare (2003) 7/10
Great form and presentation, witty dialogue, whimsical storytelling. These are things I love about French films.
HOWEVER, the story and the casting didn't compare well to the other marvelous qualities. This film was a desert without the main course.
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Post by Ganbare! on Apr 14, 2010 8:06:12 GMT -5
I avoid contemporary French films like the plague, they are filled with archetypal characters exhuming 20th century existentialist quotes like there's no tommorow, boring plots about ordinary life and unbearably nepotist actors. A perfect execution of its world-reknowned intellectual postures. The hottest European productions are unequivocally from Spain, Almodórawr.
Red Cliff 9/10
The most expensive Asian blockbuster to date and it shows. Top-notch cast, monumental battle scenes (seriously!) and mesmerizing photography through the plains of China all contribute to give the film an epic aura not unlike Yhang Zimou's Hero.
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palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
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Post by palavore on Apr 15, 2010 22:10:31 GMT -5
^ I wonder which film turned you away from modern French films. The one film I recall as "exhuming 20th century existentialist quotes" was Grand Ecole. Even so, I still found it enjoyable--it certainly gives character.
Red Cliff certainly has great production value--but unfortunately that is all I can praise it for (I can't compare it to Hero or Curse of the Golden Flower). Did you watch the 5 hour international version of Red Cliff or the shorter theatrical version?
Last Life in the Universe
9/10
Trilingual Thai film. Beautiful, minimalist, purifying. This film put me in right spot--my bran muffin.
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Post by Ganbare! on Apr 16, 2010 2:29:03 GMT -5
The two part 5-hours version for obvious reasons.
Can't single out one in particular, so many of them released in the past 5 years... I'm just self-deprecating, I've always dismissed French cinema as boring and there is a critical consensus on that, the only people fooled by our 'auteur vision' are overseas viewers certain comedies excepted mostly because French humour is IMO the funniest of all but they sadly don't get the recognition they deserve. It's difficult to communicate about a very local phenomenon since we don't share the same cultural references.
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Post by betahat on Apr 16, 2010 2:39:58 GMT -5
Haven't seen a lot of French movies in recent years. I saw Cache - boring. I liked "The Class" (entre les murs), though it didn't fit the stereotype of your typical "French" movie. I'll definitely be checking out Red Cliff though. I liked Mongol and imagine it will be a film in that vein, only more epic still. Any chance we can get some white doves before the final battle?
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palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
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Post by palavore on Apr 17, 2010 21:16:11 GMT -5
^ Red Cliff isn't a strict interpretation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There some pretty cheesy stuff in there meant for younger, modern audiences.
^^ I don't feel "fooled" when watching French films. I'm also not sure that French comedy is too esoteric or out of reach of international audiences. I watched The Dinner Game (Le dîner de cons) didn't find the humor hard to follow. Of course, I did miss a few puns--or maybe all of them. Though, I laugh at many situations in French films that were probably intended to be serious or romantic--not comedic.
I might think that Yugoslavian comedy would be outside my comprehension. But Underground (1993) was the most hilarious--and tragic film ever. The scene where uncanned dog food is sent down a dumbwaiter to people who think WWII is still being waged causes me to chuckle every time.
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Post by Ganbare! on Apr 19, 2010 6:14:29 GMT -5
Oh God no, not the past two decades comedies, they make me want to hang myself, I'm talking about the 60-80's movies. I noticed the very same thing the day I saw Asterix in the theater, people would laugh at ordinary situations that weren't supposed to be funny, probably due to cultural misunderstanding, I sometimes find normal stuff hilarious in Thai movies for the very same reason.
I love Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I've seen and read so many adaptations, it's the quintessential Chinese myth. China has such an epic and revolutionary History, it's no wonder its literature is so great.
Audition 8/10 Miike didn't steal his title of Japan's enfant terrible of cinema, it's not flawless but it's so unique and visceral, it's engrossing. In my book strong but imperfect direction or themes will always be superior to a perfectly executed but conformist vision.
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Post by betahat on Apr 19, 2010 16:13:46 GMT -5
An Education 8.5/10
Great but it was a little bit too much of a stretch to believe that her parents would be ok with their 16 year old daughter dating a much older man (with no discernible job), and it would have been nice if there were more of a confrontation at the end. I could see that kind of pimping your daughter out/social climbing for a working class family, but her parents seemed too well-off for that. Maybe I underestimate the role of social class in British society and the lengths to which people will go to climb a rung? Carey Mulligan was superb though, hope to see her a lot more in the future.
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palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
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Post by palavore on Apr 19, 2010 18:24:17 GMT -5
^ They weren't too desparate, though. After they found out that he was Jewish, they had second thoughts. I love Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I've seen and read so many adaptations, it's the quintessential Chinese myth. China has such an epic and revolutionary History, it's no wonder its literature is so great. I love the first line of Chapter 1: The world under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity. A brilliant preface to historical fiction. I've read about 30% of the novel. It is more a chronicle of record than a novel. Reading about Liu Bei's cannibalism surprised me. I had a private chuckle over Liu Bei's concern for civilians during the film. Protecting his livestock from wastful slaughter I suppose. ;D (I exagerrate, of course.)
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