The Pretentious Film Thread

[brenchill]

The music forum has the YI Music Corner and The Dome has the No Spin Zone so I don't see how this thread could be a problem. But if it is, close it.

I've been on a British film spree lately. I picked up Straw Dogs (Which is rarely considered a "British Film"), Blowup and Get Carter on the cheap from HMV. I'd been meaning to see Straw Dogs for years and upon first viewing I can see why it was banned for so many years and still creates a stir now, it was way ahead of it's time in terms of the levels of violence it portrays and moreso the psychological demise of Dustin Hoffman's character that lead him to go absolutely insane by the end of the film.

I'll post my thoughts on Blowup after I've seen it, if this topic stays open long enough .

[Bushmeister]

Straw Dogs is an amazing film, and one I feel is criminally unappreciated by most people. It is visceral in a way that hardly suited "mainstream" films at the time (although, to be fair, A Clockwork Orange WAS released in the same year), and is still pretty brutal in its potrayal of human nature.

In recent horror movie news, I watched a bunch of movies from the past 5-6 years over the weekend, and found quite a few pleasant surprises in there. It is good to see that the excessively banal torture porn trend of the past decade or so hasn't pervaded all facets of the horror movie scene, because goddamn it is getting boring beyond all belief. Fucking hell, at least do it right if you have to have gallons of gore on the screen and/or need the feel to rip off of Wes Craven's classics

Anyway. The following films get a big thumps-up from me:

Session 9 - Great psychological horror, emphasizing exactly the aspects of terror that I enjoy the most: fear of the unknown and the nature of humanity. The small cast pours a lot of effort into the characters, the location of the film is absolutely terrifying and while the plot twist might not be the greatest of all time, it still left me satisfied while wishing to know more. Also, Simon is awesome.

Behind The Mask - The Rise Of Leslie Vernon - A horror/comedy that sets itself apart with a very fresh and almost never-before-seen take on the tale of a slasher film. Shot in most part in a mockumentary style from the perspective of a sociopath preparing for his masked murder spree, it does both a great job at parodying all of the undying slasher movie cliches while at the same time playing up a good horror movie that plays by its own rules. While the atmosphere isn't understandably the most intense until the later parts of the film, the energetic main villain kept me entertained throughout the film. Also, Robert Englund cameo!

And as a final nod... The Tripper - A serial killer who looks and talks like Ronald Reagan stalks and kills a bunch of innocent hippies on their way to Woodstock. Nothing more needs to be said about this.

[ROC]

I'm curious as to how good David Gordon Green's new flick Snow Angels is going to be. It should be good in that heartbreaking, kill yourself fashion that his dramatic (aka all the movies that aren't Pineapple Express) films tend to be.

[CQI13]

The music forum has the YI Music Corner and The Dome has the No Spin Zone so I don't see how this thread could be a problem. But if it is, close it.

I've been on a British film spree lately. I picked up Straw Dogs (Which is rarely considered a "British Film"), Blowup and Get Carter on the cheap from HMV. I'd been meaning to see Straw Dogs for years and upon first viewing I can see why it was banned for so many years and still creates a stir now, it was way ahead of it's time in terms of the levels of violence it portrays and moreso the psychological demise of Dustin Hoffman's character that lead him to go absolutely insane by the end of the film.

I'll post my thoughts on Blowup after I've seen it, if this topic stays open long enough .

[brenchill]

The music forum has the YI Music Corner and The Dome has the No Spin Zone so I don't see how this thread could be a problem. But if it is, close it.

I've been on a British film spree lately. I picked up Straw Dogs (Which is rarely considered a "British Film"), Blowup and Get Carter on the cheap from HMV. I'd been meaning to see Straw Dogs for years and upon first viewing I can see why it was banned for so many years and still creates a stir now, it was way ahead of it's time in terms of the levels of violence it portrays and moreso the psychological demise of Dustin Hoffman's character that lead him to go absolutely insane by the end of the film.

I'll post my thoughts on Blowup after I've seen it, if this topic stays open long enough .

How does Midnight Express stack up with Straw Dogs? I haven't seen either, but did recently purchase Midnight Express as it was on sale.

Edited March 18, 2008 by brenchill

[Max.]

For sure. Blowup is a favourite of mine.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Max.

[brenchill]

PLOT

Spoiler: Click here to view

A group of Korean archeologists find a skeleton and identify it as Lee Jin-Seok. But Lee Jin-Seok is still alive and he is now an old man. It is his brother Jin-Tae who went missing in the Korean War. We travel from the present to 1950, when the Korean War started. Jin-Seok and Jin-Tae, Jin-Seok's brother, are young men who suddenly find themselves catapulted into a bloody world so different from their quiet, rural lives. As the war progresses, the war begins to poison Jin-Tae's mind. Jin-Seok is lost when he finds that he no longer knows who his brother is.

source: IMDB

Has anyone else seen this? I was blown away by it. It's heavily influenced by Speilberg's Saving Private Ryan but goes way deeper into the psychology of the soldiers which is quite unusual for such an epic film. It has numberous scenes just as impressive as the opening D-Day landing sequence that is featured at the beginning of SPR. I'm not usually such of an advocator of foreign language films, it takes something special to get my attention, such as the Hong Kong gunplay films of the 80's or the french new wave, but this film definitely got my attention. It's probably the best war film I've ever seen.

Edited March 19, 2008 by brenchill

[Max.]

Seen Apocalypse Now?

Anyway, I'll add it to my list of films to watch. Currently close to 600 films from 1960 onwards That will take a while.

[GA!]

I need to make a list of films I should have seen by now but haven't, so I can then watch them (obviously). Films include Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Raging Bull and the Back To The Future and Indiana Jones films. I also need to rewatch 2001: A Space Odyssey among others as its been so long since I've seen them (New Year's Day 1999 for Odyssey) that I can't actually remember anything that happened.

But then again if I'm honest I have a tendency to not like 'classic' films as much as your average IMDB user. The Godfather is good (four stars out of five on a ratings system if you're that bothered) but quite tedious in places and nowhere near the perfect film. Citizen Kane is the same and the Rosebud swerve is bollocks as he never indicated once in the film that he wanted to be a free and innocent child again. The Lord of the Rings trilogy... Well that's not classic, its fucking horrible. Anyway my point is that I have this urge to see all the well-known films, but chances are that they won't replace my love for stuff like The Truman Show, The 400 Blows and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Anyway, sorry for the random rant, I just felt the need to contribute to yonder film topic despite the fact I haven't seen a film in a week. Must get around to watching Rear Window....

[Benji]

Soon, Tony, soon

[VerbalPuke]

Has anybody seen If? It's from the 1960s and stars Malcolm McDowell, it's a movie I've wanted to see for some time now.

[Benji]

Dambusters, remake, written by Stephen Fry, directed by Peter Jackson, now THAT'S the kind of film you do a remake of and who you do it with

[brenchill]

Dambusters, remake, written by Stephen Fry, directed by Peter Jackson, now THAT'S the kind of film you do a remake of and who you do it with

I'm more excited about the Tintin film he's producing with Spielberg . Anybody who could be bothered to read my rant about remakes in the Donator's forum will know that the Dambusters is a film that I'd approve being remade. It's a film that doesn't need to be remade but it could definitely benefit from being remade especially on the epic scale that Jackson will no doubt deliver.

[livid]

To be honest, Jackson has a few projects coming up that I'm looking forward to, which is odd considering (and I know people will probably give me flack for this) but I haven't seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy because at the time of the first one, it didn't really interest me and I didn't feel like watching either of the other two before I saw the first one. One day I'll probably sit down and watch all 3, but until then...

I can't wait for The Hobbit. Even though I haven't seen LotR, the fact that they're trying to tie Guillermo Del Toro down to direct it makes me very intrigued since I think that it would be a great idea for him to do something like that given what he's done in the past and what he's doing in the future (re-making Frankenstein? Awesome.).

That and I want to see his next movie, The Lovely Bones as the premise for that sounds interesting and I'm sure it'll be pretty good, especially with the cast in it.

[Benji]

Dambusters, remake, written by Stephen Fry, directed by Peter Jackson, now THAT'S the kind of film you do a remake of and who you do it with

I'm more excited about the Tintin film he's producing with Spielberg . Anybody who could be bothered to read my rant about remakes in the Donator's forum will know that the Dambusters is a film that I'd approve being remade. It's a film that doesn't need to be remade but it could definitely benefit from being remade especially on the epic scale that Jackson will no doubt deliver.

The kid playing Tintin looks fucking scary.

[brenchill]

Dambusters, remake, written by Stephen Fry, directed by Peter Jackson, now THAT'S the kind of film you do a remake of and who you do it with

I'm more excited about the Tintin film he's producing with Spielberg . Anybody who could be bothered to read my rant about remakes in the Donator's forum will know that the Dambusters is a film that I'd approve being remade. It's a film that doesn't need to be remade but it could definitely benefit from being remade especially on the epic scale that Jackson will no doubt deliver.

The kid playing Tintin looks fucking scary.

Not as scary as Captain Haddock

[Bushmeister]

He just looks weird because he is not drunk off of his tits on rum and cursing at everything in sight. Give it time, boys, I'm sure he'll make a fine cap'n!

[brenchill]

My Stanley Kubrick Collection has finally arrived ^_^.

I expected all the films to be two disk special editions but only A Clockwork Orange has a bonus disk. I've just watched Full Metal Jacket, it's just as awesome as I remember it being. I saw A Clockwork Orange and 2001 when I was younger it'll be interesting watch them again now that I'm older. I probably missed a tonne off subtext.

Edited March 25, 2008 by brenchill

[RPS]

I just saw Funny Games.

I loved it. Such a good director. Heck, I'd say that it even surpasses the original. Never before have I been so anxious during a movie. Michael Haneke basically torments the audience for an hour and a half and than basically goes against everything the audience expects. "You shouldn't forget the importance of entertainment" pretty much sums up the entire movie.

Spoiler: Click here to view

The only thing I had reservations about was the Rewind scene. Too me, it just went a bit too far. The instances of direct address? PERFECT. Having characters rewind the movie? Not so much.

Edited April 9, 2008 by PunkRockPete

[brenchill]

Finally got around to seeing There Will Be Blood today. It's impossible to pick up on all the themes just from one viewing so I'll watch it again in a few days. Daniel Day-Lewis was superb as Plainfield and well worthy of his Oscar. The opening reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey as the soundtrack was powerful enough to convey the sequence without any dialogue.