| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (Lost in Rio) - Unrated | December 31, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Cha no aji, (The Taste of Tea) - Unrated | December 27, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Avatar - PG-13 | Looks like it will be dated in a month. | December 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Lake Mungo - R | Along with being a chilling horror film (shot in mockumentary style) this is a heartbreaking look at death and grief. There's one scene in particular that's as scary as the reveal in Woman in Black and should stick around in the back of your mind for years, but the real reason to watch is it's intelligence and thoughtfulness when showing a family's incomprehensible loss. The ending is fantastic, though many waiting for a horrific payoff may leave disappointed. | December 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Vengeance - Unrated | December 19, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Heart of Glass - Unrated | December 17, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| La Mujer sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman) - Unrated | December 17, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Star Trek - PG-13 | December 17, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Rodrigo D: No futuro - Unrated | December 17, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - R |
Around this time last year everyone was rejoicing about Mickey Rourke's return to acting in The Wrestler, and this year it looks like it's Nicolas Cage's turn to be praised. Though he's been in the public eye most while making his Hollywood films, for me and most of my friends, Cage was kicking ass back in the days of Wild at Heart, Birdy, Deadfall, Raising Arizona and Vampire's Kiss. Then he won that damned Oscar. Cage was known for making an art form from over-acting, throwing himself totally behind a performance and damn the critics. Probably one of the most exciting actors of the time. Then after Snake Eyes and Leaving Las Vegas it seems he put that acting style behind him and became your average leading male in a motion picture. Well thank God someone was stupid enough to even consider remaking Abel Ferrara's masterpiece, Bad Lieutenant, and considering Herzog and Cage for the project. Despite what sounded crazy in concept, the film works masterfully. It's a shame the film is being mostly thought of as a dark comedy, it's actually very intelligent and plays with a lot of the themes from the original in a way that the audience wouldn't expect. The film is most comparable to a film I was really disappointed with, The Salton Sea, where I loved the concept behind it, but hated it's execution. Here it works marvelously while taking the "concept" even further. This Bad Lieutenant still examines a sinner in need of redemption, and Herzog goes a completely different direction than the original, but it's a joy to watch. It's a really great companion piece to the original, both have extraordinary performances (though completely different forms of acting), the same themes and the in Herzog's case, is actually a decent "cop" movie too. Hopefully someone is stupid enough to keep this franchise going and we can have another Bad Lieutenant film has the winning combination of cop film and religious drama. Great movie. |
December 16, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The House of the Devil - R |
It's official, if Ti West makes it, I will see it. Who would have guessed that one of the most exciting directors in horror today would be a filmmaker who shows restraint. Sure, I'm certain lots of audience members will say his films are slow, but when did slow become something negative? Isn't slowing down a story and creating characters, atmosphere, story, etc part of good storytelling? I can understand becoming disappointed if a monster truck show becomes slow, but movies should slow down at some point (only a few directors have managed to keep the "never slows down" film still good). I always here people say, "The film got slow at such and such a point" and I always wonder, "Is that bad?". All films aren't spectacles or carnival rides, some actually try and tell a good story. Hrumph! Back to the matter at hand, West's fantastic House of the Devil. The film is all about anticipation, the way West builds his story slowly towards the inevitable horrific climax. The main character and her situation grows on you gradually as you feel stuck in the tedium, then horror of the situation too. As an aside, my wife who generally hates horror films really loved this until the 50 minute point where the tension just go too unbearable for her and she had to leave. West has complete control of his characters and the pace and is truly becoming an auteur who I will follow in whatever genre he decides to delve into, though I think his particular style fits perfectly into horror. Highly recommended for those who aren't just looking for a roller coaster ride. |
December 15, 2009 | N/A | |||
| X-Men: The Last Stand - PG-13 | Only in a world of bitchy, whiny internet fanboys could this be considered a "bad" movie. I know it's cool to think of Brett Ratner as a shitty director (though he is definitely competent and very talented in some respects) but I don't think I've hated one of his films yet. This is a great chapter in the X-men saga, though I agree it's not as good as the previous two (how dare it!). I was genuinely surprised at some of the plot elements and I really liked the idea of a cure for the mutant gene. I truly hope Ratner makes a genuine masterpiece soon so all the fucking fanboys can suddenly go back on all the shit they say like they recently have with Nicolas Cage (2 years ago from a fanboy, "Nicolas Cage is the worst actor in Hollywood!" after Bad Lieutenant, "It's great to see Nicolas Cage picking great roles again." Fucking fanboys). Highly recommended to people who have a mind of their own. | December 14, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Mission Impossible - PG-13 | Awesome DePalma action and an excellent plot that is a lot better than most films of it's ilk. To bad Cruise is in it. | December 12, 2009 | N/A | |||
| I Can See You - Unrated | More like I Can See Poo. And the poo is this movie. Just terrible. We got about 20 minutes of movie and an hour and a half of padding. Plus acoustic guitar music straight from the bowels of hell. Maybe this was originally intended as a short film, but then was stretched well beyond he breaking point to make a feature. And I don't have a problem with slow moving movies, my love for Ti West's stuff and Gerry, etc, etc, but this is just plain boring. Nature footage and jump cuts do not make a movie. And that dreaded acoustic guitar. Seriously, avoid at all costs. | December 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Sun Taam (Mad Detective) - Unrated | Johnnie To and Ka Fai Wai create a smart, exciting and moving detective movie. Not to go too much into spoiler territory, but within this "wacky" detective story is a poignant look into one's loss of morality and the lengths we go to for self preservation. Highly recommended. | December 4, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Look - R | Short Cuts with surveillance cameras. Unfairly overlooked writer/director Rifkin creates a fascinating film by following multiple characters stories using only footage of them from various forms of video surveillance (I had no idea so much video surveillance cameras recorded audio, but I'm willing to overlook that nitpick because I enjoyed the film so much). Some stories are horrifying and some simply tragic, but all of them are entertaining and well performed. It's a shame this movie never got a decent release, but much like Rifkin's best films, will eventually become hidden gems. And for Dark Backward fans, check out the advertisement on the bus! | November 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| 5 Fingers of Death (Tian xia di yi quan) - R | Another great Dragon Dynasty release. Awesome kung fu flick that actually improves with repeat viewings. I was surprised at how much was actually going on with all the different characters, and how certain characters shift back and forth during the movie. Really good stuff and a well deserved classic. Plus, great commentary track on the DVD. | November 18, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Symbol (Shinboru) - Unrated | My favourite film of this year's TIFF. Funny, intelligent and very creative. I wouldn't dare give anything away in this constantly surprising film, but I would suggest seeing it as fast as you can. I'm fairly certain this one will become a classic. | November 12, 2009 | N/A | |||
| A Serious Man - R |
The story of Job with a twist of Schrodinger's Cat and some dark, dark comedy make up the latest Coen brother's masterpiece. Kind of like a companion piece to their good friend Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, this smart and funny tale tells the story of a good man put to the test. I also love how it's main characters are all Jewish and the Coen's use of many Jewish tenets in their morality tale. A great, great film. Also, the conversation Larry has with Columbia records is probably one of my favourite symbolic moments in Coen history. But I didn't do anything! |
November 1, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Born of Fire - Unrated | Another great release from Mondo Macabro that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. What we have here is a British/Arabic horror/mysticism film mostly taking place in Turkey. There's a lot of meaning behind this little gem though it could be interpreted in many ways. Easily compared to El Topo and Holy Mountain (wrongly referred to as The Magic Mountain on the back of the DVD. Also, they misprint Hugh Grant as High Grant in the "About the Film" section. C'mon folks, buy Mondo Macabros awesome DVDs so they can at least afford a proof reader) in it's melding of genre cinema with mysticism. As with all Mondo Macabro DVDs, this is also to offbeat to miss if you're into strange cinema. | November 1, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Everybody's Fine - PG-13 | This is what Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale do to follow up Snow Angels!? Maybe it's a prequel. | October 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Doghouse - Unrated |
AKA: Fuck Women: The Movie. Seemingly made by West the moment after he found out his girlfriend was cheating on him. I was hoping there would be some sort of intelligence behind the script that boasts: The battle of the sexes just got worse (or some shit like that). The moral, it turns out is just men bitchin' about women domesticating them and taking away their freedom. And the only women worse than the demon ladies in this film are the live ones. Every woman is made out to be the most controlling, terrible person that the poor innocent men have to deal with (or in one case, the horrible effeminate gay dude). Before I go further, I don't want to seem (once again) that I'm just being over-sensitive, but change this from women to a certain race or culture and see how cool everyone would be with that. Truthfully, our society is totally cool with hating women. Heck, I know quite a few guys who begin to actually scare me when they talk about "bitches" as they like to call them. Totally upstanding members of society too. Okay, now to get back off my high horse and actually talk about the movie. It was quite entertaining, and I thought most of the cast were quite likable. And I was very happy to see Stephen Graham again after his amazing performance as a skinhead in Made in England (maybe he's making a career out of playing intolerant men). For a guy who I know as playing a racist, he was really funny in this and probably my favourite part of the film besides the gore. West has improved as a director tremendously since the awful Evil Aliens and hopefully he can keep weeding out the bad from his films and finally deliver a film that one can hold their head up high and say proudly, "That was good. Not pretty good. Good." Should be watched on a double bill with Antichrist while reading Jack Ketchum's Ladies Night. ADDENDUM: Someone from the UK informed me that the film is actually based on "Laddish Culture" and that the men are portrayed as idiots. It wasn't so much about hating women as a commentary on this group of guys. I still remain a little uncertain whether the writer behind it didn't have a little bit of a "bros before hos" (or since it's the UK "mates before dates") agenda, but it's good to know that there is something more going on with the script. |
October 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Paranormal Activity - R | Almost 3 years after hearing about how good this film was, being told it was being shelved to make way for a remake and then finding out it's getting a tiny, tiny release, I finally got to see it. Though it will inevitably be compared to Blair Witch I found it much closer in tone and spirit to The Collingswood Story and Ghostwatch, both of which I enjoyed tremendously. Unfortunately with PA, I had been looking forward to it so much and for so long I was expecting a masterpiece and what I saw was "only" a very good film. There isn't really anything (I should discuss anyway) that I had any problem with, and I would consider it a must see for anyone who enjoys any of the previously mentioned films. | October 11, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Observe and Report - R | I've always enjoyed movies that are brave enough to go off the beaten path and try something different. As downbeat as Eastbound and Down, and even The Footfist Way could get they don't hold a candle to this gem. It's almost as if Jody Hill is trying to reinvent what people laugh at. I was hoping for an uncomfortable comedy like After Hours or even Curb Your Enthusiasm, but whereas those examples have characters you can relate to surrounded by insanity, Ronny in Observe and Report is the usual source of the insanity. I think this comedy might fit comfortably with other dark, dark comedies such as The Dark Backwards, Parents and The Vagrant. Destined to be hated by most and loved dearly by few. The movie is best summed up by one of the characters describing a scene with Ronny, "I thought this was going to be funny, but it's kind of sad". | October 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Vicky Cristina Barcelona - PG-13 |
Lunacy. I love Woody, but with this and Match Point (Woody's 2 most critically praised films), I feel like I'm watching films made by someone who's never even seen a Woody Allen film. These aren't human beings, I don't give a fuck about anyone in this film. Granted, Allen has had self centered, selfish and arrogant pricks in previous films, but you cared about them and were interested in their stories despite their flaws. Hold up this next to Husbands and Wives or Match Point next to Crimes and Misdemeanors and they seem worlds apart despite Allen revisiting old themes to only do them worse. I'd be hard pressed to remember anything about this film in less than a year's time. SPECIAL THANKS: My good buddy Jeff for pointing out that Milk won best screenplay at the Oscars. This won for Golden Globes. |
October 8, 2009 | N/A |
2499 ratings
1730 reviews
