Perseu's Talk

Postal

Oh, I knew kharma would get Dave Foley back for breaking up Kids in the Hall by having him star in an Uwe Boll movie where he takes a shit naked and then tries to steal dick-shaped dolls. This is another Boll video-game adaptation except that now instead of being a horror movie, it's the lamest attempt at political satire this side of American Dreamz. Crude, crass and tasteless don't make for a funny movie when the people making don't have a sense of humor. I did laugh once very hard with one line (What is the difference between a duck?).

Happy-Go-Lucky

date viewed: 10/3/09 Sally Hawkins is irrepressible as Poppy. Karina Fernandez has a terrific scene as the flamenco teacher, "MY SPACE, stomp-stomp". Happily Recommended.

Surrogates

It's really not that bad. Maybe I had way too low expectations because I did not want to see it, but I kinda liked it. Kinda. The story does try to say something and you can see it trying as hard as it can to have a little more depth than most and the action comes second to this; actually, there are only about two short action scenes that mostly feel out of place. The actors all look really creepy when playing surrogates and, out of all the cliches in the world, my most hated is the one about the gloom hero suffering through the death of a child and/or wife. If they had taken that out and explored the themes and commentaries a bit more, it's be a great movie.

The Hit

Downfall (Der Untergang)

Engrossing look into Hitler's final days. Based on a novel written by an eyewitness to the events. Recommended.

Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo) (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea)

One of the best movies of 2009 so far, You have never seen anything quite like Ponyo. Not as dark as Spirited Away but definately a comparable Miazaky Masterpeice! See it now.

Very Bad Things

Not so much very bad things as very bad people. I mean, this was a hard movie to tell because you're basically telling your audience to root for horrible characters, but it doesn't mean it's impossible; at oine point, a character asks Christian Slater's character Boyd "Have you donde this before?" and the answer is, well, yes, he did it before as the almost identical character J.D. from the darkly satirical and hilarious Heathers. See the problem here is that while they labeled it a "dark comedy", it is mostly dark because the characters take themselves too seriously to be funny or interesting. Also, Jeremy Piven proves that not only he can be the most annoying person in the world, but he makes sure his characters are always equally as annoying. In order for this movie to work, they would have needed to either take out some attempts at humor or make the characters just so extremely ignorant, despicable and worthless that you would believe the entire situation (the latter works for the crew at Always Sunny in Philadelphia and that's the funniest show on television right now).

Año Uña (The Year of the Nail)

The second the narration starts, you just completely forget you are watching still photographs for 70+ minutes. The story is so extremely simple, but executed with such lovely, funny, sweet and touching characters that you can't help but fall in love; it was a will-they-or-won't-they anxiety I was very happy to be going through. I can't describe the movie anything better than pure enjoyment all the way through.

Antichrist

Lars VonTrier went controversy, and he found it. This movie? A provoking, disturbing with a dark, deep and cruel story. Is pure sex explicit (constant fears with a sex obssession, seek answers in the visceral journey and porn for distract) with some greats shots (The prologue in ultra slow motion and black and white is a one of best sequences. The picture are like a paintings, beautifully shot/atmosphere and fantastic acting, a masterpiece!), a great performances and a good prologue (but and the 3 beggars?). The end? Leaves you with an uncomfortable taste in your mouth. Lars VonTriet, you need therapy sessions too. Art? Trash? Can art be trash?

The Hunting Party

Well constructed and believable story. Good performances by Gere and Howard and the supporting cast. Recommended.

Desu nôto 2 (Death Note: The Last Name)

Not bad sequel and I will give it credit for the following things: Having already been a first installment to (somewhat) introduce what the story is about, this one flows better and has those amazing interactions between Light and L. Also, I liked that it took the most boring characters in the anime and made only one character that was mildy more interesting to watch and fitted better in the development of the story. Still, I will never, ever forgive this film for COMPLETELY FUCKING UP THE SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT IN DEATH NOTE!! They tried so hard recreating characters and complete scenes and making it as faithful to the anime as possible and THE ONE SCENE THAT NEEDED TO BE GREAT WAS RUINED! I spent 2 hours expecting and... that was it? Seriously? Fuck you, movie! It's still better than the first one, though.

Death Note (Desu nôto) (TV SHOW)

Death Note, the anime and manga, is a tense, thrilling moral tale about the ambiguity of good vs. Evil and the repercussions of playing God; it is filled with memorable characters and has beautiful animation. Death Note, the movie, however, is somewhat of a mess. The problem here is that they try to stay too faithful to the original source material and therefore rush a lot of story elements and basically, if you are unfamiliar with it, one will get lost. I really enjoyed, it was great having a lot of memories back and it's kind of a Cliffs Note version of a complicated seriesif you don't have much time (though you also have to see the sequel because this is only the fist half) , but beginners will probably be put off by it.

Oh, by the way, someone here mentioned that she wished that L's circles under his eyes were bigger, and I thought the exact same thing. I'm not too nit-picky that it bothered me, but it's something that stuck in my mind.

Vertigo

Just saw this again last night and I have to say it just gets better and better with time. One of my all-time favorites. "Jimmy Stewart with a twist". Highest recommendation!

Pickup on South Street

Terrific 50's noir. Widmark and Peters make a good pair. Worth seeing for Thelma Ritter's terrific performance. Thumbs up!

If....

I loved, loved, loved this movie. Every single second of it. It was everything I thought it was going to be but so different at the same time, one of the coolest films ever. I really liked it and have to subject myself to many viewings more because there is so much you don't see with only one glance, there's so much depth and symbolisms all over.

Postcards from the Edge

Very good, four stars at least, and I definitely would recommend it. However I need to see it again to rate it fairly.

The Lucky Ones

Anna and the King

Different take on the Rogers and Hammerstein musical. No singing more drama, action. Nicely done.

Jeremiah Johnson

Terrific western starring RR. Great supporting cast and beatutiful landscapes as well. thumbs up!

The Proposition

A very good "oater" from down-under. Recommended.