wandstromfilter
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| Movie: | Take a look at some ratings |
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| Actor: | Don't really care. There are lots of good performances |
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wondering when Flixster will get rid of this ugly yellow and blue.
i don't have time for quizzes, i'm occupied enough with the attempt to remember updating the ratings list when i've seen movies. i tend to make updates in batches every now and then rather than single movies. If a film isn't rated here, that doesn't mean I haven't seen it, it's more a matter of remembering to add it. To the friends: All your recs are appreciated and will be considered sooner or later if I haven't seen the movie yet. Ratings: 0.5 = disgusting torture 1.0 = utter garbage 1.5 = just bad 2.0 = partly watchable 2.5 = not bad, but not so good either 3.0 = ok and/or entertaining 3.5 = very good 4.0 = impressive and/or highly recommended 4.5 = masterpiece 5.0 = perfect |
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I recommend you see...
Sanxia Haoren (Still Life)
by edwinposted 4 days ago -
I recommend you see...
In Bruges
by SerdarMartin McDonagh writes and directs his first movie and the man has skills for both. This is a very good dark comedy, with great dialogs, good acting and direction. The city is surely one of the lead actors here and a good one. The movie will definitely make you want to see Brugges.
Colin Farrell.. Well, I used to find him irritating, used to think that he got to be an actor because he could make his eyebrows like that. Two clumsy murderer roles (here and in Cassandra's Dream) changed my mind. Still not a big fan but now I can stand him.
"Purgatory's kind of like the in-betweeny one. You weren't really shit, but you weren't all that great either. Like TOTTENHAM." Hilarious!! Well it looks like they are going to hell this year!.Hey, you should really see this!
posted 5 days ago -
I recommend you see...
The Toll of the Sea
by Veronique"the toll of the sea" is a historical gem for cinema for its avant-gardist usage of technicolor shooting, and it's literarily the first color movie ever..and it's also the debute for anny may wong as the major star in her acting career. practically this story is a revision of "madame butterfly", another interracial romance theme favored by the public in spite of its bigotry then, depicting its remorse and suppresed angst magnified by the inevitable tint of romanticism. the sceneries and the oriental set-design is phemonally striking.
an american merchant rescued by a chinese gal along the fishing village, lonesome in an outlandish state, he romances her for the solace of companionship, so naturally it leads to the wed-lock of these two. but her existence is put into oblivion after he returns to his homeland. besides the sneering disaproval of his compatriots is not a pleasant thing to cope with...eventually he retreats into the bossom of his childhood sweetheart, the woman of his own kind. meanwhile this chinese woman still carries the torch of love in solicitude with the hybrid son he has left her, fantasizing her own american dream with the feeble naivete that she could evolve herself into the league of westernized ladies.
then one day, this forgetful man comes the terms of scoring things right due to his caucasion wife's conscientious persuasion. so the hybridized seed could embrace his paternal land of america while his maternal chinese side is abandoned for good.
supposedly, the movie takes a sympathetic but condescending perspect to the interracial romance, and there're sentimental indulgement, the neglectance of reality in it and certainly the oriental martyrdom.
first of all, the notion of genuine interracial romance cannot exist in older days. mostly the reality of such interracial bond would be sexually desperate white soldiers sleeping with voluntary oriental prostitutes who crave for an immediate relief from poverty and a fast excess to america, women who desire to use men's guilibility for a way out. besides english was not a globalized language then so the whispers of love would be nonsense. so why it occurs a lot? men don't need a soul from women, and they just long for a oriental doll as sexual commodity. so all those tales of interracial romances in early ameircan cinema might just be men's self-aggrandizing fables to boast their superior manhood. the real sordidness wouldn't be shown on screen since no audience wanna self-willingly get disillusioned.
second of all, wong character's yearning for america, such as dressing herself in the american lady is a of self-denial. in the movie, she even takes pride in having an american husband, the lady of a dignified gentleman, so how about her chinese family descendant? truthfully, anna mae herself is a thorough american despite her ethnic appearance, her oriental glamour is a stock sold as exotic interest for mass consumption.
in ignorance of its authenticity, "the toll of the sea"could be masochistically romantic in a primitively feminie way. of course, anna mae is not to be blamed since that's the only type of roles available then in hollywood. the best value of "toll of the sea" would be its grandeur visual milestone in cinema."toll of the sea" is only worthy watching for its cinematic visuality, the earliest technicolor flick in history, and sceneries are breath-takingly exotic and mesmerizing. the rest is more false and absurd than arian nights.
posted 6 days ago -
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Hey - try this personality test and see how we compare
Which James Bond Villain Are You?posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...
A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral
by edwinFew recent emergence's in the film world have been exciting as the Iranian New Wave. Abbas Kiarostami was one the first to draw attention, with his 1997 Palm D'or winning A Taste of Cherry. He continues to make exciting films. Kiarostami was followed by Bahman Ghobadi, who arrived on the world scene with his films A Time for Drunken Horses and Turtles Can Fly. Again and again, what shines through in these films is their love and respect for humanity - its agonies, its absurdities, and its often bittersweet joys. Perhaps it has something to do with Iran's censorship, poverty and desolation that they just have more respect for the art of living. After all, living really can be an art form at times.
One of the most promising new Iranian filmmakers is Saman Salur. He is the director of A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral. It is at once a bleak black and white stunner, an absurdest black comedy, and bittersweet swan song to the search for love. Its genre is life.
The film is set around three protagonists. Two run a gas station on the outskirts of town, on a road that gets next to no traffic anymore, and so they get next to no customers. They live and work out of a decrepit van on site, its windows covered in plastic. Sadry is a former strongman, now blind in one eye. He is the boss of the station. Yadi is his eager to please assistant, who usually annoys more than pleases. Finally there is the postman, Abbas, who longs to trade in his break-less bicycle for a motorcycle, while he must care for his mentally ill brother.
Each is longing to be loved in different ways. Sadry is the most interesting of the three. He buys a tv so he can watch the weather constantly. He secretly prays for snow. He goes daily to a woman who it appears lives in her car. She does not reply when he speaks to her. Only slowly do we even realize that she is not ignoring him because she doesn't' like him, but she ignores him because she is dead. Despite this apparent macabre situation, it's actually quite touching. The lifeless Sadry somehow finds comfort in her lifeless presence. The cold weather has preserved her, and he prays for snow so that she may remain hidden. How ironic that the only thing keeping him living is death.
Yadi longs for the love of a woman he met but once. He writes her letters, delivered by the postman whom he has a deal with for each month. Yadi's optimism seems to mask a profound sadness, especially considering she has not once replied. Why she does not reply only comes with time, and despite uncertainty returns a flicker of hope into Yadi's and our lives.
Abbas is something of a conduit for the other two. Although he is not the center of the story, what happens usually revolves around him.
The film really takes its time getting where its going, and only very slowly reveals its plot. This is sure to frustrate viewers. It left me a bit confused in my feelings regarding the picture in its first half hour, but as it reaches its finale any doubts were erased.
Salur employs bleak but beautiful black and white photography. The snowy desert ranges of winter time Iran are haunting. The landscape adds more weight to my personal theory that desolation is often more beautiful than the grandest of extravagances. The camera always moves with the eye of an artist, and Salur is not afraid to employ patience and oddity in his setups.
In life nothing really is ever what it seems. Even what appear to be (and sometimes are) betrayals end up as blessings in disguise. No one is on top of things. In the one who does seem to really get what he wants gets it by plagiarism. Which is not to say that the movie is totally bleak. No it is filled with some bittersweet moments of joy. Yadi and Sadry have moments of slapstick humor together, as does one joke involving the postman's bike - he has to be tackled so he can stop by Yadi, who waits for him and times it out. Even David Beckham turns up as a cardboard cut out sent to attract customers. Although nobody really wins, no one loses either. We'll be left with a flicker of hope, and for Sadry, bittersweet but ultimately uplifting gifts of life. Human's are strange animals, but we can see that there is hope for us all.Few recent emergence's in the film world have been exciting as the Iranian New Wave. Abbas Kiarostami was one the first to draw attention, with his 1997 Palm D'or winning A Taste of Cherry. He continues to make exciting films. Kiarostami was followed by Bahman Ghobadi, who arrived on the world scene with his films A Time for Drunken Horses and Turtles Can Fly. Again and again, what shines through in these films is their love and respect for humanity - its agonies, its absurdities, and its often bittersweet joys. Perhaps it has something to do with Iran's censorship, poverty and desolation that they just have more respect for the art of living. After all, living really can be an art form at times. One of the most promising new Iranian filmmakers is Saman Salur. He is the director of A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral. It is at once a bleak black and white stunner, an absurdest black comedy, and bittersweet swan song to the search for love. Its genre is life.
posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...Hey, you should really see this!
posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Hey, you should really NOT see this!
Stay Away!!posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 6 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 6 days ago -
Hey - try this personality test and see how we compare
what rock guitarist are you most like ?posted 7 days ago -
I recommend you see...
No Country for Old Men
by MyI liked it a lot, the ending was a bity strange though but still great,
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 8 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Coffee and Cigarettes
by SerdarJim Jarmush puts his favoritte actors in front of the camera, with a table and some coffee and cigarettes (tea on occasions) and shoots short movies where actors mostly improvised. Now, there is nothing wrong with that!
You get Roberto Benigni blathering away like he did in Down by Law. Tom Waits explaining Iggy Pop why he was late. Steve Coogan wanting to escape from Alfred Molina. Steve Buscemi talking to twins about the King. RZA and GZA running into Bill "fucking" Murray. And my favoritte, Cate Blanchett meeting with her cousin Cate Blanchett, yes two Caties!!
To enjoy this film, you need to like some of these actors, get excited by the cameos,
you need to like the director's style and you need to like cinema. Otherwise, you'll find it boring..Hey, you should really see this!
posted 8 days ago
by Markus
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