Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[HarryGoldfarb]

Yes, it fully deserves a Best Animated Film nod, but I'll be rooting for Bruno Coulais' surprisingly minimal score. I've never heard of this composer before, but kudos to him. His contribution helps make Coraline an unexpectedly quiet, measured, introspective film, which the commercials gave no hint of.

Bruno Coulais is the composer of Les Choristes. He received an Oscar nod for Best Original Song for "Vois sur ton chemin"

[barrybrooks8]

How did You feel about about the bonus shorts? I would give Schzisien and Varmints both 9's.

[FilmFan720]

Wow, Barry, you and I are way off on the shorts. I saw them last weekend, and would have put them like this:

Animated shorts:
Oktapodi 6/10
Presto 7/10
Lavatory Lovestory 10/10
This Way Up 4/10
La Maison de Petits Cubes 9/10

Live Shorts
Der Auf Streken 8/10
The New Boy 6/10
The Pig 8/10
Toyland 5/10
Manon on the Asphalt 4/10

[barrybrooks8]

Bolt 7.5/10

Animated shorts:
Oktapodi 1/10
Presto 5/10
Lavatory Lovestory 6/10
This Way Up 3/10
La Maison de Petits Cubes 9.5/10

Live Shorts
Der Auf Streken 7/10
The New Boy 2/10
The Pig 3/10
Toyland 6/10
Manon on the Asphalt 8/10

[Reza]

Luck By Chance (Zoya Akhtar, 2009) 7/10

[Sonic Youth]

But it wasn't a gimmick. For once, the 3D enhanced the story and the images, rather than resort to cheap jumpin'-out-atcha! tricks. (Actually, there was a lot of pop-back effects, and they were breathtaking.) The depths of the backdrops is vital to the mise-en-scene to illustrate what's going on in Coraline's head, where I suspect the whole movie takes place.

I've had absolutely no use for the Burton-produced "Nightmare Before Christmas". But this film is more imaginative, inventive, visually resplendant and attuned to childhood terrors than anything Burton himself has come up with, and I mean ever. This is as heady as "Yellow Submarine". It might herald the return of lysurgic acid once the college crowd discovers this.

Yes, it fully deserves a Best Animated Film nod, but I'll be rooting for Bruno Coulais' surprisingly minimal score. I've never heard of this composer before, but kudos to him. His contribution helps make Coraline an unexpectedly quiet, measured, introspective film, which the commercials gave no hint of. Teri Hatcher's voicework finally proves she's good for something. Okay, it's maybe a tad slow-going in the middle sections, but it's a mesmerizing show. I've read a few nay-saying critics saying the film lacks heart or joy. Sorry, no. What the film is, is uncondescending.

But there's one other thing Coraline is, seeing as how it's a 3D film: expensive. You're going to pay more for that extra dimension, and you gotta wear silly glasses too. I understand you may not want to risk such an investment, and those ads for Aliens vs. Monsters or whatever don't help.. Trust me, miss out on this and you'll miss out on a genuine visual spectacle. And if you're worried about needing an Advil cocktail, don't be. Digital projection has come such a long way, that it's clean and unexcessive. And since this is stop motion, we're looking at images that were in 3D to begin with, and I guess that helped as well. But please go to as late a show as you can, where there may not be too many kids. At my show, quite a few parents had to take their terrified children outside.

Even Damien might like this. There's a cat in the film, and he's a real cool type.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1234684402

[Franz Ferdinand]

Coraline (Henry Selick) 9/10

Not gonna lie: Nightmare Before Christmas was okay the first time (when I was maybe 11 and didn't care for it much), great the second time (a month or so ago) - and anything by Neil Gaiman I will automatically love. The combination of NBC's director and Gaiman's original story turned into a wonderful, twisted little movie that I really enjoyed. I think the 3D gimmick took something away from the original richness of the animation, but it was great overall, an early contender for end-of-year lists, and possibly (hopefully) an Oscar nod in the Animated Ghetto.

[OscarGuy]

Modern Times 10/10, mainly because of the massive amounts of symbolism in the film and its eerie prescience. Plus, that closing image of the tramp finally getting the girl and walking off into the sunset with her instead of alone, signifying the end of his career as the Tramp...quite a brilliant decision. I'm not a huge fan of Chaplin (I have only seen one Buster Keaton movie, The General, but I mostly prefer his style better), but this one was the second of his three films I've seen that worked and it worked much better than the first I saw, The Gold Rush, and was significantly more impressive than the disappointing City Lights.

The Jazz Singer 7/10, I guess...it's hard for me to put my ratings into focus, I'd give it 3/4 stars...it's not that it's a bad movie. I like a good deal of it, but the back-and-forth between sound and silent was a bit disconcerting and illogical at times. I know the technique at the time was new, but it still felt jerky. Though, for the most part, the lighting and cinematography was strong and the story moderately compelling, though I couldn't stand much of Al Jolson's herky-jerky facial expressions and body movements. This film seems very much of two worlds, incorporating the power of images perfected by silents and resorting to some of the more irritating aspects of the genre, namely the overacting. I can't really compare this to the comedies of Chaplin or Keaton because the requirements were different, but I'd say those films were better acted than this and Sunrise is such a phenomenal show piece of how NOT to overact in a silent film and still convey your meaning.

[Penelope]

The International (2009; Tom Tykwer) 7/10

While it's true that the entire conceit of the film is implausible, I couldn't help but enjoy this old school thriller that does it the right way, without all the incomprehensible fussiness of, say, Paul Greencrap. A fine cast, magnificent use of worldwide locations and a particularly dazzling action sequence at the Guggenheim Museum make it very entertaining.

[Reza]

Marjorie Morningstar (Irving Rapper, 1958) 3/10

[FilmFan720]

Frozen River (Courtney Hunt, 2008) 5/10

Not a bad little movie but nothing memorable save for Leo's performance. I really don't get the screenplay nomination.

I agree, I thought the screenplay was the weak link to the film. Leo and the rest of the cast are fine (Leo exceptional) and the direction is taut enough, but can't get past the riddled chiches and boring supporting characters.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1241620445

[danfrank]

Frozen River (Courtney Hunt, 2008) 5/10

Not a bad little movie but nothing memorable save for Leo's performance. I really don't get the screenplay nomination.

[Zahveed]

I don't know Pen, being impaled by the right side of those items would still be unfortunate for horny teens.

[Precious Doll]

He's Just Not That Into You (2009) Ken Kwapis 4/10

Liliom (1930) Frank Borzage 6/10

The Confession (2002) Zeki Demirkubuz 6/10

Lucky Star (1929) Frank Borzage 6/10

[Penelope]

Friday the 13th (2009; Marcus Nispal) 3/10

I usually don't go to slasher films (and I refuse to watch any of the torture porn flicks), but I was curious to see this one because the 1980 original was such a pivotal part of my youth. That isn't to say that the first one is any kind of masterpiece: it doesn't reach any kind of greatness until the last 20 minutes or so, when Betsy Palmer turns up and makes it very memorable.

This one isn't a remake but rather a "reboot" of the series: Mrs. Voorhees gets her head chopped off before the opening credits are even done, then we have Jason taking over for his mom. The usual assortment of dumb but beautiful young people turn up, hoping for sex and drugs, but wind up impaled on the wrong side of machetes, axes and arrows.

So the movie sticks to the basic tropes of the franchise, but doesn't offer anything new aside from a higher budget and a director who clearly shows the influence of producer Michael Bay: excessive close-ups, rapid-fire editing and a louder soundtrack. It gives the film an unfortunate sense of mechanical, going-thru-the-motions blandness; at least the original had a sense of fun about it. Lacking any wit, any kind of inspiration, this one just bumps from bloody death to bloody death.