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

[Damien]

The much-praised, much-awarded Danish movie In a Better World - which has recently won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film - is one of those movies which could make a weaker soul feel like a freak, wondering "Why didn't I like it? What didn't I get?". And these Scandinavians! Once, not long ago actually, one could always count on them to deliver movies which were genuinely gloomy, dark, pessimistic. Now they still do that but at the same time they also want to be "emotional", they want to make us "cry", they have even discovered (Ingmar Bergman must be rolling in his grave) that ultimate dirty trick, the "happy ending" - all aspects that don't really belong to them and that they can't use confortably - unlike the true maestros of these things, Americans and Italians.
But of course they win award after award - the director of this movie seems to be especially smart, you know: "big", important issues, the use of children which proves always effective, scenes set in Africa which have no real raison d'etre except to make the movie feel "urgent"and contemporary, and - I must admit - a certain ability in creating a climate of emotional tension (a short sequence towards the end is quite gripping and definitely helped the movie on its way to the Academy Award). Paul Haggis comes to mind - but at his best (let's say in In the Valley of Elah) Haggis is much more profound and much more bitter.
I shouldn't be too cynical - there are definitely reasons why so many liked this movie, and Suzanne Bier not only is good with her actors (the adults more than the children, I'd say), but is also probably more honest than other directors of this kind - those who want to give us a final word on today's society. The risk, of course, is to come off as banal and superficial.

It may be a good sign that In A Better World, despite its Oscar, only lasted 2 weeks at New York City's premiere art house cinema.

The Italian film, The Double Hour, however. seems to be a big hit there on another screen. Any thoughts on it, Marco?

[Bog]

The Roommate (2011) Christian Christiansen- 3/10
Hop (2011) Tim Hil - 4/10
Rio (2011) Carlos Saldanha - 5/10
True Grit (2010) Coen Brothers - 7/10
How Do You Know (2010) James L. Brooks - 2/10 - insufferable mess, begged my fiance to allow me to turn this off, she said it had to get better (based on the 4 leads) - she now owes me Certified Copy

This harkens back to Tee's comment back at the beginning of Oscar season that a James Brooks film being completely dismissed sight unseen while a Coen Brothers' considered a shoe-in sight unseen was so odd to those who've been around for many more Oscar seasons than some of us younger board members....December 2010 is objective proof as to this sea change

Morning Glory (2010) - Roger Michell - 4/10 - this can't be all there is left for the great Diane
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) - John Sturges - 6/10
Johnny Guitar (1954) Nicolas Ray - 10/10 - still one of my favorite all-time films and for several reasons what I feel to be a near perfect film!



Edited By Bog on 1303490973

[ITALIANO]

The much-praised, much-awarded Danish movie In a Better World - which has recently won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film - is one of those movies which could make a weaker soul feel like a freak, wondering "Why didn't I like it? What didn't I get?". And these Scandinavians! Once, not long ago actually, one could always count on them to deliver movies which were genuinely gloomy, dark, pessimistic. Now they still do that but at the same time they also want to be "emotional", they want to make us "cry", they have even discovered (Ingmar Bergman must be rolling in his grave) that ultimate dirty trick, the "happy ending" - all aspects that don't really belong to them and that they can't use confortably - unlike the true maestros of these things, Americans and Italians.
But of course they win award after award - the director of this movie seems to be especially smart, you know: "big", important issues, the use of children which proves always effective, scenes set in Africa which have no real raison d'etre except to make the movie feel "urgent"and contemporary, and - I must admit - a certain ability in creating a climate of emotional tension (a short sequence towards the end is quite gripping and definitely helped the movie on its way to the Academy Award). Paul Haggis comes to mind - but at his best (let's say in In the Valley of Elah) Haggis is much more profound and much more bitter.
I shouldn't be too cynical - there are definitely reasons why so many liked this movie, and Suzanne Bier not only is good with her actors (the adults more than the children, I'd say), but is also probably more honest than other directors of this kind - those who want to give us a final word on today's society. The risk, of course, is to come off as banal and superficial.

[anonymous1980]

The Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini) - 9.5/10

Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks) - 9/10

[Hustler]

My recommendations from the Buenos Aires International Independent film festival-Part II.

1. Le Petit Criminel (Jacques Doillon) (1990) 9/10

2. La Drolesse (Jacques Doillon) (1979) 9/10

3. Uncle Bonmeee who can recall his past lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 7/10

4. Too Much Pussy (Emilie Jouvet) 5/10

5. The Life Sublime (Daniel Villamediana) 8/10

6. Vaquero (Juan Minujin) 8/10

7. L´Homme Qui Crie (Mahamat Saleh Haroun) 9/10

8. Fleurs Du Mal (David Dusa) 8/10

[anonymous1980]

Election (Johnnie To) - 8/10

F for Fake (Orson Welles) - 9.5/10

[Hustler]

My recommendations from the Buenos Aires International Independent film festival

1. Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzmán) 10/10

2. La Lisiêre (Gearldine Bajard) 6/10

3. The Student (Santiago Mitre) 8/10

4. Caterpillar (Koji Wakamatsu) 9/10

5. Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari) 8/10

6. Tilva Ros (Nikola Lezaic) 7/10

7. Copacabana (Marc Fitoussi) 8/10

8: Tournée (Mathieu Amalric) 5/10

[Big Magilla]

Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played With Fire; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) (2009-2010) 9/10

I tried reading the first novel, but couldn't get into it. I tried watching the first film in Swedish but couldn't get nto it. Finally I watched all three in their dubbed English versions and was riveted to the screen.

These novels have been publishing phenomenons all over the world. In Denmark, for example, the first novel purportedly outsold the bible. The original title of the first was The Man Who Didn't Like Women with the emphaisis, as I understand it, on the reporter who solves the decades old murder and the computer hacker (the girl with the dragon tattoo) a secondary character who becomes more important as the trilogy evolves. Why the films haven;t had the same success is puzzling.

The brutal sex and violence, along with the various mysteries may be what sold the series, but what struck me most was that this is quite possibly the last time we'll see a contemporary film, or series of films, in which the written word is paramount, especially in the third film when the publication of a magazine with a 50-75 page article exposing government corruption is one of the key plot elements.

It's possible that David Fincher's Hollywood remakes will be as good as these films, but I can't imagine them being better. There really is no reason to remake them so soon. Roomy Rapace as the title character should have gotten more recognition in last year's awards races. What Jennifer Lawrence goes through in Winter's Bone is nothing compared to what Rapace goes through in these films.

All the actors are excellent including Michael Nyqvist as the fill-in for the late author Stieg Larsson and it's especially interesting to see actors not really much on heh international scene in decades. Sven-Bertil Taube, excellent as the old man in the first film looks nothing like the blonde stud of such 70s films as The Buttercup Chain, but the late Per Oscarssen in the second film is easily recognizable in advanced age.

The Blu-ray set comes with a fourth disc of special features including a fascinating in-depth documentary on Stieg Larsson.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1303299521

[Zahveed]

Oh, how I missed this place.

[Reza]

If Eric is lurking around here today, I'm sure he'll co-sign as well.

Don't FUCK with my distribution costs! I'm making a lousy two-fifteen per segment! I'm already deficiting 25 grand a week with Metro! I'm paying William Morris 10 percent off the TOP! And I'm giving ten-thou per segment for this turkey and another five for this fruitcake!

And, Helen, don't start no shit with me about a piece again! I'm paying Metro for ALL foreign and Canadian distribution, and that's after recoupment! The communist party's not going to see a nickel out of this goddamned show until we go into syndication!

... and, yes, I typed that all from memory.

I used to play this dialogue over and over. Lol

[Eric]

If Eric is lurking around here today, I'm sure he'll co-sign as well.

Don't FUCK with my distribution costs! I'm making a lousy two-fifteen per segment! I'm already deficiting 25 grand a week with Metro! I'm paying William Morris 10 percent off the TOP! And I'm giving ten-thou per segment for this turkey and another five for this fruitcake!

And, Helen, don't start no shit with me about a piece again! I'm paying Metro for ALL foreign and Canadian distribution, and that's after recoupment! The communist party's not going to see a nickel out of this goddamned show until we go into syndication!

... and, yes, I typed that all from memory.

[ITALIANO]

Plus, I mean, it's not like if one says that American cinema today isn't very good he should be considered a dangerous terrorist or something like that. There's a McCarthy in any young American, it seems, and I'm not sure I like that.

[ITALIANO]

(ITALIANO @ Apr. 16 2011,2:01)

...Rather than an endless collection of young soulless writers who have only seen American movies (and never had a life), and two many script revisions.

BOOM!

Hi, Marco-hates-America! Dude, it's been forever!

Well, even Italian screenwriters today seem to have seen too many American movies and not to have a life, a real life. It's not like Italian cinemas is as good as it used to be - actually its downfall may even be more dramatic than the American one. Italians may be very happy now because Bertolucci will get the honorary Golden Palm at Cannes, but one should be worried when one's country get more "honorary" and "career" film prizes than competitive ones.

Still, we do very good and interesting movies once in a while - movies like Gomorra, Il Divo, Vincere, hopefully Nanni Moretti's Habemus Papam which I still have to see. American cinema can also produce works of art, and for example one of the most beautiful, most intelligent movies I've seen in the last 15 years IS American - The Thin Red Line.

No, I don't love The Blind Side, but it's not just a bad movie, it's a bad AMERICAN movie, which means bad in a very American way. It's atrocious but its roots are firmly into American ground, and Americans - only Americans - loved it. So I use it always when I need a good example of a terrible American movie. I'm open to suggestions so next time I can use another title though.

[Sabin]

(ITALIANO @ Apr. 16 2011,2:01)

Well, they were like Network in many ways - not "perfectly" structured, and because of this not "predictably" structured. A movie could even be, like you say this one is, a series of monologues - and still be not only good or at least well-received by critics, but even commercially successful. You won't find monologues or Beatrice-Straight-type scenes in The Blind Side, believe me.

Still haven't seen The Blind Side. Guess I'm Canadian or something.

(ITALIANO @ Apr. 16 2011,2:01)

It's also a movie which wants to portray (and to say something relevant about) contemporary society - not just parts of it, ALL of it, like "big" novels do. Which is of course what even movies should do, and what some movies used to do back then (today, when movies try to be this ambitious the result is something like Biutiful. Decades ago we got La Dolce Vita. Network isn't of course as good as La Dolce Vita is, and Sidney Lumet isn't Federico Fellini, but at least Chayefsky as a writer shares Ennio Flaiano's scope and bite, if not necessarily his results).

Even without the results, are you seriously saying that Network has the scope and bite of La Dolce Vita? I don't think Network even attempts that. And the last word I would use to describe Network is "Novelistic".

(ITALIANO @ Apr. 16 2011,2:01)

And then yes, the movie is messy, moody, shouted, everything you say and that you are perfectly right to say. But one feels that there is a mind, one you can even not agree with but at least a mind, behind it...

Well, you see here we certainly agree. I like Network. And the fact that I can disagree with some of its points means that it's some kind of worthy achievement, as certain dubbed "Classic" films suffer from time to time from being indoctrinated into the canon and much of it being a part of the collective consciousness. For instance, I can't know the shock of watching the "Mad as Hell!" sequence for the first time. I'm glad we could come together on this without resorting again to societal slams and - wait, hold on, I have another call:

(ITALIANO @ Apr. 16 2011,2:01)

...Rather than an endless collection of young soulless writers who have only seen American movies (and never had a life), and two many script revisions.

BOOM!

Hi, Marco-hates-America! Dude, it's been forever! It's been literally fore - oh, that's right. It's been since the beginning of the post when you brought up The Blind Side again.

I'm kidding. I agree with you on the above post, but I'm kidding. Although at this point, you're like a homophobe who can't shut up about gay people. Like when gay people didn't think about being gay as much as Eddie Murphy in the 80's, and you started to wonder if he was trying to tell us something. Is there a person in the world who has talked about The Blind Side more than you in the past year? Do you love The Blind Side?

I think I mentioned this in passing but when I read for New Regency in the fall of 2007, I read The Blind Side and gave it terrible notices. They asked me what my opinion was and I told them that nothing was developed, that it was condescending, that none of the parts rang interestingly, that it had nothing to say, that it's mildly offensive, that it's predictable. Then I saw the trailer for it a few years later and it blew my mind.

I'll be the first to admit that American movies are getting worse. On the other hand, siskelandebert.org featured an old Sneak Previews for Year in Review where they called 1976 a terrible year for movies and Gene Siskel directly agreed with everything I had to say about the second half of Network. I'm not quoting Gene Siskel's paradigm of mediocrity sensibilities as a defense, but rather in an effort to put a classic into context, something that happens any time Raging Bull is brought up.

Are American movies getting worse? Sure, but every two or three years, we get a year like 2007 or 1999 where we're treated to a slew of astonishing pictures that additionally utilize new technology and sensibilities that would be impossible decades ago. I know that I've brought up a specific period of time this moment that wasn't initially being debated but from what I gather, 1976 was not an incredibly proud year for films, a year of horrible 3D rehash, of sequelitus, of every movie being "Basically Jaws", and we are essentially harkening back to a time where All the President's Men, Network, and Rocky may as likely have been nominated alongside Voyage of the Damned and Voyage of the Damned again. I don't buy it that this period of time is that much worse.

(ITALIANO @ Apr. 16 2011,2:01)

Do we care about the relationship between Holden and Straight in the movie? Because of that one scene they share. at least I do.

That's nice.

[ITALIANO]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you say "Movies in the 70's were like this.".

Well, they were like Network in many ways - not "perfectly" structured, and because of this not "predictably" structured. A movie could even be, like you say this one is, a series of monologues - and still be not only good or at least well-received by critics, but even commercially successful. You won't find monologues or Beatrice-Straight-type scenes in The Blind Side, believe me.

It's also a movie which wants to portray (and to say something relevant about) contemporary society - not just parts of it, ALL of it, like "big" novels do. Which is of course what even movies should do, and what some movies used to do back then (today, when movies try to be this ambitious the result is something like Biutiful. Decades ago we got La Dolce Vita. Network isn't of course as good as La Dolce Vita is, and Sidney Lumet isn't Federico Fellini, but at least Chayefsky as a writer shares Ennio Flaiano's scope and bite, if not necessarily his results). And then yes, the movie is messy, moody, shouted, everything you say and that you are perfectly right to say. But one feels that there is a mind, one you can even not agree with but at least a mind, behind it. Rather than an endless collection of young soulless writers who have only seen American movies (and never had a life), and too many script revisions.

Do we care about the relationship between Holden and Straight in the movie? Because of that one scene they share. at least I do.



Edited By ITALIANO on 1302981062