Recently viewed films

[BlueChair]

Anybody seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona yet?

[Otis Westinghouse]

No. What is it?

[BlueChair]

Only the latest Woody Allen feature, starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson. Not out in the UK yet I take it?

[Who Shot Sam?]

Only the latest Woody Allen feature, starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson. Not out in the UK yet I take it?

It was either this or the French film Tell No One this evening and we chose the latter.

[mood swung]

Looking forward to Hamlet 2 myself.

[BlueChair]

Me too! Red and I were the only people in the theatre laughing hysterically in the movie theatre when we saw the preview for it.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Only the latest Woody Allen feature, starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson. Not out in the UK yet I take it?

No, but the one he did in London before this, title forgotten, got such a total mauling, I don't think they'll dare to.

[BlueChair]

the Toronto International Film Festival started last night, and Red and I have tickets for five films over the next seven days.

Tonight we're going to see Me and Orson Welles, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, etc.) and starring Ben Chaplin, Claire Danes, Christian McKay as Orson Welles and Zac Efron (supposedly in his first serious role) as a teenage actor who supposedly was given a chance on Broadway in 1937 when Welles cast him in Julius Caesar.

Tomorrow night we're going to see New York, I Love You, which is supposedly similar to Paris je T'aime in that it finds several international directors directed short films set and inspired by New York. The directors include Brett Ratner, Mira Nair, Scarlett Johansson (!?) and Natalie Portman (!?). The actors include Kevin Bacon, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Julie Christie, Chris Cooper, Andy Garcia, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf, Cloris Leachman, Natalie Portman, Christina Ricci, and Robin Wright Penn. We'll see who shows up to the premiere.

Monday night we've got Gigantic by first-time writer/director Matt Aselton, which stars Paul Dano ("I drink your milkshake!"), Zooey Deschanel and John Goodman (!!!)

Tuesday night we've got Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York, starring Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, etc.

and finally next Friday we have Cooper's Camera, a Canadian film that was co-written and stars Jason Jones of The Daily Show, as well as Samantha Bee and The Kids in the Hall's Dave Foley. That one sounds very intriguing.

Anyway, I will post more details as the festival progresses. Pretty exciting in that all of these films are world premieres, with the exception of Synecdoche, New York which is receiving it's North American premiere.

[Otis Westinghouse]

And who can define 'synechdoche' without looking it up? I could 20 years ago. Forgotten now. Greek rhetorical term. Lovely word. 'si-NECK-da-key', I think.

[bambooneedle]

A douche that's in synch?

[ice nine]

Just saw Traitor with Don Cheadle. (I don't mean that I went to the movies with Don) It was a very good suspenseful movie about terrorism coming to the US. Don Cheadle is not your typical leading man, but he pulls it off. It was surprising that Steve Martin is responsible for the story.

[BlueChair]

Burn After Reading, the latest from Joel & Ethan Coen. Although reviews have been mixed, I always try to see Coen Bros. films on the big screen so I can formulate my own opinion about them. As far as comedies go, I suppose the Coens have done better (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?) and worse (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers). Mostly I think the script could have used a bit more editing; there were some good moments, but they weren't frequent... and the usual Coens wit just wasn't there.

Red and I had a great time at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Definite highlights were Richard Linklater's Me & Orson Welles and Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, which featured yet another terrific leading performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

[Otis Westinghouse]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche

Synecdoche is to metonymy what simile is to metaphor.

[mood swung]

Lions for Lambs, which I found just a little preachy. And Semi-Pro, which was a little underdeveloped. Andre Benjamin was hysterical. Who the fuck is Bambi?

[Otis Westinghouse]

There Will Be Blood at long last on DVD. I thought it was fantastic. Tremendously powerful with great themes well plotted and played out. And a great score. The previously mentioned 'bastard in a basket' scene is entirely harrowing. As is what comes next... I gather it was only fairly loosely based on Upton Sinclair's Oil, rather than being 'the film of the book', but I'd like to know more about that.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Saw Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire today and really enjoyed both (in different ways). So nice to see something other than a kids' movie for once.

[johnfoyle]

I've just sat through CHE , all c. four and a half hours ( 15 minute interval , time to dash for a slice or two of pizza) of it. Well made , nicely paced , constantly involving but curiously unmoving. The makers have thankfully spared us too much expository dialogue and voice overs , presuming a level of intelligence and awareness of the backround. Maybe it's the fact that the ending is so well known , along with the implied idealism that seems so naive , but it's just never likely that you'll care about the characters. Alberto Iglesias' incidental music is sparing but noticeable - which it shouldn't have been if it was doing it's job. It was all just too subtle.

[ice nine]

Went to see The Reader not knowing much about the movie. I just heard it was a good novel about a trial of an innocent person with Kate Winslet and Liam Neeson. The story and the acting was very good, but I could have done with a little less sex. The whole first hour of the film is Kate Winslet and her boytoy having sex. If you have ever wanted to see Kate naked this is the movie for you. She doesn't go total frontal nudity, but there are shots of her breasteses and her ass. It was like watciing soft-core porn. The second hald of the movie was totally different than the first half. The story was fleshed out in the this half.

I couldn't help but think of the Extras episode Kate did where she said she would have to play a Nazi to get an Oscar. Unfortunately, with the fine films out there I don't think this is her year. However, the screenplay is by David Hare and is very good.

[pophead2k]

I saw 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. A wonderfully made film from technical points of view, but strangely not involving for me. Great shots of New Orleans throughout though. Amazing how they were able to find spots in the city and pass them off as being from the 20s, etc.

[mood swung]

It was like watciing soft-core porn.

He says that like it's a bad thing...


(I'm sorry - my inner 12 year old keeps showing up no matter how many times I lock him in the basement)

People seem to really like or really hate Benjamin Button. The previews aren't impressing me enough to GO to the movie, but I'll find the dvd eventually.

And on dvd, I finally made it through Hancock.

I probably shouldn't have bothered. Weird. A good first 20 minutes, but then it went places I didn't want to go.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Both Benjamin Button and the new Sam Mendes movie, Revolutionary Road, just don't appeal to me. I don't need a film about marital angst. They showed the trailer for The Reader when I went to see Frost/Nixon and it looks like your typical Ralph Fiennes film. He has such a cold, reserved quality that I have a really hard time getting invested in any of his characters. The Kate Winslet nudity, on the other hand, does sound interesting!

[Boy With A Problem]

Both Benjamin Button and the new Sam Mendes movie, Revolutionary Road, just don't appeal to me. I don't need a film about marital angst. They showed the trailer for The Reader when I went to see Frost/Nixon and it looks like your typical Ralph Fiennes film. He has such a cold, reserved quality that I have a really hard time getting invested in any of his characters. The Kate Winslet nudity, on the other hand, does sound interesting!

Revolutionary Road would easily make my top ten novels of all time list. Because of that I was hoping they wouldn't make it into a film - of course I'll see it, but these things never turn out well.

I watched Herzog's Aguirre, Wrath of God twice last night - once without Herzog's commentary and once with - stunning film. While Christmas shopping a few weeks ago I bought myself the Herzog/Kinski box set.

[miss buenos aires]

I don't know if it's different in the film, but I read The Reader a few months ago, and the person on trial is not innocent. Is it different?

I saw Milk a few weeks ago, which was excellent. I highly recommend it. Sean Penn plays someone happy! For once!

On DVD, the other day (or was it only yesterday?) I watched Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. It was terrible. First of all, it was completely pretentious, with lots of show-offy framing shots that beg for attention. That wouldn't be so bad, if there were anything to back it up, but the theme of the movie seems to suggest that Diane Arbus had an artistic awakening because she fell in love with her dog-boy upstairs neighbor. But they're not claiming that anything in the movie ever took place, and it never shows her actually creating art. So why did they even say that it was about Diane Arbus? Why couldn't it just be about a young woman having some sort of artistic awakening? Anyway, I should have listened to the reviews and stayed away.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Benjamin Button stars Cate Blanchett, so at least it has something going for it.

Never heard of the Rev Road book. Richard Yates. Sounds like I should.

Aguirre is a great film. I watched Fitzcarraldo on TV again not long ago. Lurvely.

[so lacklustre]

Went to see The Day The Earth Stood Still on NY eve en famille. Better than expected for that type of blockbuster.