i watched cat on a hot tin roof the other night. i had no idea elizabeth taylor was once so gorgeous.

pretty good film, but the homosexual ambiguity was bizarre. it was like they tried to remove the play's blatant homosexuality for the hayes code, but couldn't really do the film well enough without that monster of a plotline, so they were in a bind.

A few nights ago my wife and I watched Manderlay, Lars von Trier's sequel to Dogville which we both really liked. I kinda suspected due to how little attention this one got that it would be inferior, and it definitely was in a lot of ways. For one thing, the new actress playing Grace actually had me missing Nicole Kidman, something I never thought would happen. Also, possibly because Dogville already had me prepared for a pretty brutal film, I felt like the impact of this one was pretty muted. Somehow von Trier's statements about race and race relations in America seemed to be smug and heavy handed while simultaneously also being convoluted and noncommittal. What, exactly was the point? Dogville was sort of open-ended, but I felt like the room for interpretation really helped it. It felt less like an outsider's damning critique of American society (even I guess that's really what it was) and more like a general meditation on morality and accountability. This movie had me agreeing more with von Trier's critics (mainly that he's oppressively self-righteous and misanthropic) which is how I also felt after watching The Idiots and Breaking the Waves. I do think he's capable of doing some great stuff, though, so I still want to see the final part of his trilogy on America.

i wanna check this out.

Saw The Reader last night. Really good flick. Of course it is totally unfair how they front load it with lots of sex and nudity and then all of a sudden you're talking concentration camps and prison. Still, really good movie. Takes a look at things for a whole host of angles.

And, is anyone else totally hooked on Nina Simone's version of Wild is the Wind after seeing that revolitionary Road preview too many times?

Gran Torino was excellent.

The Wrestler sucked.

Burn After Reading sucked, too.

oh hell no.

Once they got done with explaining all the wrestling parts, they had to quickly rush together a half-thought out, pretty bland story. The grocery store stuff wasn't bad, but the daughter & Marisa Tomei parts just seemed sort of tacked on to scratch out an emotional response.

I thought Rourke was good, but not great. I'm doubtful that Mickey Rourke is even capable of great. And I like Mickey Rourke.

Ok, this I didn't care for.


I forgot I already commented on this.

I really want to see this, and Good. Which is in limited release right now.

I finally caught Milk this weekend, which was phenomenal.

I watched Art School Confidential on TV and thought it was silly but hilarious.

Tonight I caught Wendy and Lucy, It was good but really brought me down. About a girl living out of her car and losing her dog and just being at the point at your life where you're losing everything. It was sad and I am a sop and bring in a lost dog and I am all gone. It was slow moving and very "Americana", which I am not so into.

there are so many more movies I need to see.
Hotel for Dogs may be a must-see.

Really? I saw this a few years ago and fell in love with it. I loved him more then her, she seemed a bit pathological at times.

But all in all I found it a bittersweet love story that needs to be looked at a bit more cautiously.

By the way, the lead is Marion Cottiliard, who won last years Oscar for La Vie en Rose.

The Running Man

I thought this movie was from like 1983, and so i forgave how bad it looked. Richard Dawson was great, the action was ok, and Arnold's one liners after he killed each stalker made me cringe. then i saw that it was made in 1987. for some reason that makes me even less impressed with it.

am now currently enjoying Commando

awesome flick.

I thought it was sort of silly too, but I let that go bc I love Marion and the French in general.

I finally saw this last night:

Persepolis
French animated film about a girl growing up in Iran. Actually ends up being both dark and funny, which is always a stellar combination. Also, IRON MAIDEN FTW.

Then tonight I watched this for the billionth time:

Adaptation
This is one of those movies that gets better every time I see it. Almost. I think I've finally plateaued... I doubt if I'll ever get anything more out of it. But it was an impressive run.

Just watched this:

[img][330:500]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Just_one_of_the_guys.jpg[/img]

Very 80's with the mandatory nudity provided for my viewing pleasure.

I have to agree with Drinky. Something about this film didn't click for me. The premise, however, seems like something I'd like if done well.

I finally got around to seeing Crank which I quite liked because I thought it was hilarious and very inventive. I also saw Equilibrium which had some great fight sequences (although brief).

man they used to show this all the time on Comedy Central during the 90s, tits edited out of course

Saw this tonight. Excellent, recommended. Not cheesy at all, better than expected after seeing the previews.


No nudity but plenty of Nazi killing.

[img][338:500]http://www.firstshowing.net/img/defiance-tsrposter-big.jpg[/img]

Saw Synecdoche, NY Saturday afternoon. Charlie Kaufman unbridled. If you love his previous work, you'll love this. There was so much going on, it's tough to review, but overall it moved me and Kaufman impressed me again with his multi-textured meta worlds.

A lot of critics have compared it to Felinni's "8 1/2", often saying 8 1/2 was much better.

Saw The Wrestler. In liked it, but they were a little heavy on the proportion of the movie taking place in the ring. Good portrayal of the strip club I thought, rather than the overly glamorous/classy treatment they often get in movies.

Rourke did a really good job I thought. It's hard to think of who else could have played that role as well.

I can see the perspective that it wasn't drawn out enough as far as the peripheral characters. But, really it was more a character sketch of the main character than anything else. The side stories were just that.