saw salt

great story horribly executed by putrid acting and implausible action scenes

i don't know if i'd call the story great. i thought the action scenes were the best part of the movie because they were so over the top.

Ebert liked it.

this is one of my all time favorite movies. the art house near me is showing it soon and i cannot wait. contempt is also good but breathless is so stylized and jean seberg's wardrobe is fantastic. it's almost too superficial with it's true lack of plot but i can't stop watching it.

that said, i saw psycho on the big screen this weekend and even though i've seen it about 5 times it was amazing. the lighting and music are heightened by the size of the screen and i still jump when the martin balsom....you know.

Yeah, I love Breathless.

This is kind of a sidetrack to Rossellini's Rome Open City. While the film has beautiful shots, it consists of vignettes that build up what St. Francis' brand of Christianity was all about. We see traits of humility, sacrifice, self-discovery, and of course intense emotions towards our fellow man (the leper scene was particularly intriguing). I was reading some background info on Rossellini, and this film was made around the time he was being chastised by everyone for his affair with Ingrid Bergman. Perhaps this was an introspective film for him, to repent and create a film that spoke to his soul. Also, assisting on this film is one Federico Fellini, who is credited as co-writer. This truly was an ensemble piece, and while this is at its core about Francis of Assisi, its really more about his followers in what eventually became the Franciscans. Of note also is that the entire cast was non-professionals (except Aldo Fabrizi's small part). The monks were actually portrayed by monks.

I saw The Expendables last night and it was much better than I expected - a lot of solid action and fun one-liners. Eric Roberts was great as the bad guy.

Lots of classic movies I'd love to see on the big screen instead of just a TV for just this reason. Wish a theater around here would undertake showing them.

no one's seen piranha yet?

Aren't there any good movies coming out soon? Jesus, the selection going on now is terrible.


My local theater is playing the following:

Eat Pray Love ---> got suckered into seeing this last week. Warning! For chicks only! Attention everyone! Julie Roberts is still incredibly annoying and playing vaguely unfulfilled characters searching for *something* to make her whole again. Mistake x infinity. Blech. I'm still mad about this one week later.

Takers ----> looks like an below average heist movie starring black actors I've never heard of....and Matt Dillon ----> I'll pass.

The Switch ----> Jennifer Aniston. That's all I need to know about this film. Would never willingly see her in any movie again. She rivals Matthew McConaughey in the sheer number of completely unwatchable, throwaway flicks.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ----> possibly entertaining if I was still 17. I could be wrong about this movie but there's something about Michael Cera that makes me want to slap his blank, puzzled face.

The Expendibles ----> Sylvester Stallone probably couldn't generate enough interest to make another Rambo movie so there's this instead, starring every washed up muscle-bound actor you could think of...except Lou Gossett, Jr. and Carl Weathers. What's up with that? Oh, the humanity.

(to be continued...if I feel like it later)

Did you see and then like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz? Same director did Scott Pilgrim.

This on my eagerly awaited list, and I still haven't seen it. Hopefully this weekend will bring it.

Edgar Wright being the director is a definite plus, but I also dug the graphic novels. Despite not being really a "gamer" I still think people who grew up in the world of arcades and 8-bit graphics would get the references. A majority of the reviews I've read have been in the "anti-Michael Cera" vein than anything else. People are really just getting sick of him playing the same character. I forget which reviewer said it, but the best estimation of why this hasn't done well is that its too old for teens, and too young for people over 40.

Most people I've talked to who hate Cera but saw the movie actually didn't hate him in it.

Anyway, my seen movies today:
The Leopard Criterion Blu Ray
-Creakingly long at 3+ hours, but is still beautiful and engaging despite that. While set against the backdrop of the Italian revolution, The Leopard comes off as more of a character film than anything. While politics are discussed, they're generally in the context The Prince figuring himself and the world out. Thus conversations take a more philosophical bend than political.
Paranormal Entity Netflix stream
-Right from the cover, you know this is going to be a Paranormal Activity knock-off. We watched it for the shiggles, and it does deliver giggles at how horribly derivative and predictable it is (me: "tv turns on in five, four, three, two, one..." tv: turns on). However, there is one truly scary scene which had us all shouting. Not worth watching for just that one scene, but a nice bonus if someone DOES watch it.

how far into it was the scene?



i saw scott pilgrim tonight. really, really liked it even though i'd only read the first book. i thought the best characters in it were wallace wells (kieran culkin) and knives chau (ellen wong). but yeah, great direction by edgar wright.

Pray for Death (Hulu stream)
-Fairly horrible, yet still enjoyable, revenge story based around a Japanese ninja immigrant to the USA. He gets mixed up in some mafia drama and starts kicking ass. Not really much in the way of good acting (largely devoid of such a thing) or clever plotting (nope), yet still has a number of satisfying elements (including one person decimating such a crime ring and deaths of some surprising people.)
Mystery Train (Criterion Blu ray)
-Rather neat little film based around Memphis and Elvis, as seen from the viewpoint of tourists and otherwise foreigners. Good music, interesting characters, and just a feel good sort of movie. (Yes, I consider a film with a major character getting shot a "feel good" movie).


Its pretty close to the end...

I saw it... moderately entertaining. It's not scary at all (I guess it's really not supposed to be, is it?), but it definitely has it's gore and gratuitous nudity down pat. The gore is so over the top at times that it's laugh-out-loud funny. The overqualified cast is mostly wasted, but Adam Scott & Elizabeth Shue do pretty well with what they are asked to do here. Jerry O'Connell does very well at playing a Joe Francis-like goofball parasite out to exploit the local youth. Overall, it's not a bad movie.

Repulsion (Criterion Blu Ray)
Amazing.

the last exorcism - i enjoyed it and it was moderately scary. pretty good ending though it was almost a carbon copy of the blair witch project.

centurion - i'd like to see neil marshall get back to making some horror movies but this was decent and very, very gory.

I saw Machete last night, and it was GREAT! I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much at a movie. Danny Trejo, Cheech and Steven Seagal were all awesome. DeNiro was kind of ridiculous, but that was really part of the fun.

Really dug this, and can't wait to watch the other 2 films in the trilogy. Andrew Garfield is going to be the new Spider-Man when the reboot comes out in 2 years, and this definitely made me feel better about the choice.

I saw Scott Pilgrim tonight. Pretty much the equivalent of doing coke, playing video games and listening to music for 2 hours, so awesome.

Not too bad. I wonder if they'll try to get Ben Stiller some Oscar buzz for this...

As per the normal (before school work becomes more intense), my weekend has basically been movies.

xXx
Ok, I know this isn't a good movie. But it is one of my guilty pleasure--its where I turn when I just want an action movie without having to think. Also, any movie with both Samuel L. Jackson and Danny Trejo has to be doing SOMETHING right on SOME level.

Sin City Recut, Extended, Unrated Version
I must have been sleeping the first time I watched this because I swear I haven't seen at least half of the "recut, extended, unrated" version's new footage before. Well, no matter--this is an amazing movie no matter how you slice it or dice it. I've seen the "theatrical" version more times than I can count. I kind of prefer the theatrical experience (due to the "recut" part which puts each story as a stand-alone experience), though the extra footage is really great--especially the stuff I didn't remember from before.

Hard Candy
This is an uncomfortable movie--from the opening pedophillic concept which makes the viewer feel like a dirty voyeur to to the somewhat satisfying (yet still voyeuristic and still uncomfortable) torture that comes later. Luckily I love uncomfortable movies, and even more I love Ellen Page, so this was a complete win-win for me. Its a movie that raises more questions than it answers, but the plot feels resolved very nicely. It is a balancing act that the director nailed. Too little information and the whole thing would feel unnecessary and tedious. Too much information and it would insult the viewer. Good stuff. Epic ending, too.

Blow
If I had a man-crush, it would be Johnny Depp. (Well, at least among actors. And, well, he'd be in the conversation along with George Clooney and Brad Pitt). I don't love every Depp movie (::cough, half the things he does with Tim Burton::)... and I don't love his acting in every movie (again, see most Burton films--and a few other outlier non-Burton works). But when he's good, he's damn good. And he tends to pick a lot of great scripts that I would like even without Depp's role. Without Depp this probably would have been a 3.5/5 movie. With Depp it gets bumped up to a 4/5 movie. Not a huge bump, but it does put it in the realm of pretty good. Depp is great in a script that could have blended it with any other movie about drug dealing. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas this is not. A cautionary tale that is entertaining and touching--something many cautionary tales fail to do. (Being that they're so focused on playing Mama and shaking a figure to actually tell a worthwhile story.)

implying that movies are a relevant artform