Official Film Discussion and Last Movie You Watched

[TJ]

...it's about goddamn time this year starts kicking it up a notch.

No shit. Working at a video store is depressing to have free rentals but no movies worth renting.

 

[onebigeric]

Anyone like Inside Man here?

Personally, I loved it for so many reasons but I'm just curious what you guys think.

It definitely reeked of awesomeness, but I felt Clive Owen made the movie more than Denzel did. The twists were very well done, and the overall story was quite excellent. The ending was a little lame(Denzel's last scene), but Clive made up for it with his epilogue. Best line for me, as they're having everyone change into their painter outfits:
Older Woman-"I'm not taking off my clothes!"
Clive-"Lady, trust me on this. This is the only situation in which I would ever ask you to do this, but take off your friggin' clothes."

 

[Line]

Saw Little Miss Sunshine today and I'm seeing The Departed tonight in a few hours. I'll put up reviews tomorrow.

 

[TJ]

It definitely reeked of awesomeness, but I felt Clive Owen made the movie more than Denzel did. The twists were very well done, and the overall story was quite excellent. The ending was a little lame(Denzel's last scene), but Clive made up for it with his epilogue. Best line for me, as they're having everyone change into their painter outfits:
Older Woman-"I'm not taking off my clothes!"
Clive-"Lady, trust me on this. This is the only situation in which I would ever ask you to do this, but take off your friggin' clothes."

I thought Clive did a great job in Derailed. I was blown away with his performance in Inside Man. He never really broke his character which can be tough to do with a character like that. I'm a somewhat big fan of Clive now. Aside from Clive, I thought Denzel did a good job with his character but that's kind of a givin' with him. Jodie Foster played her character well and - I never thought she could pull off a character like this -she made you hate her character with a near passion. I love movies that have endings like what Inside Man did. Probably why I like Lucky # Sleven, too.

 

[onebigeric]

Slevin wasn't bad at all, and the story had nice twists and quirks without being in love with itself.

 

[Rocky]

Looking forward to seeing Inside Man and Lucky Number Slevin.

Line - look forward to seeing what you think of The Departed, and Marie Antionette - I've heard it's meant to be shit.

 

[Line]

Little Miss Sunshine ***1/2

Titles can be deceptive. This movie, in a similar manner to those of Alexander Payne's, is more of a character study of a family struggling to walk the fine line between winners and losers. For the most part the comedy is dark and somewhat off-beat but there's something warming between the family's chemistry as the film progresses; particularly evident between Steve Carell and Paul Dano. We see each family member's character morph throughout the entire movie, which centers around a road trip from New Mexico to California so young Olive can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pagent. Those with confidence and aim start to lose their grasp and others who appear originally misguided begin to become more centered and grounded; somewhere in the middle is where they meet and it's a place that's both comfortable for them and the viewer. In reality, this place of comfort is where the Olive has been all along.

From a critical aspect, parts of the life lessons learned come off as cliche at first but the movie's overall innocence and sincerity makes it painful to pick apart. It knows it's place and refuses to get too preachy overall, even when you think some scenes go on a little too long or seem awkawrd and uncomfortable; that's family I guess.

Special mention should be made to Alan Arkin as the heroin-snorting, foul-mouthed grandfather whose unconventional advice is part of what allows the family to discover each other; even after his demise. The use of music throughout the film was also very well done and credit should be given to not only the music coordinator but the editor as well for these scenes are among the best in the movie.

 

[Line]

The Departed ****

Let me start by saying this is easily Scorsese's best movie since Goodfellas. Let's face it, period pieces are far too commonplace these days and The Aviator wasn't even a good one. Even from a visual standpoint, ever since Cape Fear his fans have been mumbling to themselves the same question, "where's Marty?" Well, within the first minute of The Departed, the camera weaves elequently along while "Gimme Shelter" by the Stones plays undernearth a Jack Nicholson monologue...from that moment on, I was sold.

The whole story is fairly complex, especially for what superficially appears to just be another gritty street drama; which is all it really is and tries to be. There's no morals here, no lessons, and you certaintly won't leave the theater being a better person than you once were. I can't speak for everyone but all I can say to Marty is "Thank You."

After a brief lesson in personal history, we find Matt Damon quickly rising up the police ranks (something that's come easy to him throughout life) while another cadette (different class) Leonardo DiCaprio is sent immediately to jail (fabricated by the police department) and then made into an undercover officer. DiCaprio quickly finds himself being taken under the wing of Frank Costello (Jack), an irish crime boss ruling over most of Boston. Meanwhile Damon, who worked for Costello as a child and was raised almost as a son, works as a police insider for the mob. Throughout the movie, the tension begins to mount as Leo tries to expose both Costello and discover Damon while Damon uses his network of police connections to assist Costello and discover the rat within his mob (Leo). Got that? Good.

This interlocking tale of betrayal leads to great scenes of tension and paranoia between our characters and as more and more leads are discovered it becomes aware to the viewer that there's no happy ending here and we are left sitting there watching everything crumble.

Special credit has to be given to Scorsese again for not only having his actors all out-putting at top notch but at getting his visual prowess back. Finally we have a movie that feels like a Scorsese film again and as a fairly young enthusiast I'm overcome that I am able to see one in a theater. DiCaprio also gives his best performance to date (far better than the impression of Howard Hughes that was overly-praised in The Aviator) and the rest of the supporting cast did not dissapoint as well. I also can't forget to metion Jack who's been underused by every director he's worked with since James. L Brooks in As Good as It Gets.

So far, this is easily the best movie of 2006...at least until next week

 

[Rocky]

^Great stuff Line. I really wanna see this film - I'm glad it's all it's cracked up to be.

Have you seen any of the Japanese 'Infernal Affairs' films that The Departed is based on?

 

[Line]

^Great stuff Line. I really wanna see this film - I'm glad it's all it's cracked up to be.

Have you seen any of the Japanese 'Infernal Affairs' films that The Departed is based on?

Thanks


No I haven't those and after seeing The Departed I really don't know if I need to...it just works so well as a modern Irish Mafia film. I might give it a shot, but next week I'm practically going to be living at the theater.

 

[Rocky]

Hard life! I wish I lived in a theatre...with a gym in the foyer. That would be great.

 

[onebigeric]

Thank you for the excellent review, Line. Departed for me next week for sure

 

[Chesticles]

Eric, I hope you're prepared to handle horrifying news.

They made house of the dead II........and I just hired it

 

[onebigeric]

^^Rented?

You could also pay a nine year old to kick you in the groin repeatedly. It'd be cheaper, and would likely hurt a lot less as well. Directed by Uwe Boll, I presume

 

[Chesticles]

^^Rented?

You could also pay a nine year old to kick you in the groin repeatedly. It'd be cheaper, and would likely hurt a lot less as well. Directed by Uwe Boll, I presume

Hired, rented it's all good lol.

No I think it's directed by someone else. Hey what could be more exciting then watching the sequel to possibly the worst movie of all time?

 

[onebigeric]

Watching Super Troopers in German

Edit-You'll have to let me know how it is. I have a morbid curiosity; namely could a sequel be worse?

 

[Chesticles]

Super troopers in german?

Yeah I'll let you know, I'm kind of afraid to watch it actually

 

[Chesticles]

Yeah it was your average suckfest, not nearly as bad as the first one though. The clown from house of 1000 corpses and the devil's reject's was in it briefly.

 

[onebigeric]

Captain Spaulding? Well, that automatically makes it better than the first, but still by no means does it seem to approach tolerable.














But yeah, I'm probably going to rent it anyway; apparently I don't get enough abuse at work. So I'll share your pain, chesti

 

[Chesticles]

Yep spaulding's the one, he even is a zombie for about 10 seconds to lol.

You can sit through it without trying to kill yourself, it still sucks though.