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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:14 pm
by Eric
Which one? I haven't seen The Brothers Bloom.
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:09 pm
by Okri
Eric and Big Magilla agree on a movie. Very weird.
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:36 pm
by Big Magilla
The Brothers Bloom (2009) Rian Johnson 2/10
I watched this on Sabin's recommendation. His review from back in May convinced me to see this even though I was not a fan of Johnson's earlier work, the high school noir, Brick.
I liked this even less. The film is pure whimsy. The problem is that whimsy is a delicate thing. If you're going to make a film built on, you have to have material that will sustain it. I Married a Witch and The Luck of the Irish are examples of classic films that had material strong enough to do so, as are most of Wes Anderson's films, particularly Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, but not this.
Nothing in it makes sense, from the inane dialogue to the absurd situations to the ridiculously named characters (the younger brother is simply called Bloom, which one assumes is his surname, while the older brother actually has a first name).
I'll stop short of saying Adrien Brody and Rachel Weitz should give back their Oscars, but they're fast becoming the winners with the most career killing follow-ups since F. Murray Abraham and Mercedes Ruehl.
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:26 pm
by Big Magilla
Mister Tee wrote:Big Magilla wrote: This time around it was the underwhelming sadness that permeates the entire film.
I'm guessing you meant either underlying or overwhelming.
Thank you. I meant underlying.
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:56 pm
by Mister Tee
Big Magilla wrote: This time around it was the underwhelming sadness that permeates the entire film.
I'm guessing you meant either underlying or overwhelming.
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:25 pm
by anonymous1980
Daybreakers (Michael Spierig/Peter Spierig) - 6.5/10
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:13 am
by anonymous1980
Me and Orson Welles (Richard Linklater) - 7/10
The Man Who Laughs (Paul Leni) - 8.5/10
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:40 pm
by Sabin
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog) - 7/10
Somewhere between inspired genre deconstructive and batshit lunacy. Either way, very funny. Cage it hilarious.
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:46 am
by Precious Doll
Up in the Air (2009) Jason Reitman 4/10
Despite being well acted and enjoyable/depressing to watch this film is nevertheless undermined by a ridiculous scenario which has been discussed bby members of the board in the Up in the Air thread.
Payment Deferred (1932) Lothar Mendes 4/10
Charles Laughton is the best thing about this 'Hitchcockian' drama about a bank clerk who takes drastic action to acquire some much needed funds. Ray Milland has a small role as Laughton's nephew. It's scary that at only 33 Laughton looked about 60.
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:41 am
by Big Magilla
The Hurt Locker (2009) Kathryn Bigelow 9/10
50 Dead Men Walking (2009) Kari Skogland 8/10
The Hurt Locker holds up to repeated viewings. When I first saw this in the theatre it was not knowing what would happen next that kept me enthralled. This time around it was the underlying sadness that permeates the entire film. It really is the year's best film with three of the year's best performances by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty.
50 Dead Men Walking proves that Bigelow isn't the only female director who can helm a big action flick as well as any guy. Canadian Skogland takes on both the murderous IRA and the duplicitous British occupation force in 1980s Belfast.
Jim Sturgess gives a strong performance as the Irish Catholic youth who goes undercover as a British agent who infiltrates IRA and Ben Kingsley tones it way down to play his conscience stricken operator. Based on a true story that begins with the hero shot six times at close range in Canada by an IRA gunman 11 years after the events told in the film. He survived to tell the story.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1263669996
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:53 pm
by abcinyvr
24 hours, 4 films
Nine
6/10
Not the trainwreck that I was expecting. I had left it on my list for BP and now I think that it will survive through to Oscar morning.
District 9
7.5/10
Put this off for as long as possible. Impressive.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
7.5/10
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
7/10
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:59 am
by Sabin
Adventureland (Mottola) - 6/10
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:07 pm
by Big Magilla
Trucker (2009) James Mottern 7/10
Catching up on first time directors. Michelle Monaghan won the Best Actress award of the San Diego Film Critics but has otherwise been missing in the continuing precursor trend to crown Queen Meryl. It's a good performance in a role not dissimilar to Tilda Swinton's in Julia but without the ferocity.
Jimmy Bennett, the kid who plays Kirk as a boy in Star Trek, gives a good account of himself as her estranged 11 year-old son and Benjamin Bratt has a nice unsentimental bit as the kid's dying father.
You know where it's going the minute the dying ex-husband's current squeeze (Joey Lauren Adams) drops the kid off at her doorstep although Monaghan's job as a long haul trucker gives it a nice twist.
Amreeka (2009, U.S.) Cherian Dabis 7/10
Another first time director - she's done TV and short films before, but this is her first feature.
It's a mild, but poignant study of Arab Christians in America with ingratiating performances by Nisreen Faour and Melkar Muallem as mother and son immigrants. The always impeccable Hiam Abbas is Faour's sister, who is slow to change her ways despite having been in the country for fifteen years. In the film's climactic scene she tastes a hamburger for the first time. It's that kind of movie. Nice, but hardly earth-shattering.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1263438506
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:25 pm
by Reza
Coco Before Chanel (Anne Fontaine, 2009) 2/10
Deathly boring story of the great designer's early life. Audrey Tautou is lifeless and looks bored throughout. The brief fashion show sequence at the end, showing off Chanel's signature designs, has spark missing from the whole film. It would be interesting to see a proper big screen film about her life covering the war years and after. Maybe Tautou could attempt it again in a sequel with a stronger director.
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:14 pm
by Sabin
The White Ribbon - 5/10