Casino (10/10)

It's sort of like The Wild Bunch of gangster movies. That whole sense of things coming to an end. And if I'm honest I don't know if DeNiro has ever been better than he is here.




Il Divo (4/10)

I liked Consequences of Love but this disappointed me a bit, primarily because of Sorrentino's decsion to cover everything in such a thick layer of entirely inappropriate visual trickery. CoL worked because visually it was so controlled, so sparse. On Il Divo it just seemed like he was trying just that bit too hard to make a topic that would never have a really broad appeal as multiplex friendly as he could. Imagine Hype Williams directing All the President's Men and that's sort of what you get here. It's not simply a case of being all style and no substance so much as what substance there is being hidden beneath all the style.


I completely fail to connect with Godard. I respect what he's achieved but most of his actual films leave me stone cold. His films never stay with me after I've watched them, atleast not in any kind of emotional sense. I hate the way he directs people in his movies, with absolutely no (to my mind) empathy for them (the same problem I have with Kubrick and Hitchcock).

I always loved this one.

Yeah, American Beauty's great.

Had another look at this last night,





Children of the Corn (5/10)

It's sort of OK, in a Wicker Man meets Little House on the Prairie kind of way. there's just nothing really interesting or memorable about it; the people behind it obviously happy just to cash in on the Stephen King connection. I wouldn't mind seeing the remake to see if it adds or improves anything.

my wife and I were talking about how Children Of The Corn is like 2 movies, depending on yr age. Meaning, there's 2 horrors. Children are forced to identify with the children who are being forced into killing. But when yr an adult it feels scary because yr forced to identify with the adults.

Great point! I'd not thought of it like that but you're dead on. I saw it when it came out so would've been about 13 and absolutely identified with the kids, and remember being pretty scared by the whole thing. Watching it again, now, I suppose my empathy did switch from the kids to the two adults but overall the film seemed far less effective from and adult point of view.

Brilliant analysis NR.

I know stuff about some things.

watched koyannisqatsi, dog star man, and 12 oz mouse movie with my gf. all EASY 10/10.

Romanzo Criminale (7/10)

Don't be put off by the awful poster, this really is very good - even if, given the movie's sprawling plot and the big ideas it's putting forward, it might've worked a bit better as some kind of mini-series. As it stands it's a film that seems to get better as it goes along; from being a pretty standard (and fairly cliched) gangster movie into something far more interesting.

UNCLE BOONME, WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES - 9/10

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is the best director in the world.

I more then enjoyed it...as a cars person. I could imagine if you arent that type of human being you just dont get it

True!
They did film 2 tv series (12 episodes + 10 I think?) and it's pretty good too, one of the very few decent production of "not underground" italian tv-movies.

Excellent, thanks. I'll see if they've been released in the UK. And if you know of any other movies like that, please let me know. I'm getting quite hooked on them.

fortress, it was an unexpected ending for sure and not that bad.

Watched these today:

THE VANISHING REMAKE - 5/10

Not nearly as bad as critics make it out to be! Hiring the original director was a good idea, and Keifer Sutherland sure did pick interesting projects back in the day (the underrated/quite-fucking-awesome-actually FREEWAY, for example, or his roles in DARK CITY -- even though he was a bit snivelling, wasn't he? -- and FIRE WALK WITH ME).


THE VANISHING ORGINAL - 7/10

Not nearly as good as critics make it out to be! But by the end, I ended up liking it just fine. Mainly just got by on its atmosphere.

Pet Sematary

...

I should be getting around to watching Last House on Dead End Street next week. I just have to finish d/l'ing my HUGE Secret World of Alex Mack torrent.

The Shining

ABBAS KIAROSTAMI double feature:

certified copy - 8/10



SHIRIN - 8/10 ... this movie is particularly amazing, even for a director who never fails to blow me away with all of his films... this film consists, literally, of people staring at a movie screen. You hear sound effects and a lot of dialogue, but what we see are just the faces of the people watching the film. Such a fascinating and unique film.