What does Herzogian and Lucasian mean? And I don’t think you’re enough of a wet blanket to be like Armond White.
He’s referring to the German director/documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog, and Lucasian means… George Lucas? They’re not real words, so don’t feel bad! :3
Oh, okay. I feel better now. 
Yeah. Don’t feel too bad, IV. I was just imitating the rather pretentious turns of phrase White writes in every one of his reviews.
He’s actually written an essay about how he knows and enjoys films more than just about anyone else. Especially that louse Roger Ebert.
Seeing Black Swan, HP7: Part 1 and True Grid double feature this week. That should give me enough ammo to round off my list for the year.
As it stands right now my top movies in no particular order are:
Toy Story 3
Tangled
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception (yeah, I know what I said earlier. Sue me.)
I Love You Phillip Morris
The Social Network
and the rest is still pending…
If I watch Scott Pilgrim with my new interpretation in mind it might sneak onto the list.
Top original scores in no particular order are:
The Wolfman by Danny Elfman (by itself. For reasons why inquire within)
Inception by Hans Zimmer
How to Train Your Dragon by John Powell (natch)
and the rest is still pending…
Just watched an older movie that a lot of people said was really good. It’s called The Last Unicorn. It was very… interesting, to say the least. I was surprised by how many notable names were involved with the film; Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin… the list goes on. I thought the movie was okay; the voice acting didn’t really match up with the animation at many points, and the music was borderline tolerable, to say the least. Regardless, the story was still a very good fantasy and kept me interested throughout. I give it a C.
Looking back through this thread, and with awards season coming up, I’m gonna make my predictions for the 10 Academy Awards Best Picture nominees:
- The King’s Speech
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- The Social Network
- Inception
- Toy Story 3
- 127 Hours
- True Grit (2010)
- Blue Valentine
- Winter’s Bone
In the Hunt, The Kids Are All Right, Rabbit Hole, How to Train Your Dragon.
The top five on that list signify the ones most likely to also get nominated for Best Director. Despite its low position, I think True Grit is a lock-in for Best Adapted Screenplay (hey, it’s a Coen brothers film). Looking at it now, The King’s Speech has been the critics’ favorite throughout the year, with Black Swan being the dark horse contender. I’m thinking it’s gonna come down between those two.
aerostarmonk: I knew what you meant by Herzogian because I watched Fitzcarraldo (It’s beautifully shot, but mind-numbingly slow-paced). I suppose Lucasian is referring to the dude who made Star Wars?
I found Up’s ‘Married Life’ sequence honest and moving. In my humble opinion, Toy Story 3 felt more emotionally manipulative, especially with the drawn-out farewell sequence at the end. I think I mentioned in my review some inconsiderate viewers in front of me actually laughed at Andy’s final line, while for Up’s opening sequence, I can distinctly hear people sobbing in the audience. Not to say I didn’t feel anything, just that instead of bawling like most newspapers reported grown-ups did, I felt strangely calm and relaxed. I guess like Woody, I came to accept Andy’s parting and I didn’t feel as upset as I thought I would be. Andy’s leaving was inevitable, a stage of life. Up, though, was more heartbreaking because of the ‘injustices’ life threw at Carl and Ellie, and yet they persevered through it all right to the end.
I hated 2012 (apologies to any fans). I mean, it was a visual and technical feat, but the way how they wiped out humanity indiscriminately bordered on torture p*rn. Unlike movies like Armageddon or Deep Impact where the heroes died for a cause or were ready to ‘go’ anyway, the victims here just exit stage right with barely a heroic mention. The last straw was when the second husband got crushed in the gears so that Cusack’s character could be reunited with his ex again. Not to mention that the third act was shot with a HD camcorder instead of film reels and it was overly prolonged.
Rise of Cobra was good, harmless fun. Even though they practically destroyed half of Paris, there were hardly any collateral damage in terms of human casualties (everyone nicely managed to run away before the Eiffel Tower collapsed). [spoil]The good guys win, the bad guys die, with hints of a sequel[/spoil]. I loved the car chase with the van and the robo-suits. One of the most inventive pursuits of 2009.
District 9 was an allegory for South Africa’s Apartheid rule, and I immensely appreciated the political message. The best of science fiction, in my opinion, is one that reflects our world in a different context (ie WALL-E was about environmentalism, 2001 was about man’s penchant for progress and change, Blade Runner about machine sentience and the human condition, etc.). It had an independent budget, yet thrilled me more with its special effects than the bombastic Revenge of the Fallen. Christian the alien and his son have to be the most endearing CGI characters in live-action since Gollum.
It does take some leaps in logic in the final act, but I felt it still managed to successfully follow through on the title character’s arc, which is why I don’t think it was ultimately “toothless”. It still presents the idea of a real-life superhero as one that shouldn’t be pursued by just anyone, and none of the main characters get out of the film emotionally unscathed.
It also was one of the best theater atmospheres I experienced this year.
I really like your review of District 9. Especially the whole contrast of Apartheid rule. It was also neat to see a different perspective of alien contact. Usually it’s aliens want to kill us, or the aliens are the enemies. [spoil]In this case, both species were doing wrong things, it was really facinating. [/spoil]
Despicble Me w/commentary: solid A. Very interesting. 
Surfer, Dude: C-: What was the POINT of this movie? I could have done without all the topless female specimens. 
I don’t want to sound shallow for not loving the movie. I did pick up on the Apartheid thing. I had been looking forward to D9 since seeing Alive in Joburg a couple of years earlier. I eagerly await his next film Elysium as well. But it just seems like another time where I didn’t sync up with the audiences. I appreciated aspects of the film but I couldn’t bring myself to love it.
It was the same with Duncan Jones’ Moon another indie science fiction film with deep ponderings, great SFX and fantastic acting that was utterly ignored by the award shows. I liked it. I just couldn’t love it.
I’m beginning to sound like a guy who only likes purely escapist fare and never wants to watch anything with something to say or that’s down to earth. I dunno. Maybe it’s true. Maybe I really am as contrarian as White himself.
I mean I defend stuff like AI: Artificial Intelligence, War of the Worlds (2005), and Minority Report all things that people grudgingly like at best and mostly ignore or outright hate. I also defend stuff like Superman Returns and Mystery Men while finding Lost in Translation to be nothing more than a movie about Bill Murray going to Japan and absolutely nothing of interest happening.
But I guess the flipside of that is that I do enjoy many films that people love like most of the ouevre of Wes Anderson and Woody Allen. I also dig a lot of Kubrick’s work. Though I still can’t get through 2001 and I’ve read every book in the series, love Wagner and feel really groovy about space in general. And I’m certain that Full Metal Jacket would’ve been a better film, even if it would’ve only been a short, if it had just ended before they leave Basic.
Maybe my insecurities are showing here. But I always feel so uncultured in the face of all my peers and friends’ tastes.
I never even heard of this movie, but it sounds horrible. And it’s not a true surfer movie without topless women.
ellie-jessie-eve: imdb.com/title/tt0976247/
I guess so, but I still hate watching movies about naked girls. It makes me feel awkward.
I usually don’t like to dismiss movies without seeing them, but that movie does look horrible. And the picture really creeps me out.
There are too many movies out right now that I want to see, and not enough money to see them! I wanto see I Love You Phillip Morris, The King’s Speech, Rabbit Hole, True Grit (2010), The Fighter and Tron: Legacy. Three of these films will cost me 13 dollars and some change to see at the only theater near me that plays limited release films, and I know I don’t HAVE to see Tron in IMAX 3D, but anything else would be wrong! So that’s 16 dollars and change. 
ellie-jessie-eve: You’re not missing out, I promise.
theoutsider1983, I totally agree and see your point. I never have money for the movies I want to see.
I don’t think it is a famous movie because people remember it to be “good”, although it seems to be nostalgic to some people, I think it was famous because of its A-list cast despite a super-low budget.
Then you’ll love Piranha 3-D. 
Actually, you won’t, please don’t watch it if you don’t want to, because I don’t you to get upset and blame me for it.
I need to see The King’s Speech as well, it looks fantastic. It’s too good to play at the modern cinema, so it’ll be playing downtown at the historic one (Don’t ask me how that works. Only Oscar contenders, Pixar films, and independent films play at the historic theater, the same one where the Interenational Film Fest plays)
It sounds great, but it actully means it’s more expensive.
Tron: Legacy - I saw this while we were in Vegas, it’s quite nice. Not ridiculously satisfying (especially the ending, which was fairly cliché), but the visuals really add a lot. You can feel the 80’s nostalgia!
Howl’s Moving Castle - Not really sure where this ranks on my Ghibli list, but I liked it quite a bit. Only, it seemed like the really special moments weren’t done with enough majesty in comparison to Hayao’s other movies. Still well worth a watch.
I need to update my list, I had forgotten that I saw Alice in Wonderland (2010)! That was nearly a year ago!
- Toy Story 3
- Tangled
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Kick-Ass
- Yogi Bear
- Despicable Me
- Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Haha, Yogi Bear wasn’t the greatest movie ever, but I liked it more than the films that fell in the 7th and 8th spot.
Hayao Miyazaki & the Ghibli Museum – Mostly about the architecture and presented in a very tourist-aimed way, but still informative. I want to go to there.
Lasseter-san, arigatou! – Must-see for any hardcore fan of both Pixar and Studio Ghibli. Although I should warn that it’s 2.5 hours long and basically a home movie, so it wasn’t originally intended to entertain outsiders.
The Kids Are All Right – Awesome! I especially enjoyed the script and Bening & Moore’s performances.